MEMS Seminar: "AFOSR Overview and Highlights from the Unsteady Aerodynamics and Turbulent Flows Program"

Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science
Fall 2023 Seminar Series with Gregg Abate, Program Officer at Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR). Dr. Abate's presentation will provide an overview of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and AFOSR including insights in doing business with the organization. He will also provide an overview of his program and present selected highlights from research he is funding. The Unsteady Aerodynamics and Turbulent Flows Program supports basic research into the dynamics and control of aerodynamic shear flows, including the interactions of these flows with rigid and flexible surfaces in motion. The Program is interested in aerodynamic flows arising in both internal and external configurations extending over a wide range of Reynolds numbers. The Program emphasizes the characterization, modeling, prediction and control of flow instabilities, turbulent flows, and aerodynamic interactions with a focus on the understanding of the fundamental flow physics. The Program is motivated by an interest in developing physically based predictive models and innovative control concepts for these flows that are relevant to Air Force interests.

DR. GREGG L. ABATE is the Program Officer for Unsteady Aerodynamics and
Turbulent Flows at the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), where he manages ~50 active grants in his portfolio focused on aerodynamic flowfield physics and its interactions with air vehicle structures. Dr. Abate coordinates his program with technical experts in AFRL's Technical Directorates (TDs) to insure the program is relevant to Air Force mission needs. He also collaborates with the Army Research Office, the Office of Naval Research, DARPA, NASA, and the National Science Foundation (NSF) in executing the program. Prior to his current position, Dr. Abate was a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the Department of Aeronautics, United States Air Force Academy (USAFA). He taught classes in advanced aerodynamics, missile aerodynamics and hypersonics. Preceding this assignment, Dr. Abate was both the Technical Advisor and Program Officer for Aeronautics at the European Office of Aerospace Research and Development (EOARD), London, UK.