Technology Forecasting:
This is related to my thesis work. Please go to that page by clicking here....Ph.D. Research
Aerodynamics:
My disciplline level focus has been on aerodynamics. At ASDL, the researchers are designers, but acceptance within the school of Aerospace is not very high. Therefore, we designers must also become VERY versed in a specific discipline so as to obtain academic worthiness for our topics. "Design is NOT a discipline" as we are so often told. Anyway, back to the important info. I have analyzed a variety of configurations including an HSCT, VLT, GRA, ICE, and a few others. I do have a good bit of experience with the following aero codes: AERO2S (NASA Langley), BDAP (Boeing), WINGDES (NASA Langley), AWAVE, VORLAX (NASA Ames), USM3D (NASA Langley), and a few others.
Aircraft Synthesis/Sizing:
My ASDL research has focused on the sizing and synthesis of aircraft with the NASA Langley developed code FLOPS. Also, I (along with Elena Garcia) am the maintainer of the modifications to FLOPS and ALCCA. I have modeled a variety of commercial transport configurations including: Boeing 747-400, Boeing 777-200, a Very Large Transport (VLT - please refer to my 1996 and 1997 WAC paper below), a 150 passenger intra-continental commercial transport, a military Global Reach Aircraft (GRA - transport), and a typical High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT). I am not as experienced with the modeling of military fighter airplanes, but I included this picture because I though it was nice.
Economics:
My economics background started with work on the original JAST program. ASDL was an independent assessor for this Pentagon study. The study focused on determining if the next generation joint strike fighter would require a single or twin engine. Myself and another member of the lab, Oliver Bandte, were the economists for this project. And as Dan would say, "Don't feed the economists!!!" I have also worked on assessing the economics associated with the following aircraft: Airbus 340, Boeing 747-400, Boeing 777-200, McDonnel Douglas MD-11, an HSCT, a VLT, and the Concorde. These aircraft were modeled and analyzed in ALCCA (Aircraft Life Cycle Cost Analysis). ALCCA was originally developed by NASA Ames and a version of this program is in ACSYNT.You can retrieve an PostScript format of my 1996 World Aviation Conference paper on "A Preliminary Assessment on the Economic Viability of a Family of Very Large Transport Configurations" by clicking here. And my 1997 World Aviation Conference paper on "Demonstration of a Probabilistic Technique for the Determination of Economic Viability" by clicking here. This last paper focuses on assessment of the design space of a VLT; including Technology Impact Forcasting (TIF). It is quite an interesting paper , you should check it out. In fact, the paper contains some of the recent developments in ASDL's methodology. I am also publishing two more papers this year focusing on the TIF developments and the papers will be applications of this method to an HSCT and a 150 passenger intra-continental commercial transport. The HSCT paper is for the 1998 World Aviation Congress and the other is for a conference in Japan in October. I expect to publish 3 papers in 1999. The one that is most interesting is the SAWE paper. This one contains more information regarding the focus of my future PhD research, specifically, technology identification for future or derivative aircraft. Look at my resume page for further info on my publications or on the PhD page.
STARS Version 3.0
Various:
I have also been involved in writing shell scripts for linking codes and an automation process for executing the Response Surface Methodology outlined in many of ASDL papers. Dr. Mark Hale and myself wrote a little program with a GUI called STARS (Simplifying Time by Automating the Response Surfaces). We found , through experience, that creating the required number of cases for a DoE was excessive and prone to human error. I have also created or enhanced some scripts that link a variety of aero codes and geometry modelers. AEROLINK combines the following codes - WINGDES, AWAVE, BDAP, and AERO2S. Currently, this script is written specifically for an HSCT but is in the process of being expanded. I wrote another script that connects RAM (Rapid Aircraft Modeler from NASA Ames) to AERO2S and BDAP and then sends information to the sizing/synthesis tool FLOPS.A couple of final notes, I started my career at ASDL by joining as an undergraduate as the team leader for an AIAA Undergraduate Air-breathing Propulsion Design Contest in 1995. I might add, that our team won over Kansas and the Air Force Academy. And finally, I was awarded a NASA Graduate Student Fellowship Program award from the Systems Analysis Branch at NASA Langley. This was a three year fellowship that was funding my graduate work. I have also received the Zonta Intternational Amelia Earhart Fellowship in 1998-99.
Finally, I have prepared or been a member of preparing contract reports and they are listed below.