Prof. David B. Goldstein received a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Physics from the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department of Princeton University in 1984.  He obtained a M.S. and Ph.D. from the Aeronautics Department of the California Institute of Technology in 1985 and 1990, respectively. His graduate research involved simulation of non-equilibrium supersonic flows on massively parallel computers with the direct simulation Monte Carlo and discrete-velocity molecular models. During 1990 he served as a Research Fellow at Caltech, working with Prof. Brad Sturtevant. From Sept. 1990 to Sept. 1992.  Dr. Goldstein served as a Research Associate at the Center for Fluid Mechanics at Brown University and developed a method for modeling solid surfaces in an unsteady flow.  He investigated turbulent channel flow with spectral method simulations using this model. During this time he also expanded a model of discrete-velocity molecular dynamics to include discrete-energy collision dynamics of polyatomic molecules. For the remainder of 1992 Dr. Goldstein was a Visiting Researcher at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ Advanced Technology Research Center in Yokohama. There he worked on moving boundary problems related to flow induced structural oscillation. In 1993 Dr. Goldstein was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at The University of Texas at Austin. In 1998 he was promoted to Associate Professor effective September 1999. In 2004 he was promoted to Professor effective September 2005. His teaching involves undergraduate and graduate classes in fluid mechanics. His research interests continue to be centered on the fundamental physics of high speed and non-equilibrium flows and the direct numerical simulation of turbulent flows in complex geometries. Particular aspects involve developing efficient models for extending rarefied flow simulations far into the continuum flow regime, investigating the physics of a discrete-velocity gas and modeling the supersonic atmospheric flow and radiation on several planets and moons. In addition, he is interested in drag reduction techniques in turbulent boundary layers through surface modifications (i.e., riblets, bubbles or microjets) and the use of force fields in spectral method techniques to model solid surfaces. Dr. Goldstein is doing experiments in the water tunnel and has worked in the Mach 5 facility and the 5´ x 7´ low speed wind tunnel at PRC.  In 1999-2000 Dr. Goldstein led an interdisciplinary team searching for water in permanently shadowed craters on the Moon and is continuing in such work as a member of NASA’S LCROSS Science Team.

Prof. Philip L. Varghese received a Bachelor of Technology from IIT Madras in 1976, an MS from Syracuse University in 1977 and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University in 1983. His research interests are at the intersection of physics, chemistry and engineering. He works on the computation of rarefied and non-equilibrium flows using Monte Carlo simulation and direct numerical solution of the Boltzmann equation. He also develops and applies laser based measurement techniques with a wide variety of applications. In 1993 he was a Fulbright Senior Scholar and worked at ONERA in France to apply laser diagnostics in hypersonic wind tunnels. He serves as the Director of the Center for Aeromechanics Research, and is a member of the Academy of Distinguished Teachers at the University of Texas, Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and Fellow of the European Conference for Aero-Space Sciences (EUCASS). Together with Prof. Goldstein he has a very active program in planetary scale simulations of rarefied flows. He is also co-inventor on two patents for novel Raman instrumentation.

Dr. Laurence M. Trafton received a Bachelor of Science at the California Institute of Technology in 1960, after majoring in Astronomy. He obtained a M.S. in Astronomy and a Ph. D. in Astronomy with a minor in Physics from the Astronomy Department at the California Institute of Technology in 1961 and 1965, respectively. His graduate research centered on the unknown source of greenhouse heating in the atmospheres of the outer planets. Between 1965 and 1968, he served as a Project Officer in the USAF as a 1^st Lt. at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque, N.M. He was in charge of the development of an earth-orbiting satellite to measure the hazard that solar flare radiation posed to a military astronaut. This work was continued through mid-1969 as a civil servant (GS-13) upon completion of active duty in the Air Force. Since 1969, he has been with the McDonald Observatory and Astronomy Department at the University of Texas at Austin, first as a Special Research Associate until 1972, then as a Research Scientist to 1993, then as Senior Research Scientist to the present. In recent years, he has been collaborating in the area of planetary science with the research group of Drs. Goldstein and Varghese at the Center for Aeromechanics Research.

Researching Simulations of Turbulent Spots and Wedges over Textured Surfaces

Researching Lunar Lander Plume Impingement
Mastered in Discrete Velocity Gas Dynamics

Researching Modeling Volcanic Plumes on Jupiter’s Moon Io

Researching Simulations of Atmospheric Escape from Pluto

Researching Sensitivity Analysis and Calibration of DSMC Input Parameters

Researching Simulating Comet Impacts on the Moon
Personal Website  

Researching discrete velocity methods for solving the Boltzmann equation.

Researching Modeling the Impact of the LCROSS Spacecraft on the Moon

Researching Modeling the Plumes on Saturn's Moon Enceladus