The Aerospace Engineering faculty at the University of Kansas have both outstanding academic preparation and extensive real world experience. All Aerospace faculty are actively involved in undergraduate and graduate teaching, research, and professional society activities. Short biographical sketches of the Aerospace faculty are given below.
Ron Barrett
Richard Colgren
David Downing
Mark Ewing
Saeed Farokhi
Rick Hale
Chuan-Tau Edward Lan
Craig McLaughlin
Ray Taghavi
Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering
E-mail Dr. Barrett
Dr. Barrett joined the Department in 2005. His research areas include enhancement of transportation related technologies, design, development and testing of unusual uninhabited aerial vehicles, missiles, munitions and adaptive aerostructures. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Aerospace Engineering from KU in 1988 and 1993. He attended the University of Maryland, College Park as a US Army Rotorcraft Fellow where he received his MS in Aerospace Engineering in 1990. Dr. Barrett served for 12 years on the faculty of Auburn University, Alabama where he won every teaching award available for his position. He also served as a USAF Faculty Fellow, flight test engineer and a Visiting Professor for one year at The Technical University of Delft, Holland. His work on adaptive aerostructures has yielded many "firsts" including the first fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft to fly using adaptive materials for flight control. He has more than 100 publications and three patents on adaptive rotors, dragless wings and high performance convertible UAVs. In 1998 he was honored for his work in adaptive aerostructures when he claimed Discover Magazine's Discover Award for Aviation and Aerospace Technology. He has consulted for every major US Aerospace corporation and worked for all branches of the DoD, NASA and the NSF. He has taught short courses on Adaptive Aerostructures and Convertible UAV Design in the US, Sweden, Portugal, Germany, Holland, Singapore, India, Ireland, Scotland and England. He especially enjoys interacting with students and has advised and coached more than a dozen award winning AIAA student papers and design teams. He is currently the AIAA Chapter Advisor and maintains active memberships in the AMA, ASEE, ASME, Phi Beta Delta, SAE, SHPE, SPIE, Sigma Gamma Tau and Tau Beta Pi.
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Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering
E-mail Dr. Colgren
CV
Current Research
Dr. Richard Colgren, Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering, comes to KU from the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company in Palmdale, California, where he was a Senior Staff Engineer. Including previous aircraft design and development research at Northrop, he has had 22 years of professional experience within the aerospace industry.He received his B.S.in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from the University of Washington in 1982 and his M.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1987 from the University of Southern California. Dr. Colgren received his Doctorate in Electrical Engineering with an emphasis in systems at the University of Southern California in 1993 with a minor in Aerospace Engineering. He is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, among other society and national and international technical committee memberships. He has over 50 publications and holds two patents. He has been an Adjunct Professor at variety of universities including the University of Southern California and California State University, Fresno. His research focus is on intelligent vehicle systems and controls.
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Professor of Aerospace Engineering
E-mail Dr. Downing
Dr. Downing was Chairman of the Department from August 1988 to December 1998. He teaches and conducts research in advanced flight control, display, and instrumentation systems. He received a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering in 1962, and an M.S. in Instrumentation Engineering in 1963, both from the University of Michigan. He received his Sc.D. in Instrumentation Engineering in 1970 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Downing has had professional experience at NASA's Electronic Research Center and Langley Research Center, where he served as project manager of Advanced Guidance, Control, and Display for General Aviation Aircraft. Dr. Downing has also been on the faculties of Boston University and Christopher Newport College. He received a NASA Group Achievement Award in 1979 and the School of Engineering Miller Award for Service in 1992. He is an Associate Fellow of AIAA and a member of IEEE, SAE, and ASEE.
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Chairman, Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering and Director of the Flight Research Laboratory
E-mail Dr. Ewing
Dr. Ewing joined the department in 1992 and has been Chairman of the Department since January 1999. His expertise is in the areas of engineering mechanics and the analysis, design and testing of lightweight structures. He received his B.S. in Engineering Mechanics form the U.S.A.F. Academy and in 1972, an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics from Ohio State University in 1978 and 1983 respectively. He served in the U.S. Air Force for 20 years, starting with engineering positions as a Turbine Engine Design Analyst and a Propulsion Staff Officer. He was an Instructor in Civil Engineering from 1978 to 1980 and Associate Professor in Engineering Mechanics from 1983 to 1989 at the USAF Academy. Dr. Ewing closed his Air Force career as Chief of the Analysis and Optimization Branch, and Senior Research Engineer in the Structures Division, Flight Dynamics Directorate, Wright Laboratory. In 1994, Dr. Ewing was selected as the Outstanding KU Aerospace Engineering Educator. He also was presented with the 1994 Henry E. Gould award for the KU School of Engineering Outstanding Educator.
