Advanced Viscous Flow

Joseph ("Joe?) Majdalani is the Hugh and Loeda Francis Chair of Excellence and Professor of Aerospace Engineering at Auburn University. His research focuses on the mathematical and computational modelling of the internal flowfields arising in a variety of rocket engines. His interests span rocket engine design and optimization, rocket internal ballistics, vorticity dynamics, computational mathematics, boundary-layer theory, and singular perturbation theory. He is a Fellow of ASME, Associate Fellow of AIAA, and has received numerous recognitions for his teaching, research, and service including the Auburn University Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award in 2021, the ASEE/AIAA J. Leland Atwood Educator Award in 2018, the Abe M. Zarem Educator Award in 2013 and, again, in 2018, the Solid Rockets Best Paper Award (thrice recipient). Dr. Gaurav Sharma is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Kennesaw State University. He earned his Ph.D. (2023) and M.S. (2022) in Aerospace Engineering from Auburn University, where he was recognized with the 2022 AIAA Greater Huntsville Section Graduate Student of the Year Award for Alabama and Mississippi and the Woltosz Fellowship for his academic achievements and contributions to the field of aerospace engineering. Earlier, he received the GATE Scholarship in 2011 from the All-India Council for Technical Education, supporting his M.E. (2013) in Space Engineering and Rocketry at Birla Institute of Technology Mesra, India. He also holds a B.Tech. in Aerospace Engineering (2011) from the University of Petroleum & Energy Studies, India.

Before KSU, Dr. Sharma served as an Instructor and Graduate Research Assistant in Auburn University's Advanced Propulsion Research Laboratory (APRL), focusing on Sierra Space Corporation's vortex engines, using advanced computational fluid dynamics. His research significantly advances the understanding and development of cyclonic vortex engines.