Events Calendar

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Seminar with AME Chair Geoffrey Spedding

Speaker: Geoffrey Spedding , AME department chair

Talk Title: Bird Design and Aircraft Evolution

Abstract: Alternative flying machines (in the sense that they differ from our usual designs) can be invented, or studied. In all cases, it is reasonable to wonder whether a particular design is optimal, or perhaps what it is optimal for. Definitions of optimality quickly become complex: “minimum drag:lift ratio for n passengers that allows our company to outcompete our rival(s)” or “something that can be grown fast, still works when 50% of
the aft surfaces are missing, and that fits in a nest”. We will consider two examples of flying devices, one evolved and one invented, and we will look for parallels that exist
between them, or perhaps ought to. The talk will also attempt to make specific connections with basic classes we teach/learn from at USC.

Biography: Education:

1981 Ph.D. in Zoology (with Civil Engineering Department) from the Department of Zoology, University of Bristol, Bristol, England.
1978 B.Sc.(Hons, 1st class) in Zoology from the Department of Zoology, University of Bristol, Bristol, England.



USC Academic Positions:

2010-: Professor and Chairman, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
2005-2008: Professor, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
1998-2005: Associate Professor, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
1994-1998: Research Associate Professor, Departments of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
1988-1994: Research Assistant Professor, Departments of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering; Member of Center for Neural Engineering
1981-1988: Research Associate, Departments of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering


Other Professional Positions:

2008-2009: Professor, Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, University of Pretoria, South Africa.
1998-: Visiting Research Fellow, Department of Animal Ecology, Lund University, Sweden.
1997: Stagiaire, Coriolis Research Laboratories, Institute de Mécanique Grenoble, France.



Host: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics with co-host Sigma Gamma Tau

More Information: USC_AIAA_GRS_Abstract_Nov29.pdf

Location: SAL 101

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: -- American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics