Career Highlights

  1. Chair, AIAA Solid Rockets Technical Committee (2017-2019)

  2. Director, Honors & Awards, AIAA Greater Huntsville Section (2016-2017)

  3. Chair, AIAA Hybrid Rockets Technical Committee (2015–2017)

  4. Advisor for seven (7) doctoral students who won the Outstanding GRA Award of the Year (2007-2011, 2016-2017).  These are: Tony Saad (2007), Sean Fischbach (2008), Joshua Batterson (2009, Brian Maicke (2010), Michel Akiki (2011), Robert Watson (2016), and Orie Cecil (2017). Orie Cecil was named the 2017 Graduate Student of the Year, Greater Huntsville Section covering both the states of Alabama and Mississippi

  5. Recipient of the 2016 AIAA Foundation Sustained Service Award

  6. Advisor for the winner of the BEST POSTER IN AEROSPACE ENGINEERING at the Graduate Engineering Research Showcase, October 20, 2016, Auburn, AL. Poster by T. Ramesh Kumar

  7. Recipient of the 2015 AIAA Solid Rockets Best Paper Award (AIAA Paper № 2014-4016)

  8. Advisor for the winner of the BEST POSTER IN AEROSPACE ENGINEERING at the Graduate Engineering Research Showcase, October 22, 2015, Auburn, AL. Poster by P. Kovacic

  9. Advisor for the winner of the HONORABLE MENTION at the Graduate Engineering Research Showcase, October 22, 2015, Auburn, AL. Poster by R. Watson

  10. Advisor for the winner of the FIRST PLACE PAPER AWARD in the Masters Division of the 2015 Southeastern Regional Student Conference of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) in Savannah, GA, on April 9-10, 2015. Paper by Orie Cecil

  11. Advisor for the winner of the SECOND PLACE PAPER AWARD in the Masters Division of the 2015 Southeastern Regional Student Conference of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) in Savannah, GA, on April 9-10, 2015. Paper by Timothy Marquardt

  12. Advisor for the winner of the FIRST PLACE PAPER AWARD in the Outreach Division of the 2015 Southeastern Regional Student Conference of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) in Savannah, GA, on April 9-10, 2015. Paper by David (AJ) Pollard

  13. Recipient of the 2015 Aerospace Engineering Outstanding Faculty Member "Best Teacher" award

  14. Recipient of the 2015 AIAA Faculty Advisor Award (January 6, 2015)

  15. Recipient of the 2014 Konrad Dannenberg Educator of the Year Award for Outstanding Service in the Promotion of Math and Science Education Within the Community (June 6, 2014)

  16. Advisor for the winner of the BEST POSTER AWARD for the XXII International Conference on Spectral Line Shapes (ICSLS 2014), June 1-6 2014, Tullahoma, TN. Poster by Brian Godfrey

  17. Recipient of the NASA achievement award for "excellence in the design, construction, and flight of a high powered rocket and scientific payloads in the 2014 NASA Student Launch" with the Auburn University Rocket Association (AURA). (May 17, 2014).

  18. Advisor for the winner of the FIRST PLACE PAPER AWARD in the Masters Division of the 2014 Southeastern Regional Student Conference of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) in Memphis, TN, on April 7-8, 2014.  Paper by Josef Fleischmann

  19. Advisor for the winner of the FIRST PLACE PAPER AWARD among all seven (7) regions of AIAA, in the international M.S. competition held at the 52nd AIAA Sciences Meeting - January 17, 2014. Also featured in oanow.com, HIGH MACH. Paper by Andrew Fist

  20. Selected as new aerospace engineering department chair at Auburn University - AU Engineering News, UTSI News, Tullahoma News (September 1, 2013)

  21. Named 2013 Scholar of the Week! (June 28, 2013)

  22. Recipient of the 2013 AIAA SPECIAL AWARD for remarkable scientific and academic productivity in the aeronautical and applied mathematical sciences, and for active participation in AIAA sponsored conferences.  The award citation reads: "for graduate student mentorship that has been consistently outstanding for a period of ten years"

  23. Advisor for the winner of the FIRST PLACE PAPER AWARD in the Masters Division of the 2013 Southeastern Regional Student Conference of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) in Raleigh, NC, on April 8-9, 2013.  Paper by Andrew Fist

  24. Advisor for the winner of the SECOND PLACE PAPER AWARD in the Masters Division of the 2013 Southeastern Regional Student Conference of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) in Raleigh, NC, on April 8-9, 2013.  Paper by Dimitrios A. Kakavelakis, III

  25. Recipient of the 2012 AIAA ZAREM EDUCATOR AWARD.  This national award recognizes contributions in mentorship and guidance provided to graduate students . . . Ten years of excellence at the UT Space Institute

  26. Recognized for advising the winner of the 2012 AIAA ZAREM PAPER AWARD for Distinguished Achievement in Astronautics; winning paper by Charles Haddad (MS graduate student)

