People
Principal Investigator
John Hwang
Assistant Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, UC San Diego, 2018-present.
Research Engineer, NASA Glenn Research Center, 2016-2018.Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Michigan, 2015-2016.PhD, Aerospace Engineering, University of Michigan, 2015.MS, Mathematics, University of Michigan, 2013.MSE, Aerospace Engineering, University of Michigan, 2012.BASc, Engineering Science, University of Toronto, 2010.Postdoctoral Scholars
Darshan Sarojini
Postdoctoral Scholar, UC San Diego, 2022-present.
PhD, Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2021.MS, Computational Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2021.MS, Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2017.BE, Mechanical Engineering, B.M.S. College of Engineering, 2014.Research focus: Multidisciplinary design optimization; scientific computing; aircraft design
PhD Students
Victor Gandarillas
PhD Student, UC San Diego, 2019-present.
MS, Aerospace Engineering, University of California San Diego, 2018.Aeronautical Engineer, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, 2014-2015.BS, Aeronautics and Astronautics, Purdue University, 2013.Research focus: LSDO of CubeSat swarms; LSDO software frameworks.
Anugrah Jo Joshy
PhD Student, UC San Diego, 2019-present.
MS Student, UC San Diego, 2018-2019 (transferred to PhD).Engineer, Mahindra Auto Division R&D, 2016-2018.BTech, Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, 2016.Research focus: LSDO optimization algorithms.
Marius Ruh
PhD Student, UC San Diego, 2022-present.
MS, Mechanical Engineering, UC San Diego, 2022.BS, Aerospace Engineering, UC San Diego, 2020.Research focus: rotor analysis and eVTOL aircraft design optimization.
Sergio Sandoval
PhD Student, UC San Diego and San Diego State University, 2019-present (co-advised with Prof. Ping Lu).
MS, Aerospace Engineering, San Diego State University, 2018-2019 (transferred to PhD).BS, Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2017.Research focus: design and guidance of spacecraft.
Luca Scotzniosvky
PhD Student, UC San Diego, 2021-present.
BS, Aerospace Engineering (Minor: Mathematics), UC San Diego, 2021.Research focus: eVTOL aerodynamic design optimization.
Mark Sperry
PhD Student, UC San Diego, 2022-present.
MS, Mechanical Engineering, UC San Diego, 2021.BS, Mechanical Engineering, UC San Diego, 2020.Research focus: eVTOL transition maneuver optimization.
Bingran Wang
PhD Student, UC San Diego, 2019-present.
BASc, Engineering Science, University of Toronto, 2019.Research focus: large-scale optimization under uncertainty.
Michael Warner
PhD Student, UC San Diego, 2021-present.
BS, Aerospace Engineering, University of Washington, 2020.Research focus: optimization of composite structures.
Ru Xiang
PhD Student, UC San Diego, 2019-present (co-advised with Prof. David Kamensky).
MS Student, UC San Diego, 2018-2019 (transferred to PhD).BSE, Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan-Shanghai Jiao Tong University Joint Institute, 2018.Research focus: finite element analysis; isogeometric analysis.
Jiayao Yan
PhD Student, UC San Diego, 2020-present (co-advised with Prof. Michael Tolley).
MS Student, UC San Diego, 2018-2020 (transferred to PhD).BS, Energy and Power Engineering, Jilin University, 2017.Research focus: design of soft robots using LSDO.
Master's Students
Timothy Cuatt
MS Student, UC San Diego, 2020-present.
Drafter, Utility Trailer Manufacturing.Engineering Consultant, Airlitix.Intern, NASA Langley Research Center.BS, Aerospace Science and Engineering, UC Davis, 2017.Research focus: aircraft conceptual design optimization.
Ryan Dunn
MS Student, UC San Diego, 2021-present.
BS, Aerospace Engineering, UC San Diego, 2021.Research focus: shape optimization.
Alexander Ivanov
MS Student, UC San Diego, 2019-present.
Summer Intern, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, 2020.BS, Aerospace Engineering, UC San Diego, 2019.Research focus: electric aircraft powertrain design optimization.
Xiangbei Liu
MS Student, UC San Diego, 2020-present.
BS, Mechanical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, 2019.Research focus: aircraft geometry and mesh generation.
Nicholas Orndorff
MS Student, UC San Diego, 2021-present.
Intern, Scaled Composites.Intern, Vashon Aircraft.Intern, OceanGate.BS, Mechanical Engineering, University of Washington, 2021.Research focus: eVTOL flight dynamics.
Myron Phan
MS Student, UC San Diego, 2021-present.
Intern, One Cycle Control.BS, Aerospace Engineering, UC Irvine, 2021.Research focus: aircraft geometry modeling and shape optimization.
Rajashekar Swaminathan
MS Student, UC San Diego, 2022-present.
BTech, Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli, 2022.Research focus: Model Based Systems Engineering; Multidisciplinary design optimization.
Charles Whitaker
MS Student, UC San Diego, 2022-present.
BS, Mechanical Engineering, United States Military Academy, 2014.Intern, Sikorski Aircraft, 2013.Research focus: helicopter design optimization.
Undergraduate Students
Samvrit Srinath
BS Computer Science Student, UC San Diego, 2022-present.
**Regents Scholar Research Initiative (RSRI).Research focus: Cost modeling of eVTOL and aircraft design optimization.
UCSD External LSDO Members
Kavish Kondap
High School Student, Francis Parker Upper School, 2020-present.
Intern, MemryX, 2022.Intern, Syntiant, 2021.Research focus: LSDO software framework.
Alumni
Master's Students
Marius Ruh 2020-2022 (transferred to PhD).
Mark Sperry 2020-2021 (transferred to PhD).
Tae Hyun Ha MS, 2018-2020, (skyTran).
Ning Li MS, 2018-2020 (PhD student at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign).
Thomas Nascenzi MS, 2018-2020 (M4 Engineering).
Aobo Yang MS, 2018-2020 (Bosch AI Research Center).
Anugrah Jo Joshy 2018-2019 (transferred to PhD).
Ru Xiang 2018-2019 (transferred to PhD).
Jiayao Yan 2018-2019 (transferred to PhD).
Undergraduate Students
Andrew Fletcher 2021.
Ryan Dunn 2021.
Taeho Jeong UC Scholar, 2021.
Luca Scotzniovsky 2020-2021.
Jeffrey Dungan GEAR student, 2020-2021.
Jennifer Nguyen GEAR student, 2020-2021.
Tien Nguyen GEAR student, 2020-2021.
Marius Ruh 2020.
Benjamin Norriega GEAR student, 2019-2020.
Andrew Rodriguez GEAR student, 2019-2020.
Karla Aceves 2019.
Hector Marin-Alcantar 2019.
Noe Melchor 2019.
Diego Miranda-Gutierrez 2019.
Nathaniel Villareal 2019.