Kevin T. Crofton Dept of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering at Virginia Tech

"Never has it been cheaper to do something in space than on the ground." Faculty Samantha Kenyon and Brad Denby weigh in on the benefits, complexities and engineering challenges with orbital data centers.

Researchers see potential benefits, astronomical challenges for orbital data centers While operating data centers in low earth orbit could alleviate some of the issues they create on Earth, doing so also introduces a host of new challenges and costs.

Summer is for conferences, networking and exploring advancements in research!

A number of our faculty and students are representing Virginia Tech at the AIAA Aviation conference in San Diego this week. ✈️

Summer is for conferences, networking and exploring advancements and new ideas in research!

A number of our faculty and students are representing Virginia Tech at the AIAA Aviation conference in San Diego this week.

Undergraduates Cayden Smedley, Aidan Lennon, and Ian Keil recently took First Place with their paper “Comparison of High Energy Density Fuel Additives Hybrid Rocket” at the 2026 AIAA Regional Student Conferences!

Congratulations to the team and their advisor, professor Greg Young, for their work in advancing hybrid propulsion.

A number of our faculty, students and alums made a strong showing at the 32nd AIAA/CEAS Aeroacoustics Conference in Brussels in May.

With one of the largest university delegations, the team contributed to 10 papers, led 8 presentations, and chaired key sessions on acoustic–fluid interactions and advanced air mobility noise. Their work is shaping how we understand and reduce aircraft and drone noise—from vortex dynamics to metamaterials and hybrid anechoic wind tunnels.

AOE faculty had a strong presence at the 57th NATO AVT Panel Business Meeting in Bordeaux, with Drs. Coutier-Delgosha, Lowe, Borgoltz, Intaratep, Jaworski, and Devenport representing VT - quite possibly the largest university contingent in attendance.

Highlights included:
- Jaworski chaired Research Task Group AVT-426 on unsteady 3D flow interactions between wings and gusts. He and postdoctoral fellow Alistair Hales contributed to AVT-386 on vortex–vortex interactions, where Hales presented a new theoretical model for unequal vortex pairs.

- Devenport chaired the task group on “Common Research Wind Tunnels for CFD Validation,” with Borgoltz and Intaratep as key members. This effort connects four major international facilities, including DLR (Germany), ONERA (France), the U.S. Navy’s Cavitation Channel (Memphis), and VT's Stability Wind Tunnel.

- The VT team also toured ONERA’s premier facilities, including the F1 and F2 wind tunnels near Toulouse and the S3Ch transonic facility near Paris.

AOE senior Robert Waugh has been selected as the undergraduate student representative to the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors! 👏

New student representatives named to Board of Visitors Robert Waugh is the undergraduate student representative and Helen Phillips is the graduate/professional student representative for the next academic year. Their one-year terms begin July 1 .