People

Dr. John Evans is an Associate Professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder. Prior to coming to Boulder, Dr. Evans received his Ph.D. in Computational and Applied Mathematics from the University of Texas at Austin in 2011. Dr. Evans leads the CMGLab, and his research interests include computational fluid dynamics, structural dynamics, and wave propagation, isogeometric methods, structure-preserving discretizations, and multiscale/stabilized finite element methods.

Adam Christopherson is a Ph.D. student in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Prior to coming to Boulder, Adam received a B.S. in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. He is interested in computational mechanics and optimization, and his current research is directed at using structure-preserving discretizations for the isogeometric analysis of elasticity problems. Adam's principal Ph.D. advisor is Professor Kurt Maute of the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences.

Samantha (Sam) Friess is a Ph.D. student in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Prior to coming to Boulder, Sam received her B.S. degree in Aerospace Engineering with a minor in Mathematics from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. Sam’s research interests include computational fluid dynamics, turbulence modeling, machine learning, and wind energy.

Jeffrey (Jeff) Hadley is a Ph.D. student in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Prior to coming to Boulder, Jeff received a B.Sc.E. in Mechanical Engineering and Minor in Computer Science from the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada. Jeff's research interests include computational fluid dynamics, in-situ design space exploration of incompressible flows, and his current focus is on data compression for scale resolving simulations. Jeff's principal Ph.D. advisor is Professor Ken Jansen of the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences.

James Wright is a Ph.D. student in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder. Prior to coming to Boulder, James received his B.S. and M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina. James's research interests are in computational fluid dynamics, hybrid turbulence models, and vehicle aerodynamics, and his current focus is on hybrid RANS/LES modeling of vehicle aerodynamics. James's principal Ph.D. advisor is Professor Ken Jansen of the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences.

Nils Wunsch is a Ph.D. student in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder since Spring 2020. Prior to coming to Boulder, Nils received a B.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Stuttgart, Germany. Nils is working on a software framework for solving multi-material topology optimization problems using an immersed eXtended Finite Element Method (XFEM) . His research focuses on stabilization methods for XFEM, the use of higher order hierarchical B-spline basis functions in the XFEM, and applying the XFEM to fluid flow problems. Nils's principal Ph.D. advisor is Professor Kurt Maute of the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences.

Nathan (Nate) Lin is an MS student in the CMGLab focusing on data-driven construction of slope limiters for hypersonic flow computations.

Sumedh Soman is an MS student in the CMGLab focusing on volume reconstruction from sparse cross-sectional images.

Ryan Caputo is an undergraduate researcher in the CMGLab focusing on interpolation-based immersed finite element and isogeometric analysis.

Dr. Craig Michoski was a Research Associate in the Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder from 2014-2015. Prior to coming to Boulder, Dr. Michoski received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin in 2009. Dr. Michoski's research interests include computational fluid dynamics and plasma physics, fluid-structure and plasma-material interaction, high-order numerical methods capable of preserving important physical features of systems, and high performance computing. Dr. Michoski is currently a Research Scientist at the Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences at the University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Joseph Benzaken was a Ph.D. Student in the Department of Applied Mathematics at the University of Colorado Boulder. Dr. Benzaken graduated in Summer 2018, and his dissertation focused on the quantification, propagation, and control of geometric uncertainty. Prior to coming to Boulder, Dr. Benzaken received his B.S. in Applied Mathematics, B.S. in Aerospace Engineering, and B.A. in Physics from the California State University, Long Beach in 2013. Dr. Benzaken is currently a Research Scientist at Freeform.

Dr. Christopher Coley was a Ph.D. student in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder. Dr. Coley graduated in Summer 2017, and his dissertation focused on residual-based turbulence modeling for isogeometric large eddy simulation. Prior to coming to Boulder, Dr. Coley received his M.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology in 2011. Dr. Coley is a Major in the United States Air Force and is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Aeronautics at the United States Air Force Academy.

Dr. Luke Engvall was a Ph.D. Student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. Dr. Engvall graduated in Summer 2018, and his dissertation focused on geometrically exact curvilinear mesh generation. Prior to coming to Boulder, Dr. Engvall received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of New Mexico in 2012. Dr. Engvall is currently a Software Engineer at Coreform LLC.

Dr. DeAnna Gilchrist was a Ph.D. student in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences and an M.S. student in Applied Mathematics at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Dr. Gilchrist graduated in Summer 2023, and her dissertation focused on structure-preserving discretizations for compressible fluid flow on moving domains. Prior to coming to Boulder, Dr. Gilchrist worked in industry using computational fluid dynamics and design space exploration to solve problems in conjugate heat transfer and airfoil design and analysis. Dr. Gilchrist currently is a Thermal Hydraulics Analyst at TerraPower.

