Swapnil Jagtap, MSAE '18

Swapnil Jagtap, MSAE '18, has been named to Forbes Magazine's 2020 List of 30 under 30, an annual recognition of the young gamechangers, disrupters, and visionaries who are shaping the technology, business, political, and artistic innovations of tomorrow. A native of India, Jagtap was named to the Manufacturing & Industry division of the European 30/30 list. Previous 30/30 recipients have included Greta Thunberg, Daniel Radcliffe, and Dev Patel, among others.

Now a doctoral student at the Imperial College London, Jagtap, 29, was lauded by evaluators for conducting research "focused on reducing the carbon impact of aviation. To that end, he has designed a 300-passenger aircraft powered by liquid hydrogen, improving energy efficiency of the plane by over 50%. He also holds a patent for a heat recuperation system, which increases the performance and life of aircraft engines.”

Jagtap's doctoral thesis, "Identification of Sustainable Technology and Energy Vector Combinations for Future Inter-continental Passenger Aircraft" takes a multi-disciplinary approach to minimizing the human and environmental health impacts of future civil aviation.

"I am evaluating the potential of futuristic and advanced/ultra-energy-efficient civil-aircraft technologies and alternative aviation fuels towards carbon neutrality and reducing air-quality impacts of aviation.  I am designing aircrafts for the N+2 timeframes and examining a range of alternative aviation fuels such as synthetic fuels and liquid hydrogen, while simultaneously addressing the aircraft design challenges associated to the use of these fuels."

As a student at the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, Jagtap completed his master's work under the guidance of Prof. Tim Lieuwen and Dr. Ben Emerson.  Additionally, he worked in close quarters with Dr. Jimmy Tai and research engineer Russell Denney. As with many students before him, he also sought the mentorship and perspective of Prof. Jechial "Jeff" Jagoda on many occasions.  

"I miss the academic and casual conversations, and the sort of therapy sessions with Professor Jagoda," Jagtap recalls. "He is an amazing person with solutions to all your problems: a one-stop solution center. I am sure that I am neither the first person to say this nor the last one."