Semester News for Aerospace Engineering
SDSU Aerospace Engineering at AIAA SciTech 2026 Forum
Aerospace Engineering Department participated in the 2026 AIAA SciTech Forum, the largest and most influential aerospace professional conference, held January 12–16, with over 5,900 attendees, approximately 3,000 technical presentations, and more than 100 exhibitors and sponsors.
Attendees from SDSU included thirteen members from the AIAA SDSU Student Branch, twelve members from the Women of Aeronautics and Astronautics (WoAA) SDSU, approximately eleven additional individual student attendees, seven faculty members from the SDSU Aerospace Engineering Department, and one faculty member from the SDSU Electrical and Computer Engineering Department.
SDSU students had a standout presence at the AIAA SciTech 2026 Forum, delivering multiple first-time professional paper presentations across high-impact aerospace topics. Graduate and undergraduate students presented research in packed sessions, including hypersonic testing, flying-wing aerodynamics, and student organization history, demonstrating strong technical preparation and confidence on a global stage.
Student achievements were capped by PhD student Chris Davami earning the AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Technical Committee for Best Paper Award as lead author.
In total, SDSU students contributed to a significant share of the 17 papers presented, reinforcing the university’s growing reputation for student-led research excellence and professional engagement in aerospace engineering.
“Density measurements via background‑oriented schlieren and parallel‑ray omnidirectional integration“ - published in Experiments in Fluids
The research paper titled “Density measurements via background‑oriented schlieren and parallel‑ray omnidirectional integration“, with Jonathan Davami, Thomas Juliano, Jose Moreto and Prof. Xiaofeng Liu as co-authors, was published in Experiments in Fluids.
https://lnkd.in/gNep4_WH
The paper can be accessed from this link as well: https://rdcu.be/eeFVx
This work emphasizes the exceptional capability of the parallel-ray Omni-directional Integration method (Liu X, Moreto JR, Siddle-Mitchell S, “Instantaneous pressure reconstruction from measured pressure gradient using rotating parallel ray method”, AIAA Paper 2016-1049; and Liu and Moreto, 2020, “Error propagation from the PIV-based pressure gradient to the integrated pressure by the omnidirectional integration method”, Meas. Sci. Technol., 31, 055301) in reconstructing accurate and precise density fields from BOS (Background-Oriented Schlieren) measurements, thereby advancing the high spatial resolution, non-intrusive, and quantitative measurement technique that can be used to deepen the understanding of complex flow physics in many compressible flow situations including hypersonic flows. The leading author of the paper is Jonathan Davami, an alumnus from our AE undergraduate program.
2025 Aerospace Engineering's most Influential Professor and Outstanding Graduate
Dr. Xiaofeng Liu and Michael Konshin.
2025 Commencement
Congratulations to our graduates!
Aerospace Engineering Advisory Board and Faculty Meeting - Fall 2024
Front row (left to right): Faculty: Roni Goldshmid, Margherita Capriotti, Joseph Katz, Satchi Venkataraman; Advisory Board/Lecturer: Geoffrey Butler
Back row (left to right): Faculty: Pablo Machuca, Pavel Popov; Advisory Board: Sofia Russi, Doug Fronius, Jordan Evans; Department Chair: Ping Lu; Advisory Board: Cody Krzton-Presson; Advisory Board/Adjunct Professor: Rainer Kurz; Faculty: Jun Chen; Senior Director of Development for Engineering: Kate Carinder
10-25-24
Faculty/Staff Retreat Meeting - Fall 2024
The faculty and staff meet for the Faculty Retreat Meeting at Mission Trails Regional Park Visitor Center. (left to right: Ping Lu, Margherita Capriotti, Qi Wang, Jun Chen, Luciano Demasi, Nicole Brokaw, Joe Katz, Satchi Venkataraman, Roni Goldshmid, Paul Ahlers, Pavel Popov and Xiaofeng Liu)
8-23-2024
Meeting Gene Kranz - NASA flight director of the Apollo 13 mission
Chris Davami, a PhD student of Aerospace Engineering, meets Mr. Gene Kranz, the Flight Director of the Apollo 13 mission, at NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC). Chris is taking a 10-week Visiting Technologist Experience at NASA JSC in summer 2024.
7-30-2024