Dr. David Gunderman was a Ph.D. student in the Applied Mathematics department at the University of Colorado Boulder. Dr. Gunderman graduated in Spring 2021, and his dissertation focused on high-order numerical integration over trimmed and intersected geometries. Prior to coming to Boulder, Dr. Gunderman received his A.B. Summa Cum Laude from Wabash College in 2015 and spent a year in Germany with the Fulbright program. After receiving his PhD, Dr. Gunderman spent a year as a Lillian Gilbreth Postdoctoral Fellow at Purdue University, and he is now pursuing his M.D. at Indiana University.

Thomas (Tommy) Kava was a Ph.D. student in the Ann and H.J Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Dr. Kava graduated in Fall 2023, and his dissertation focused on numerical simulation of internal hypersonic flows. Prior to coming to Boulder, Dr. Kava received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Dr. Kava is currently a Computational Plasma Physicist in the Skunk Works division at Lockheed Martin.

Dr. Basu Parmar was a Ph.D student in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. Dr. Parmar graduated in Fall 2023, and his dissertation focused on data-driven turbulence modeling. Prior to coming to Boulder, Dr. Parmar received his B. Tech in Aerospace Engineering from IIT Bombay, India. Dr. Parmar is currently a Research Engineer at Convergent Science.

Dr. Eric Peters was a Ph.D. student in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Dr. Peters graduated in Summer 2019, and his dissertation research focused on data-driven modeling and structure-preserving discretization for turbulent incompressible flows. Prior to coming to Boulder, Dr. Peters received his B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Iowa State University in 2014. Dr. Peters is currently a Senior Software Engineer at Planet.

Dr. Aviral Prakash was a Ph.D. student in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Dr. Aviral Prakash graduated in Summer 2023, and his dissertation focused on analysis of turbulent boundary layers subject to strong favorable and adverse pressure gradients as well as data-driven subgrid stress closure for LES modeling. Prior to coming to Boulder, Dr Prakash received his B. Tech in Mechanical Engineering from MNNIT Allahabad, India and M.A.Sc in Aerospace Engineering from Polytechnique Montreal, Canada. Dr. Prakash is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher at Carnegie Mellon University.

Dr. Corey Wetterer-Nelson was a Ph.D. student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. Dr. Wetterer-Nelson graduated in Spring 2021, and his dissertation focused on computational steering of large scale simulations and geometric design space exploration. Prior to coming to Boulder, Dr. Wetterer-Nelson received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Portland in 2015. Dr. Wetterer-Nelson is currently a Senior R&D Engineer at Kitware Inc.

Andrew Komitor was an M.S. student in Aerospace Engineering Sciences. Andrew graduated in Spring 2023, and his thesis focused on comparing finite volume and discontinuous Galerkin methods for magnetohydrodynamics. Andrew obtained a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering Sciences from the University of Colorado Boulder in May 2022. Andrew is currently a Rocket Enginge System Performance and Trades Analyst at Blue Origin.

Daniel Lee was an M.S. student in Aerospace Engineering Sciences. Daniel graduated in Spring 2020, and his thesis focused on representation, propagation, and visualization of geometric uncertainty. Prior to coming to Boulder, Daniel worked in industry using finite element methods to perform stress analysis and design hydro power generators. Daniel is currently a Mechanical Engineer at Sandia National Laboratories.

Arvind Dudi Raghunath was an M.S. student in Aerospace Engineering Sciences. Arvind graduated in Summer 2019, and his thesis focused on fast system formation and assembly for isogeometric analysis. Prior to coming to Boulder, Arvind received his B.E. in Mechanical Engineering from B.M.S. College of Engineering in Bangalore, India. Arvind is currently a Mechanical Design Engineer at Honeywell Aerospace.

Ansel Rothstein-Dowden was an M.S. student in Aerospace Engineering Sciences. Ansel graduated in Spring 2018, and his thesis focused on isogeometric boundary element methods for high Reynolds number incompressible flows and airfoil design optimization. Ansel Rothstein-Dowden obtained a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering Sciences and a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Colorado Boulder in May 2017. Prior to coming to Boulder, Ansel graduated from Falmouth High School in Falmouth, MA in 2013. Ansel is currently a Software Systems Engineer at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Guoxiang (Grayson) Tong was an M.S. student in Mechanical Engineering. Grayson graduated in Spring 2020, and his thesis focused on skeleton stabilization of divergence-conforming discretizations for incompressible fluid flow. Prior to coming to Boulder, Grayson received his B.S. degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the Civil Aviation University of China. Grayson is currently a Ph.D. student at Notre Dame University.

