People
Principal Investigator
John Hwang
Associate Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, UC San Diego, 2024-present.
Assistant Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, UC San Diego, 2018-2024.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
Bingran Wang
Postdoctoral Scholar, UC San Diego, 2024-present.
PhD, Aerospace Engineering, UC San Diego, 2024.BASc, Engineering Science, University of Toronto, 2019.Research focus: large-scale optimization under uncertainty.
PhD Students
Andrew Fletcher
PhD Student, UC San Diego, 2021-present.
BS, Aerospace Engineering, UC San Diego, 2021.Intern, NASA Langley Research Center, 2021.Research focus: Geometry, design parameterization for LSDO.
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.
Joshua J Krokowski
PhD Student, UC San Diego, 2021-present.
Mechanical Engineer, James Fisher Technologies, 2018-2021.Mechanical Engineer, Additive Manufacturing, 2015-2018.BS, Mechanical Engineering, Colorado State University, 2015.Research focus: finite element analysis for structures used in large-scale optimization.
Nicholas Orndorff
PhD Student, UC San Diego, 2022-present.
MS, Mechanical Engineering, UC San Diego, 2021-2022 (transferred to PhD)Intern, Scaled Composites.Intern, Vashon Aircraft.BS, Mechanical Engineering, University of Washington, 2021.Research focus: eVTOL flight dynamics.
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.
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.
Sebastiaan van Schie
PhD Student, UC San Diego, 2021-present.
MSc, Applied Mathematics, TU Delft, 2021.MSc, Aerospace Engineering, TU Delft, 2021.BSc, Aerospace Engineering, TU Delft, 2015.Research focus: data-driven model reduction for large-scale design optimization; aeroelastic coupling.
svanschie@ucsd.edu · LinkedIn · Google Scholar · ResearchGate
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
Huaiyu Hou
MS Student, UC San Diego, 2022-present.
BE, Aerospace Engineering, Chongqing University, 2022 .Research focus: hybrid-/turbo-electric aircraft 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.
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.
Undergraduate Students
Seth McLaughlin
BS, Aerospace Engineering, UC San Diego, 2020-present.
Intern, Virgin Galactic, 2022 & 2023.Research focus: designing models for power beaming aircraft.
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
Postdoctoral Scholars
Darshan Sarojini 2022-2024. (Joby Aviation)
PhD Students
Victor Gandarillas 2019-2023. (Sandia National Laboratories)
Sergio Sandoval 2019-2023. (NASA Johnson Space Center)
Master's Students
Charles Whitaker 2022-2024. (U.S. Army)
Ryan Dunn 2021-2023. (Raytheon)
Timothy Cuatt 2020-2022. (M4 Engineering)
Xiangbei Liu 2020-2022 (PhD student at Dartmouth).
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.