Advising

--- "We are a team!" ---

PHILOSOPHY

As a faculty advisor, I always strive to create a welcoming and collaborative environment for students from all backgrounds, nationalities, and identities, and to provide the necessary support for students to achieve their academic and research goals. When looking for new additions to my research lab, I look for students who are interested in fluid dynamics, algorithm development, numerical analysis, computer science, applied mathematics, and scientific computing for aerospace engineering applications. Students can demonstrate their interests and qualifications through taking relevant courses, completing independent study projects, having previous research experiences, and/or doing internships. Students must also have the ability to think critically, learn new skills quickly, work independently and collaboratively, tolerate ambiguity, and stay focus and motivated when facing challenges. In short, students who enjoy solving hard problems and have excellent work ethics are usually good fits. Furthermore, while I enjoy being an academic, I do not expect my students to pursue academic careers, and I fully support my students' career decisions. 

I structure my lab so that each student meets with me on a weekly basis. To be able to do so, I generally have 3-4 graduate students and 1-2 undergraduate students per academic year. The purpose of these weekly meetings is to discuss research and other academic/career-related topics. Students drive the meetings and may cancel if there are not any significant updates or challenges. Students need to bring a summary of their work to these weekly meetings. The summary does not have to be a polished document, but it must be comprehensible to others. The summary may consist of slides, handwritten notes, figures, codes, and/or anything else that will result in a meaningful discussion. We will not meet on university and federal holidays. Additional meetings may be requested if there are special needs. In addition to weekly, one-on-one meetings, graduate students must also attend group meetings. The purpose of these group meetings is to learn about ongoing research projects in our group, discuss software development, and/or review recent publications in the field.  Doctoral students are expected to mentor at least one undergraduate student and serve as teaching assistants for two semesters during their study. I believe the ability to mentor and teach is important even if students are not interested in academic careers. From past experiences, I find that significant mentoring and teaching experiences strengthen students' understanding and communication skills. While I do not enforce specific work hours and locations for my students, I do expect my students to meet research expectations and perform well academically. Having said this, I strongly encourage students to spend some time at the office and learn from their labmates. Finally, when using lab resources, students must be respectful and mindful of others. Remember that we, together as a team, can advance the boundary of human knowledge and solve problems more efficiently. 

COURSE REQUIREMENTS FOR DOCTORAL STUDENTS

All Ph.D. students must complete a minimum of 72 graduate semester credit hours beyond their B.S. degrees:

• Courses in major: 21 credit hours minimum required

• Department 600-level courses: 6 credit hours minimum required

• MATH 400 or above (excluding MATH 400): 9 credit hours minimum required (3 credit hours minimum at 500-600 level)

• Other coursework: 12 credit hours

• Dissertation: 24 credit hours minimum required

Please check the department website for more details. Here are links to Graduate Program Forms and Graduate Student Handbooks.

For advising and degree audit purposes, all students must keep living documents of their course plans and bring them to the advising sessions. Courses are selected based on consultation with the faculty advisor in order to ensure students have sound backgrounds in fundamental aerospace/mechanical engineering and other fields related to their dissertation research. Some suggested courses are listed below.