Ryan Aronson was an undergraduate researcher in the CMGLab from Summer 2017 to Spring 2018, focusing on large eddy simulation for turbulent incompressible flows. Matthew received a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering Sciences in May 2018, and he is currently a Ph.D. student in Computational and Mathematical Engineering at Stanford University.

Lucas Calvert was an undergraduate researcher in the CMGLab from Summer 2018 to Spring 2019, focusing on the implementation and application of immersive simulation. Lucas received a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering Sciences in May 2019. Lucas later received an M.S. in Aerospace Engineering Sciences from the University of Colorado Boulder, and he is currently a Propulsion Engineer at SpaceX.

Derrick Choi was an undergraduate researcher in the CMGLab from Summer 2021 to Spring 2022, focusing on data-driven subgrid stress closure for large eddy simulation of turbulent incompressible flows. Derrick received his B.S. in Aerospace Engineering Sciences in May 2022, and continued on at the University of Colorado Boulder to receive his M.S. in Aerospace Engineering Sciences in May 2023. Derrick is currently a Guidance, Control, and Navigation Engineer at Lockheed Martin.

Dr. Bryan Doyle was an undergraduate researcher at the CMGLab in Summer 2015, focusing on the design of Rhino plugins for the facilitation of automated mesh generation. Dr. Doyle received his B.S. in Applied Mathematics in May 2015. Dr. Doyle later received his Ph.D. in Computational and Applied Mathematics from Rice University, and he is currently an R&D Engineer at Maxar Technologies.

Thad Gleason was an undergraduate researcher in the CMGLab from Summer 2018 to Spring 2019, focusing on the design, analysis, and implementation of hybridized Discontinuous Galerkin methods for magnetohydrodynamics. Thad received a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering Sciences and a B.S. in Engineering Physics in May 2019, and he is currently a Nuclear Engineer in the United States Navy.

Matthew Hurst was an undergraduate researcher in the CMGLab from Summer 2016 to Spring 2017, focusing on the development of multi-fidelity models for turbulent incompressible flows. Matthew received a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering Sciences and a second B.S. in Applied Mathematics in May 2017. Matthew later received an M.S. in Mathematical Modeling from UCL and an M.A.S. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Cambridge, and he is currently an Engineering Applications Software Engineer at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Emily Jordan was an undergraduate student in the CMGLab from Fall 2020 to Spring 2020, focusing on linking link parametric properties of isogeometric analysis with neural networks. Emily received a B.S. in Applied Mathematics and a second B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in Spring 2020, and she is currently taking a leap year before starting a Ph.D. at the University of Edinburgh.

Nicholas Moore was an undergraduate researcher in the CMGLab from Summer 2017 to Spring 2018, focusing on isogeometric higher-order mesh generation. Nicholas received a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering Sciences in May 2018, and he is currently an Avionics Software Engineer at Ball Aerospace.

Grant Norman was an undergraduate student in the CMGLab from Summer 2020 to Spring 2021, studying the effect of mesh topology on finite element-based large eddy simulation. Grant received a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering and a B.S. in Applied Mathematics in Spring 2021, and he is currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Elias Barroso was visiting the University of Colorado Boulder from September 2018 until August 2019 as a Ph.D. student from the Federal University of Ceará in Brazil. His research focus was on isogeometric mesh generation of surface models applied to structural analysis and optimization. Before starting as a Ph.D. student, Elias obtained a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering and an M.Sc. in Civil Engineering from the Federal University of Ceará.

Dr. Frits de Prenter was visiting the University of Colorado Boulder from November 2017 until March 2018 as a Ph.D. student from the Eindhoven University of Technology in The Netherlands. His research focus was on immersed finite element methods, with an emphasis on weak imposition of boundary conditions and on matrix conditioning and preconditioning. Before starting as a Ph.D. student, Dr. de Prenter obtained a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering and an M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mathematics from the Eindhoven University of Technology. Dr. de Prenter received a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the Eindhoven University of Technology in 2019.

Mario Gayete Ibáñez was visiting the University of Colorado Boulder from February 2021 until July 2021 as an M.S. student from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Polytechnic University of Catalonia) in Spain. His thesis focused on a stabilization of divergence-conforming discretizations for incompressible fluid flow using the vorticity equation. Before coming to Boulder as a mobility student, Mario received a B.S. in Aerospace Technology Engineering from the Universitat Politècnica de Catlunya in July 2019.