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Congratulations, Aerospace Engineering Graduates!

Aerospace Engineering at Illinois welcomed 77 new alumni following Commencement ceremonies May 12.

Space Shuttle Veterans Altman, Nagel, Return to Campus for Talks

Aerospace Engineering alumni speak about their experiences on space missions.

Engineering at Illinois Students Enter Drone in National Challenge

AE students design small drone aircraft for national competition.

Farquhar to Receive College's Distinguished Alumnus Award

AE alumnus receives College of Engineering's Alumni Award for Distinguished Service.

New Energy Management Devices Protect Structures from Damaging Forces, Motions

Engineering at Illinois researchers attempt to mitigate damage from earthquakes.

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Austin Elected AIAA Associate Fellow

AE Associate Prof. Joanna M. Austin has been elected an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

Austin and AE Prof. Jonathan B. Freund, also a 2012 Associate Fellow, will be honored at the AIAA Associate Fellows Dinner on Monday, January 9, 2012 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center, Nashville, Tenn., in conjunction with the 50th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting. To be selected for the grade of Associate Fellow an individual must be an AIAA Senior Member with at least twelve years professional experience, and be recommended by a minimum of three current Associate Fellows.

Associate Prof. Joanna M. Austin and several of her students in the Compressible Fluid Mechanics laboratory.
Associate Prof. Joanna M. Austin and several of her students in the Compressible Fluid Mechanics laboratory.
Austin researches fundamental problems in fluid mechanics, particularly in reacting, compressible flows that occur in a broad range of applications: hypervelocity planetary entry, shock-driven bubble collapse, detonation and supersonic combustion, and high speed flow phenomena in geological applications such as explosive volcanic eruptions.

Her research is predominantly experimental, combined with analytical modeling.

Upon her arrival at Illinois in 2003, she established the Compressible Fluid Mechanics (CFM) laboratory, and with the support of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, built the Hypervelocity Expansion Tube (HET) facility. This facility uses a novel method of gas acceleration to produce a minimally contaminated free-stream representative of planetary entry conditions for ground-based testing.

Austin has conducted a number of fundamental studies using the HET and other facilities in the CFM lab and has been published widely in such journals as Physics of Fluids, Progress in Aerospace Sciences, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Journal of Geophysical Research, and AIAA Journal. The depth and innovation of her research has led to funding by AFOSR, the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, and industries such as Gulfstream and Rolls-Royce.

Her honors and awards include the College of Engineering Xerox Award for Faculty Research, the Richard Bruce Chapman Memorial Award for distinguished research in hydrodynamics in the Engineering and Applied Sciences Division at Caltech, the Young Investigator Program Award from AFOSR, Best Paper Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Fluid Dynamics Technical Committee, and an NSF CAREER Award.

Written by Susan Mumm
Posted on December 2, 2011