Aerospace Engineer with 20 years of University experience to help you succeed

Steven's resume

EDUCATION

The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
M.S. Aerospace Engineering, GPA: 3.18/4.0, Aug 1997
Thesis: Control Strategies for Damaged Transport Aircraft

The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
B.S. Aerospace Engineering, GPA: 3.21/4.0, May 1993

RESEARCH / TECHNICAL EXPERIENCE

Applied Research Laboratory, The Pennsylvania State University, Aug 1997 – Jan 2017

Head, Fluids Machinery Department, 2010 - 2017

• Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) programs: Propulsor design and performance testing of Virginia-Class and Ohio-Class Replacement submarine platforms. Advanced undersea weapons. Specialized undersea vehicles.

• United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) programs: Principal Investigator, subject matter expert and primary liaison to SOCOM HQ flag officer. Managed multi-year support activities on development of efficient propulsion and maneuvering control for undersea vehicles. Office liaison to ARL Director.

• U.S. Army, Vertical Lift Research Center of Excellence (VLRCOE): Co-Principal Investigator, managed 5-year award supporting research on rotorcraft hub drag reduction technologies, Academic advisor two M.S. and one Ph.D graduate student(s). Awarded continued funding in 2016 for 5-year renewal through 2020.

• Office of Naval Research (ONR) programs: Technical oversight on several high-efficiency, long-range, long endurance undersea unmanned vehicles. Managed manpower allocations and in-house funding. Primary liaison to sponsors.

• United States Department of Energy (DOE) programs: Technical oversight on several multi-year programs focused on development of large-scale undersea ocean-current turbines and wave-energy devices. Managed manpower allocations and in-house funding. Primary liaison to sponsors.


Associate Research Engineer, Fluids Machinery Department, 2003 – 2009

• Lead Engineer on multiple undersea vehicle test programs, including submarine platforms, torpedo systems, and unmanned undersea vehicles. Focused efforts on drag reduction and propulsion efficiency.

• Design of advanced, multi-stage, wake-adapted turbomachines for undersea vehicles. Completed designs from conceptual modeling through detailed three-dimensional solid models using Siemens NX software coupled with custom API routines for propeller blade lofting.

• Lead developer, SUBPERF undersea vehicle hydrodynamics prediction tool. MATLAB-based, multi-dimensional physics code. Hybrid analytical/empirical/computational input and analysis methods for developing hydrodynamic models of generic undersea vehicles. Geometry-based inputs, Taylor-series coefficients and convolution integrals representing the hydrodynamic forces and moments over a broad range of body angles. Linear and non-linear hydrodynamics. Added-mass acceleration terms. In-plane and out-of-plane propulsion models. Experimental data look-up options. Speed-dependent stability analysis including Reynolds number effects. Direct output source tables for implementation to Standardized Undersea Vehicle Dynamic Equations of Motion.

• Co-Principal Investigator, Tightly-Coupled Unsteady RANS and 6DOF (TCURS) model. Unsteady Fluid Dynamics modeling of undersea vehicles, time-dependently coupled to six-degree-of-freedom (6DOF) equations of motion. Modeling included fully-moveable control surfaces, propulsion, and multi-vehicle flow field interactions. OVERSET grid technology for CFD modeling. Model validations conducted through sub-scale vehicle testing at the U.S. Navy Large Cavitation Channel (LCC).

• Design and water tunnel testing of cavitation-resistant hydrofoils. Quantification and verification of in-water static and dynamic (reduced-frequency) lift, drag, and pitching moment during non-cavitating, partially-cavitating, and super-cavitating conditions. Non-linear force models as a function of speed and depth for optimal tuning of high-speed undersea vehicle maneuvers.

• Frequent technical presentations to sponsors and partnership organizations.

• Proposal preparation lead for new technical programs, specializing in advanced undersea vehicle drag reduction, propulsion, vehicle stability, vehicle control, and maneuvering performance.


Assistant Research Engineer, Flow Acoustics Department, 1997 – 2002

• Lead Project Engineer on acoustic quieting technology for advanced undersea propulsion systems. Noise control technologies. Analytical and computational assessments. Testing in closed-loop wind tunnel and water tunnel facilities.

• Lead Test Engineer on multiple undersea vehicle systems, including test plan development, intrusive and non-intrusive sensors for radiated noise and vibration, steady and unsteady force measurements, data reduction and reporting.

• Lead Development and Test Engineer for Westinghouse Closed-Loop Pump Research Facility. Unsteady pump noise source quantification through force-instrumented pump shafts, custom embedded in-blade pressure sensor arrays, spectral analysis, frequency correlations, and force-frequency decomposition methods.

• Field testing experience at several U.S. Navy facilities: Large-Cavitation-Channel (LCC) facility, Memphis, TN, David Taylor Model Basin, Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division (NSWCCD), Bethesda, MD, Acoustic Research Detachment (ARD), Bayview, ID, Navy Sonar Range, Lake Erie.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Aerospace Engineering

• Director, ARL Graduate Student program, Fluid Dynamics and Acoustics Office (2010-2016). Managed recruitment of graduate students, academic stipends, and coordinated all funding with academic advising faculty.

• Instructed 300-Level Course: Aerodynamics, Aeronautics, and Flight Mechanics (1999, 2009, and 2016). Managed 100+ students per course.

• Invited Instructor, Unmanned Undersea Vehicles Short Course hosted annually at Penn State, on “Hydrodynamics and Propulsion of UUVs” (2012-2014). Educating sponsors industry partners on state-of-the-art capabilities of undersea vehicles.

• Co-Academic Thesis Advisor, (3) M.S. Candidates and (1) Ph.D Candidate.