Thesis/Dissertation titles and placement (supervised by W.H. Mason)
- Ryan Plumley, February, 2008, MS,
Conceptual Assessment of an Oblique Flying Wing Aircraft Including Control and Trim
Charateristics, Present position: Engineer in the Aerodynamic Configurations Branch, in the Aeronautical Sciences
Division of the Air Vehicles Directorate, WPAFB, Oh.
- Brady White, December, 2007, MS, Dynamic Modeling of a Supersonic Tailless Aircraft with All-moving Wingtip Control Effectors,
Present position: Flight Mechanics Engineer, Analytical Mechanics Associates, Inc., Hampton, Va.
- Pedro De Oliveira, December, 2007, PhD,
An Investigation of Unsteady Aerodynamic Multi-axis State-Space
Formulations as a Tool for Wing Rock Representation, Present Position: Research Engineer (Senior Technologist) at the
Institute of Aeronautics and Space (IAE) of the Brazilian Air Force (Aeronautics Command), in Sao Jose dos Campos-SP, Brazil.
- Christopher O. Johnston, November 2006, PhD,
Nonequilibrium Shock-Layer Radiative Heating for Earth and Titan Entry,
Present Position: Aerothermodynamics Branch, NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA.
- Douglas D. Hillson, May 2006, MEng, Engineering Project: Rocket Watcher Present Position: Blade Test Engineer,
Massachusetts Clean Energy Center at the Wind Technology Testing Center
- Leifur Thor Leifsson, February 2006, PhD,
Multidisciplinary Design Optimization of Low-Noise Transport Aircraft, Present Position:
Assistant Professor, School of Science and Engineering, Reykjavik University, Reykjavik, Iceland.
- Neal A. Harrison, July 2005, MS,
Active Flow Control of a Boundary Layer Ingesting Serpentine Diffuser,
(co-chair with Wing F. Ng, Mechanical Engineering Department).Work suppoerted by Techsburg.
Present Position: Engineer, Boeing Phantom Works, Huntington Beach, CA
- Will E. Graf, May 2005, MS,
Efects of Duct Lip Shaping and Various Control Devices on the Hover and
Forward Flight Performance of Ducted Fan UAVs, (co-chair with Wing F. Ng, Mechanical Engineering Department)
Work suppoerted by Techsburg.
Present position: Flutter Engineer, Tybrin Corporation, Fort Walton Beach, FL (Eglin Air Force Base)
- Daniel M. Shafer, May 2005, MS,
Active and Passive Flow Control over the Flight Deck of Small Naval Vessels,
Present position: Flight Test Engineer, US Navy Flight Test Center, Patuxent River, MD
- Ernest B. Keen, November 2004, MS,
A Conceptual Design Methodology for Predicting the Aerodynamics of
Upper Surface Blowing on Airfoils and Wings Present position: AVID Aerospace,
Yorktown, VA.
- Eugene H. D. Heim, January 2004, MS,
Development of Methods for Improved Data Integrity and Efficient Testing of Wind Tunnel Models
for Dynamic Test Conditions in Unsteady and Nonlinear Flight Regimes, Present Position: NASA
Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA (in place of Fred Lutze, with Jay Brandon as the NASA Langley adviser)
- Christopher O. Johnston, November 2003, MS,
Actuator-Work Concepts Applied to Morphing and Conventional Aerodynamic Control Devices,
Present Position: Aerothermodynamics Branch, NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA.
- Yan-Yee Andy Ko, April 2003, Ph.D.,
The Multidisciplinary Design Optimization of a Distributed Propulsion Blended-Wing-Body Aircraft,
Present Position: AVID LLC, Blacksburg, VA
- Juan R. Cruz, April 2003, Ph.D.,
An Application of Anti-Optimization in the Process of Validating Aerodynamic Codes,
Present Position: NASA Langley Research Center, (co-chair with Rafi Haftka, Univ. of Florida)
- Michael Henry, August 2001, MS,
Two-Dimensional Shock Sensitivity Analysis for Transonic
Airfoils with Leading-Edge and Trailing-Edge Device Deflections, and a copy of
Mike's
final presentation charts. Present position: National Ground Intelligence Center, Charlottesville, VA.
- Kevin Waclawicz, July 2001, MS,
The Investigation of Crossflow Velocity and Off-the-Surface Streamtrace Topology for a
Moderately Swept Wing at Transonic Mach Numbers, and Kevin's
final presentation charts.