  27. KEYNOTE SPEAKER, “Flow-Field Structure of Vortex Combustors,” International Symposium on Special Topics in Chemical Propulsion, 9-ISICP, Quebec City, Canada, July 11, 2012. This paper ranked second (out of nine contenders) in the biennial competition for the prestigious Martin Summerfield Award

  28. Advisor for the winner of the FIRST PLACE PAPER AWARD in the Masters Division of the 2012 Southeastern Regional Student Conference of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) in Cape Canaveral, FL, on April 2-3, 2012.  Paper by Timothy Barber

  29. Advisor for the winner of the SECOND PLACE PAPER AWARD in the Masters Division of the 2012 Southeastern Regional Student Conference of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) in Cape Canaveral, FL, on April 2-3, 2012.  Paper by Charles Haddad

  30. AIAA Short Course Instructor, Perturbation Methods in Science and Engineering (2011)

  31. Advisor for the winner of the FIRST PLACE PAPER AWARD in the Masters Division of the 2011 Southeastern Regional Student Conference of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on April 4–5, 2011.  Paper by Georges Akiki

  32. Elected ASSOCIATE FELLOW of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in January 2011

  33. ASSOCIATE EDITOR, International Journal of Energetic Materials and Chemical Propulsion, Begell House, Aug 2010–present

  34. Advisor for the winner of the SECOND PLACE PAPER AWARD in the Masters Division of the 2010 Southeastern Regional Student Conference of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) in Destin, Florida on April 8–9, 2010.  Paper by Nadim Zgheib

  35. Advisor for the winner of the THIRD PLACE PAPER AWARD in the Masters Division of the 2010 Southeastern Regional Student Conference of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) in Destin, Florida on April 8–9, 2010.  Paper by Michel Akiki

  36. Editor (associate), International Journal of Aerospace Engineering, March 2010

  37. AIAA Short Course Instructor, Hybrid Rocket Propulsion (2009-present)

  38. KEYNOTE SPEAKER, “On the Effective Use of Analytical Methods in a Computer Dominated Era,” International Conference on Advances in Computational Tools for Engineering Applications, IEEE/ACTEA’09, Notre Dame University, LE, July 17, 2009

  39. Co-recipient of TN Senate Commendation on February 12, 2009 in conjunction with Brian Maicke (PhD student) for joint work leading to significant publication (TN Senate Joint Resolution No. 36)

  40. Recipient of the 2007 GENERAL HAP ARNOLD AWARD “for outstanding personal contributions to the advancement of compressible flow theory and rocket internal ballistics”

  41. Recipient of the 2007 RALPH TEETOR EDUCATIONAL AWARD, SAE International

  42. Elected Chair of Education, AIAA Hybrid Rocket Technical Committee (2007-present)

  43. Elected Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers in September 2006

  44. Elected Member of the 2005 and 2006 External Advisory Boards instituted by the Center for Simulation of Advanced Rockets, UIUC, IL

  45. Designated AIAA Technical Expert in Analytic Approaches to Hybrid Rocket Flow Fields

  46. Member of the Review Board for the AIAA Progress Series in Astronautics and Aeronautics (2003-present)

  47. PANELIST for the NSF GK12, CAREER, CCLI, STTR/SBIR, PMP, GPG, and CMMI programs

  48. Recipient of the 2005 AIAA SOLID ROCKETS BEST PAPER AWARD (AIAA Paper № 2004-4054)

  49. Recipient of several AIAA Best Paper Award Nominations (1998-present)

  50. Recipient of the 2003–04 Faculty Research Infrastructure Award (NASA/WSGC)

  51. Recipient of the 2003 CAREER AWARD from the National Science Foundation (NSF)

  52. Appointed Jack D. Whitfield Professor of High Speed Flows (2003-2006)

  53. NASA Space Grant Consortium, Faculty Moderator and BalloonSat Taskforce Director, Marquette University (1997-2004)

  54. ASME Faculty Moderator, Marquette University (1999-2003)

  55. Recipient of the 2002–03 Faculty Research Infrastructure Award (NASA/WSGC)

  56. Recipient of the 2002–03 Higher Education Incentive Award (NASA/WSGC)

  57. Recipient of the 1999–00 OUTSTANDING TEACHING AWARD in Mechanical Engineering

  58. Recipient of the 1998–99 OUTSTANDING TEACHING AWARD in Mechanical Engineering

  59. Recipient of the 1997–98 COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING RESEARCH AWARD

  60. Recipient of the 1997 Summer Faculty Fellowship Award

  61. Ranked first/second on Student Exit Surveys (1998-2003)

  62. Completion of both MS and PhD degrees with a 4.00/4.00 GPA

  63. Top 5% ranking of summer instructors, Utah (1992-1996)

  64. Recipient of the 1992 University of Utah Graduate Research Fellowship

  65. Recipient of the Bachelor of Engineering Degree with Distinction (1989)

  66. Recipient of the Academic Exchange Service Fellowship, Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD), Germany (1988)

  67. Recipient of the Student Leadership and Service Award (1987)