Faculty Spotlight: Brian Ritchie

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Where is your hometown?

I grew up in rural northwestern Ohio near Van Wert, and then moved to Brooklyn, MI partway through elementary school.

What is your field and what made you pursue it? 

I specialize in combustion and propulsion, and using laser diagnostics to measure fluid flows to study mixing.  I found thermodynamics and propulsion to be the most interesting courses as an undergraduate, and that remains true today.  And lasers are just cool, who wouldn’t want to use them?  They offer the ability to make non-invasive measurements of a flow and to distinguish one gas from another.

What brought you to Ohio State?

Which time?  Both of my parents are alumni, so I grew up a Buckeye fan and attended many football games.  After high school, I knew I wanted to study aerospace engineering in college and OSU was one of the schools that had a separate AE department.  OSU also offered a good financial aid package.  Later, when I was looking to make a career change and talked to people at OSU about it generally, the idea of working at OSU came up.  As an alumnus, I couldn’t say no.

What is the focus of your research and why is it significant?

I don’t run my own research lab right now.  My job is to teach experiential learning courses, so I focus on guiding students through research projects as part of their coursework.  I am currently advising 17 capstone teams working on different projects, which is enough to keep me busy.

Why should a prospective student consider your field?

Aerospace engineering is undergoing tremendous change right now in propulsion.  One of the primary drivers is the need to reduce carbon emissions.  Current hot topics are sustainable aviation fuels and hydrogen, which require detailed studying of combustion and the flows in new engines.  In addition, there is the push to distributed propulsion and electrification.  On the space side, the new space companies are designing new engines and the government is funding research into nuclear thermal and nuclear electric propulsion.  The next few decades will be a very exciting time in aerospace in general and propulsion in particular.

What do you like most about your job?

Interacting with the students, both inside and outside of class, and watching their growth as engineers-in-training.  Having the opportunity to help people improve at something that is important to them and to you is inspiring.

What advice would you give students considering a career in engineering?

Be willing to ask questions.  Engineering is challenging enough as it is, don’t try to do everything on your own.  When you don’t understand something, ask your peers, your TAs or your professors.  Engineering is a team endeavor, and so is learning it.  You also need to focus on the professional skills of communication and teamwork in modern engineering.  Employers value those skills highly, figuring they can teach you a technical topic more easily.

What is one of your favorite hobbies outside of being a professor and researcher?

I spent over 20 years practicing and teaching martial arts.

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