Message From the Department Chair

Embry‑Riddle’s Aerospace Engineering (AE) Department is the largest in the country, with 2,145 Bachelor of Science students, 110 Master of Science students and 68 Ph.D. students as of Fall 2023. It should be noted that about 9.5% of our undergraduates are honors students, while the rest of the Embry‑Riddle Daytona Beach campus has 4.5% honors students. In addition, we continue to have numerous design/build/test projects at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

I am also proud to report that the undergraduate AE program continues to rank very highly at No. 4 in the nation, according to “U.S. News and World Report” rankings (September 2023). This is a significant accomplishment and demonstrates the program's quality. The graduate program also continues to thrive, ranking No. 25 (tied) in April 2023 and second in Florida. Currently, we have 23% female students and 24% underrepresented minorities in our B.S. program, which is about 7% and 9% (respectively) higher than the national average for Aerospace Engineering programs.

Our research expenditures have been increasing significantly. Some notable current and recently awarded external projects are:

• Department of Education Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need — GAANN. PIs: Lyrintzis, Engblom, Henderson, Leishman, Namilae.
• NSF CAREER, “Multiscale Optimization of Additively Manufactural Spatially Varying Cellular Microstructures.” PI: Tamijani.
• Air Force Research Lab, “Improved Image Processing for Orbit Estimation.” PI: Henderson.
• NSF, “Collaborative Research: Software Infrastructure for Analysis of Infection Propagation Through Air Travel.” Namilae: ERAU PI in multi-university collaboration.
• AFSOR, “A Machine Learning-Based Transfer to Predict Warhead In-Flight Behavior From Static Arena Test Data.” PI: Bevilacqua.
• Florida Space Grant Consortium, “CubeSats Hosting Flexible Appendages for On-Orbit Testing of Advanced Control Algorithms.” PI: Bevilacqua.
• Supernal, “Inceptor Configuration Study for Simplified Vehicle Operations (SVO).” PIs: Collins, Anderson.
• ONR, “Fused Deposition Modeling and Additive Fusion Technology for Continuous Fiber-Reinforced Composite 3D Printing.” PIs: Tamijani, Gnanamanickam, Namilae.
• Air Force, “Experimental Testbed for Development and Validation of Autonomous ISAM/OSAM Systems.” PIs: Nazari, Lovell, Dogan.
• Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), “Integrated Flight and Propulsion Controls for Rotorcraft — Phase 2.” PIs: Collins, Anderson, Dogan, Prazenica.
• Moog Inc. Aircraft Group, “Multi-Copter Coaxial Rotor Design, Analysis and Testing.” PIs: Collins, Ricklick, Currier, Leishman.
• NASA ULI, “Safe, Low-Noise Operation of UAM in Urban Canyons via Integration of Gust Outcomes and Trim Optimization” (subcontract to University of Boston), PIs Golubev, Lyrintzis, Mankbadi.
• AFSOR, “The Response of Wall Turbulence to Large‐Scale, Space‐Time Perturbations.” PI: Gnanamanickam.
• FAA, “Shielded UAS Operations — Detect and Avoid (DAA).” PI: Moncayo.
• ONR, "Active Control of Jet Noise via Bi-Modal Excitation." PIs: Mankbadi, Golubev.
• NSF-REU Site, “Exploring Aerospace Research at the Intersection of Mechanics, Materials Science and Aerospace Physiology.” PIs: Madiyar (Physical Science) and Mello.
• NIH, “A Data Analytics Framework for the Application of Pedestrian Dynamics to Public Health.” PI: Namilae.
• VLRCOE-Vertical Lift Research Centers of Excellence — subcontract from Georgia Tech, “Holistic Representation of Ship-Airwake-Rotor Interactions for Naval UAS Operations.” PIs: Leishman, Gnanamanickam.
• NASA KSC, “Phase II: Development of an SE(3)-Based Rigid Body Pose Estimation Scheme for Unknown Moments of Inertia,” a.i. Solutions, Inc. PIs: Nazari, Henderson, Prazenica.
• FAA, “Investigate Detect and Avoid (DAA) Track Classification and Filtering.” PIs: Prazenica, Henderson, Nazari, Moncayo, Stansbury EECS, Spence COA.
• AFSOR, “Novel Space Science Test via Adaptive Control and Integral Concurrent Learning Leveraging On-Orbit CubeSat Structural Identification.” PI: Bevilacqua.
• NASA, “GNC Efforts in Support of the University of Florida’s Research for NASA’s Instrument Incubator Program (IIP).” PI: Bevilacqua.
• NSF, “Understanding the Coupled Interactions Between Hair-Like Micromechanoreceptors and Wall Turbulence.” PI: Gnanamanickam.
• NSF, “Cyber: Perceptual and Cognitive Additive Manufacturing (PCAM).” PI: Kim, co-PIs: Rojas, Song (EECS).
• ARO, “Understanding the Coupled Dynamics of Particles and Wall Turbulence.” PIs: Gnanamanickam, Zhang.