Present position: Northrop Grumman (the old TRW), San Bernadino, CA.
- Hongman Kim, July 2001, Ph.D.,
Statistical Modeling of Simulation Errors and Their Reduction via
Response Surface Techniques, Present position: Phoenix Integration, Inc., Blacksburg, VA
- Sergio Iglesias, November 2000, MS,
Optimum Spanloads Incorporating Wing Structural Considerations and Formation Flying.
Present position:
Gamesa, Spain - working on the A380.
- Yan-Yee Andy Ko, May 2000, MS,
The Role of Constraints and Vehicle Concepts in Transport Design: A Comparison of
Cantilever and Strut-Braced Wing Airplane Concepts,
Present Position: AVID LLC, Blacksburg, VA. ( 2nd Place, 2000 Paul E. Torgersen
Graduate Student Research Excellence Award, MS Category)
- Joel M. Grasmeyer, May 1998, MS,
Multidisciplinary Design Optimization of a
Strut-Braced Wing Aircraft, Present Position: President,
Optimization World, and PropertyTracker.com, Canoga Park, CA. (Winner: 1998 Paul E. Torgersen Graduate Student Research
Excellence Award, MS Category, 2000 AIAA Abe Zarem Award)
- Oleg B. Golovidov, June 1997, MS,
Variable-Complexity Response Surface Approximations for Aerodynamic Parameters in
HSCT Optimization,
Present Position: Engineous Software, Inc.,
Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
- Sonny Chai, August 1996, MS,
Landing Gear Integration in Aircraft Conceptual Design,
Present Position: Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, Palmdale, CA
- Paul J. Crisafulli, June 1996, MS,
Response Surface Approximations for Pitching Moment Including Pitch-Up in the Multidisciplinary Design
Optimization of a High-Speed Civil Transport, Present Position:
Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, Palmdale, CA
- Brett Malone, May 1996, Ph.D., An Object-Oriented Analysis and Optimization
Control Environment for the Conceptual Design of Aircraft,
Present Position: President,
Phoenix Integration, Inc., Blacksburg, VA, (Co-Advisor with Arvid Myklebust)
- Peter MacMillin, April 1996, MS,
Trim, Control and Performance Effects in Variable-Complexity High Speed Civil
Transport Design. formerly with Lockheed Martin in Denver (space)
and the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, Palmdale, CA)
- William Michael Butler, 1995, MS, Conceptual Design and Preliminary
Analyses of an Air-Launched Scramjet Test Vehicle, Present Position:
Advanced Design Dept., Lockheed Martin, Fort Worth, TX
- Alex Benoliel, 1994, MS, Aerodynamic
Pitch-Up of Cranked Arrow Wings:
Estimation, Trim, and Configuration Design, Present Position:
United States State Department, Maputo, Mozambique.
Winner: 1994 Paul E. Torgersen Graduate Student Research
Excellence Award, MS Category.
- Thomas Arledge, 1993, MS, ACSYNT Aerodynamic Estimation - An Examination
and Validation for Use in Conceptual Design, Present Position: NASA
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA.
- Joe Mazza, 1993, MS, An Experimental and Numerical Aerodynamic
Investigation of a Low-Canard High-Wing Aircraft Design,
Present Position: Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems Corporation,
86 South Cobb Dr., Marietta, GA 30063-0036
- Jacob Kay, 1992, MS, Control Authority Assessment in Aircraft
Conceptual Design, Present Position: Bihrle Applied Research, Hampton, VA
- R. Ravi, 1992/98, Ph.D. High Angle of Attack Forebody Flow Physics and
Design Emphasizing Directional Stability, Present Position:
Senior Consultant, Enterprise Applications Practice at Digital Equipment Corp., Chicago, IL
- Brett Malone, 1991, MS,
Multidisciplinary Optimization in Aircraft Design Using Algebraic Technology
Models, [note: the original electronic version is no longer available, and
a student liked this report so much he scanned it in. It is a 2.3MB pdf file. The quality,
although not great, is remarkably good all things considered.] Present Position: President,
Phoenix Integration, Inc., Blacksburg, VA,
- Jaewoo Lee, 1991, Ph.D., Efficient Inverse Methods for Supersonic and
Hypersonic Body Design, with Low Wave Drag Analysis, Present Position:
Dept. of Aerospace Engineering, KonKuk University, Seoul, Korea (responsible for
the aircraft design course)
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