Brouwer Receives National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship

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Kirk Brouwer, a PhD student in Aerospace Engineering, has received a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship. Associate Professor Jack McNamara, who is Brouwer's advisor said, "Given Kirk's high academic achievement, and the critical importance of his proposed work to U.S. Department of Defense, it is no surprise that he was selected for the NDSEG Fellowship."

Brouwer's research is focused on bridging computational fluid dynamic simulations of high speed flows with response predictions of structural configurations intended for use on airbreathing hypersonic vehicles. One of the challenges currently faced by manufacturers of hypersonic technologies is the inability to simultaneously manage the need for detailed modeling of the flow field with the need for highly efficient models that can be incorporated into thermo-structural response predictions covering millions of time iterations. In order to address this gap, Kirk is focused on developing model reduction approaches that leverage both advanced statistical methods and insights into critical physical coupling mechanisms between the high speed fluid and the structure.

McNamara believes that airbreathing hypersonics represent a true 'final frontier' in aeronautical research and development. He said, "A key roadblock to unlocking this technology is being able to understand, mitigate and even exploit strong multi-physical interactions that occur over vastly different length and time scales. Kirk's PhD research, as part of our Collaborative Center in Structural Sciences with the U.S. Air Force, is tackling this very issue."

The NDSEG Fellowship is awarded to graduate students who intend to pursue a doctoral degree in science and engineering. The fellowship covers three years of tuition and fees and provides a yearly stipend for living expenses. The NDSEG Fellowship is sponsored and funded by the Department of Defense (DoD).  NDSEG selections are made by the Air Force Research Laboratory/Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFRL/AFOSR), the Office of Naval Research (ONR), and the Army Research Office (ARO). The American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) administers the NDSEG Fellowship.
Category: Graduate