Our students have been involved in many interesting projects. One example is a project led by Dr. Henderson in which the students are developing a camera (EagleCam) to take a picture of a moon landing (the first camera to do so). The department also participates in many collegiate competition projects undertaken by undergraduate students with notable successes, including these excellent accomplishments:

• 2nd place in the AIAA Design, Build, Fly (DBF) 2022 competition with 100-plus teams competing. Embry-Riddle finished third last year and has placed within the top 10 in the last five years.
• 2nd place in AIAA Engine Design Competition (2020)
• 1st place in the AIAA Individual Design Competition (summer 2017)

Our successes across these various areas are thanks to the guidance from very talented faculty who are leaders in their fields. In fact, a recent Elsevier study named several of our faculty among an international list of the world’s top 2% of scientists recognized for their career scholarly impact (excluding self-citations). There are 1,065 names in the Aerospace Engineering discipline. The following Embry-Riddle Distinguished Professors are recognized in this list: Dr. Gordon Leishman #25, Dr. Mark Balas #39 (visiting), Dr. John Ekaterinaris #200, Dr. Tasos Lyrintzis #441, Dr. James Gregory #446 and Dr. Reda Mankbadi #676. Also, Dr. Bevilacqua is listed in the 2021 yearly impact list.

I am also proud to highlight that our researchers at the Eagle Flight Research Center (EFRC) have been awarded external funding that allows them to work on projects related to electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft, an exciting new area of flight brought about by advances in electric propulsion technology and the novel vehicle configurations that technology allows. The EFRC has developed Hybrid-Electric Propulsion (HEP) systems for these aircraft to increase the range these types of aircraft can fly compared to batteries alone. In 2019 and 2020, under a $2.5 million contract with Boeing, the EFRC designed, built and tested a 120 kW HEP system for a 950 lb. multi-rotor UAV. Because these aircraft are novel in so many ways, research related to their certification is of paramount importance for these aircraft to eventually provide service to the public. Under a $630,000 grant from the FAA, the EFRC has built two large, 80 lb. quad-rotor handling quality certification research testbeds utilizing rotors that can control their thrust and moment in a variety of ways. The research is aimed at providing guidance to the FAA related to the certification of eVTOL aircraft. In 2022, Hyundai Motor Group’s Supernal provided $540,000 in funding for the EFRC to build an eVTOL simulator to study various stick configurations for their future eVTOL aircraft flight controls. The EFRC collaborated with the Aging, Perception and Performance Lab at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to put subjects through a protocol and ultimately provide feedback to Supernal regarding which configurations yielded the best results across a range of pilot experience. The EFRC has developed a reputation as experts in the areas of electric propulsion, hybrid-electric propulsion and eVTOL. Their ongoing research and development will provide governing agencies with the data they need to make informed regulations about these new novel aircraft.

Best Regards,

Dr. Tasos Lyrintzis
Distinguished Professor and Chair