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Professor of Aerospace Engineering and Department Graduate Advisor
E-mail Dr. Farokhi
Dr. Farokhi joined the Department in 1984. He specializes in propulsion and fluid mechanics. He received a B.S. degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1975 , and received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT in 1976 and 1981, respectively. He then worked as a Design and Development Engineer and Project Leader in the Gas Turbine Division of Brown, Boveri, and Co. in Baden, Switzerland for four years. Dr. Farokhi has been recogmized with numeroous teaching and research awards from the University of Kansas including the Burlington Northern Foundation Faculty Acheivement Award, The Miller Professional Developement Award, the Henry E. Gould Award, The Mortar Board Outstanding Educator Award and was named as Outstanding Aerospace Educator in 1990, 1993, 1997, 1999 and 2007. Dr. Farokhi was appointed to the John E. and Winifred E. Sharp Teaching Professorship in 1995 in the School of Engineering. He has served as the Director of Flight Reseach Laboratory from 1990 to 1995. Dr. Farokhi also served as the Associate Dean of The Graduate School in 2004-2007. He was elected as the National President of Sigma Gamma Tau, The Honor Society of Aerospace Engineering, in 2000-2003. Dr. Farokhi is a Fellow of ASME, an Associate Fellow of AIAA and a member of SAE, ASEE, APS, Phi Beta Delta and the American Academy of Mechanics. His book titled Aircraft Propulsion was published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. in 2008.
Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering
E-mail Dr. Hale
Dr. Hale joined the department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Kansas in 1998. His expertise is in the areas of engineering mechanics, experimental mechanics, and composite materials and structures. He received his B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Iowa State University in 1988, his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Washington University in 1991, and his Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics from Iowa State University in 1995. Dr. Hale was a Senior Project Engineer for the Boeing Company (formerly McDonnell Douglas Aerospace) from 1989 to 1998, where he worked on composite design and analysis processes, fiber placement, and structural concepts in advanced design. He was a member of Boeing's Parametric Composite Knowledge System team, which received the 1999 Technical Contribution Award from the St. Louis section of the AIAA. Dr. Hale holds three U.S. and one international patent for composite design processes, with further national and international patents in review. Dr. Hale was selected as the Outstanding Aerospace Engineering Educator for 1999-2000, 2001-2002 and 2003-2004, was a Bellows Scholar for the KU School of Engineering for 2000-2001, and received the Gould Award for Outstanding Education or Advising in Engineering in 2002, 2003 and 2005. In 2003 Dr. Hale also received the W.T. Kemper Fellowship for teaching excellence, as well as the KU School of Engineering Miller Professional Development Award for distinguished research in the engineering profession. Dr. Hale is a senior member of AIAA, and is a member of SAE, SEM, SAMPE, ASEE, Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Gamma Tau, Pi Mu Epsilon, and Phi Beta Theta.
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Professor Emeritus
E-mail Dr. Lan
Dr. Lan joined the Department in 1968, and teaches and conducts research in theoretical and applied aerodynamics, flight dynamics and applied mathematics. He received his B.S. in 1958 at the National Taiwan University and his M.S. in 1963 at the University of Minnesota, both in Civil Engineering. In 1968 he received a Ph.D. in Aeronautics from New York University. Dr. Lan was selected as the Outstanding KU Aerospace Educator in 1991. He co-authored with Dr. Roskam a textbook on airplane performance, and is the author of a book entitled Applied Airfoil and Wing Theory . Dr. Lan is an Associate Fellow of AIAA and a member of Sigma Gamma Tau, and Tau Beta Pi.
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Assistant Professor
E-mail Dr. McLaughlin
Dr. McLaughlin joined the faculty of the Aerospace Engineering Department at the University of Kansas in 2007. Before coming to KU, he spent five years in the Department of Space Studies at the University of North Dakota. From 1994-2002 Dr. McLaughlin worked in the Space Vehicles Directorate of the U. S. Air Force Research Laboratory. There he served as principal investigator for formation flying for the TechSat 21 mission and as team lead for the Guidance, Navigation, and Control Team. Before that he provided mission planning design and support for the MightySat II technology demonstration satellite, which captured the first hyperspectral images taken from space. The MightySat II team won the AFRL Commander’s Cup Award in 2002. Dr. McLaughlin received his M. S. and Ph. D. in Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1994 and 1998 respectively. He received a B. S. in Aeronautical Engineering from Wichita State University in 1992.
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John E. & Winifred E. Sharp Professor of Aerospace Engineering
E-mail Dr. TaghaviDr. Taghavi joined the Department in 1991 with expertise in fluid mechanics and propulsion. He received his B.S. in Mathematics from Tehran University in 1965, his M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Northrop University in 1978, and his Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Kansas in 1988. Dr. Taghavi has had professional experience at NASA's Lewis Research Center from 1986 to 1991, where he supported the NASA's High Speed Research (HSR) Program. His research activities included supersonic jet noise, excitation & control of shear layers, and mixing enhancement of swirling flows. Dr. Taghavi was selected to receive the Outstanding KU Aerospace Educator Award in 1995. He was the recipient of the 1999 SAE Ralph R. Teetor National Educational Award and the 1999 Spahr Professorship Award from the KU School of Engineering, and was also selected as one of the 1999 Boeing Welliver Faculty Fellows. Dr. Taghavi is the recipient of the 2001 AIAA Abe M. Zarem National Educator Award. He is a fellow of ASME, an associate fellow of AIAA, and a member of SAE, ASEE, Sigma Gamma Tau, and Tau Beta Pi.
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