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.

jhwang@eng.ucsd.edu   ·   LinkedIn   ·   Google Scholar

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: Computational aircraft design, Scientific computing.

dsarojini@ucsd.edu

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.

vgandari@eng.ucsd.edu

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.

ajoshy@eng.ucsd.edu

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.

jkrokowski@ucsd.edu   ·   LinkedIn

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.

mruh@ucsd.edu

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.

sasandov@eng.ucsd.edu

Luca Scotzniosvky

PhD Student, UC San Diego, 2021-present.

BS, Aerospace Engineering (Minor: Mathematics), UC San Diego, 2021.

Research focus: eVTOL aerodynamic design optimization.

lscotzni@ucsd.edu

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.

msperry@ucsd.edu

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

Bingran Wang

PhD Student, UC San Diego, 2019-present.

BASc, Engineering Science, University of Toronto, 2019.

Research focus: large-scale optimization under uncertainty.

b6wang@eng.ucsd.edu   ·   Personal Website

Michael Warner

PhD Student, UC San Diego, 2021-present.

BS, Aerospace Engineering, University of Washington, 2020.

Research focus: optimization of composite structures.

mwarner@ucsd.edu

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.

norndorff@ucsd.edu

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.

rxiang@eng.ucsd.edu

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.

jiy352@eng.ucsd.edu   ·   Personal Website   ·   LinkedIn

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.

tcuatt@ucsd.edu

Ryan Dunn

MS Student, UC San Diego, 2021-present.

BS, Aerospace Engineering, UC San Diego, 2021.

Research focus: shape optimization.

tcuatt@ucsd.edu

Huaiyu Hou 

MS Student, UC San Diego, 2022-present.

BE, Aerospace Engineering, Chongqing University, 2022 .

Research focus: hybrid-/turbo-electric aircraft optimization.

h3hou@ucsd.edu

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.

alivanov@eng.ucsd.edu

Xiangbei Liu

MS Student, UC San Diego, 2020-present.

BS, Mechanical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, 2019.

Research focus: aircraft geometry and mesh generation.

xil092@ucsd.edu

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.

mphan@ucsd.edu

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.

r1swaminathan@ucsd.edu

Charles Whitaker

MS Student, UC San Diego, 2022-present.

BS, Mechanical Engineering, United States Military Academy, 2014.Intern, Sikorski Aircraft, 2013.

Research focus: rotorcraft design optimization.

cwhitaker@ucsd.edu

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.

sasrinath@ucsd.edu

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.

kavishkondap@gmail.com

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.