Message from the Chair

Over several years the AME department has been expanding into new and vibrant research areas, and the last year was no exception. A new Assistant Professor Niema Pahlevan is coming from California Institute of Technology and Huntington Medical Research Institutes (HMRI). He is conducting research on workings of the human heart. His heart laboratory will be housed in a new Michelson Center for Convergent Bioscience that will be opening at the USC campus in November. The most recent hire is Professor Assad Oberai who will be joining AME from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in January 2018. Professor Oberai's research is in computational science and engineering, with applications in human health and care, soft materials, and multiphase flows and media. These faculty additions significantly add to the research strength of AME and the department plans to continue the faculty expansion in the coming years.

There is no university without students and teaching. We are very fortunate that we have excellent students, both undergraduate and graduate, and accomplished teaching faculty. The AME AeroDesign Team (ADT) took first place this year at the annual AIAA Design-Build-Fly competition, a testament to the dedication and competence of our students and their faculty advisor Professor Charles Radovich. Their success is featured in the articles below. Other design teams involve the Formula SAE Racing Team supervised by Professor Yann Stealens and the Hyperloop team supervised by Professor John McArthur. Finally, a team of students from USC's Center for Advanced Manufacturing, led by the center's Director Professor S.K. Gupta, were named finalists in the KUKA innovation competition last year. We fully expect that talented AME students will continue to flourish in these design competitions.

So, welcome and read on about what has been going on in the AME department this last year and what more is expected in the near future.

Julian A. Domaradzki, PhD

Professor and Chair, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering

jad@usc.edu