UW Aeronautics & Astronautics

Professor Martin Nisser’s coding boot camp was mentioned in a CNN article! Launched in 2021, the boot camp started in women’s correctional facilities in New England. Read the article here: https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/28/business/inmates-coding-jobs/index.html

A&A Professor Bhuvana Srinivasan has received the nation's highest early-career scientific honor: the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). Her groundbreaking research in computational plasma physics advances fusion energy and plasma-based propulsion systems, solidifying UW's leadership in global energy innovation and space exploration advancements. Read more: https://www.aa.washington.edu/news/article/2025-01-16/professor-srinivasan-receives-nations-highest-early-career-scientific-honor

Our brilliant doctoral students dominated the international stage at December's CDC Milan!
Spencer Kraisler clinched the highest student honor with his groundbreaking work on geometric control synthesis, while Mohammad Al-Jarrah earned top recognition for his revolutionary research in computational estimation and nonlinear filtering!
With these awards, Spencer and Mohammad secured TWO of the conference's top four student awards! These prestigious honors are fiercely competitive and celebrate the absolute best in the field.

Read more about the CDC and these doctoral students’ achievements below!

https://www.aa.washington.edu/news/article/2025-01-13/aa-takes-top-student-awards-major-controls-conference

We’re proud to celebrate three recent A&A Ph.D. graduates securing faculty positions at top institutions! ⁠
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Yue Yu (UMN) specializes in scalable algorithms for autonomous systems.⁠
Sarah H.Q. Li (Georgia Tech) focuses on game theory and optimization for large-scale autonomy.⁠
Maj. Daniel Broyles (AFIT) advanced UAV search and rescue missions.⁠
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Congrats to these rising aerospace leaders! Read more about their stories here: https://www.aa.washington.edu/news/article/2024-12-13/recent-phd-graduates-secure-faculty-positions-leading-institutions

We wanted to once again congratulate Professor Uri Shumlak for being presented the GeekWire's "Uncommon Thinkers" award! We know he's an unstoppable force in the quest for clean energy!

https://www.geekwire.com/2024/uncommon-thinkers-zaps-uri-shumlak-wrestles-with-fusion-energy-in-pursuit-of-carbon-free-power/

Let’s go, Huskies!!!

Another new faculty position with a focus on our lab and project-based classes! Spread the word! https://apply.interfolio.com/158252

NASA announced a $2.5M award to establish the BioS-ENDURES Consortium. Led by our own Kristi Morgansen, A&A Chair and WA Space Grant Director, the consortium brings together the University of Washington, Washington State University, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to study human-plant-microbiome interactions in space, aiming for sustainable space habitation. This initiative will drive research on stressors like radiation and microgravity, support annual symposia, and promote long-term human presence beyond Earth.

For more, view the full release through this link: https://www.murray.senate.gov/senator-murray-establishes-funds-scientific-consortium-in-washington-state-expanding-nasa-footprint-in-pnw/

We're hiring again! Please pass the word on to your data science networks! https://apply.interfolio.com/157754

Join us for Dylan Janak's PhD Dissertation next Tuesday!

Join The Museum of Flight and Blue Origin for Fight to Fly, a powerful documentary by Sophie Morgan, exploring the barriers disabled travelers face when flying. Screening on November 13 from 6:00PM-8:00PM at the Museum of Flight Side Gallery.

"Fight to Fly" follows a group of disabled travelers as they go undercover to reveal the poor service they often face while flying.

After the film, a panel featuring Sophie Morgan and Keely Cat-Wells of Making Space Media will discuss accessibility challenges in commercial aviation and the emerging role of inclusive design in human spaceflight.
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Learn more about the event here: https://www.museumofflight.org/exhibits-and-events/calendar-of-events/8094/fight-to-fly

Listen to A&A Professor Martin Nisser discuss “Self-Assembly and the Future of Human Spaceflight” at the Museum of Flight along with Astronaut Soyeon Yi and Aurelia Institute’s Chief Design Officer Sana Sharma. This event will be hosted on November 7 at 6:00-7:00 pm. More information about this fireside chat can be found through the link below!

cms.museumofflight.org

A&A PhD student Mohammad Al-Jarrah, working with his faculty adviser Professor Amir Taghvaei, has developed a novel solution to make autonomous systems more dependable. Combining machine learning with an advanced mathematical concept called optimal transport theory, he is paving the way to safer autonomy. Read the A&A feature story on this work!

Combining machine learning with a mathematical theory to enhance autonomy PhD student combines machine learning and optimal transport theory to enhance uncertainty management in autonomous systems.

UW’s AISES Team excels at NASA’s First Nations Launch with help from Washington Space Grant funding. 🚀🎉🏅

Space Grant students Colin Marquis (MSE) Grace Pardini (AA) and Charlene Valeri (AA) are part of UW’s AISES Team—check out the teams success at NASA’s First Nations Launch!

Follow the link in our bio or copy the address here: https://www.engr.washington.edu/news/article/2024-09-05/shared-love-rocketry

Spooky skies ahead! 👻🪐 Happy Halloween from UW Aero & Astro, where even the cosmos has a few tricks (and treats) up its sleeve. Stay stellar and safe this Halloween!

Our first General Exam of the school year!

Support Spencer as he dives into Riemannian optimization—a revolutionary approach shaping the future of controls! By leveraging geometry to supercharge policy gradient methods, breaking speed barriers in trajectory optimization becomes possible.

Want to hear more about how curved spaces could lead to faster controls? For more info and the Zoom address, follow this link: https://www.aa.washington.edu/calendar?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D178368577

Jasper and Kazuki did a great job presenting their research out of the CTRL Lab under Professor Karen Leung in Japan!

Raising $130M of fresh capital, Zap Energy continues to zing ahead in fusion technology.

Led by Professor Uri Shumlak, the A&A spinoff company is paving the road to fusion energy's commercialization through their power plant technologies. Century, their new fully-integrated high-rep-rate, liquid-metal-cooled test platform, has just began operations.

Read more via this link: https://www.aa.washington.edu/news/article/2022-07-11/fusion-energy