AE Research for Pay or Credit

Most of the following listings are for credit, requiring the student to both gain the faculty's approval and register for credit. Students who have questions about this should contact the project manager directly. Research opportunities will be added as they are made available. Check back for updates. 

STUDENTS: To get credit for any of the following research projects, you will need to submit a Undergraduate Research Permit. and have it approved by your advisor. Find out more about undergraduate research here.

FACULTY: Email AE Communications to add or update your research listing(s). 

Project: Mission operator for Lunar Flashlight
Can this work be performed remotely or online, if needed? No, project requires presence in the mission operations center.
Project Manager: Dr. Lightsey
Action: Fill out the application form here: https://forms.office.com/r/3w14ruYwZy
Office: Mission Operations Center, ESM 301
Semesters: Spring 2023 ASAP, Summer 2023
Time Commitment: ~ 8 hr/week
Number of Students Needed: 5
Citizenship Requirement: US Citizens only
GPA Requirement (optional): 3.5+ preferred
Majors: AE, CS, EE, CompE
Details: As a mission operator, you will play a crucial role in the operation and performance of the Lunar Flashlight mission. You will work closely with a team of graduates, undergraduates, and experienced engineers from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory to implement mission plans, monitor and analyze satellite data, and even command the spacecraft from the Mission Operations Center here at Georgia Tech! 

This is an exciting and rare opportunity to operate a real NASA spacecraft and earn up to 2 credit hours of research. Members of the Lunar Flashlight team have historically been recruited by JPL or have landed other space operations internships. Please note that we are currently searching for undergraduate researchers who are willing to begin training ASAP (Spring 2023) and will be on campus over the summer. Priority will be given to those who fit this criteria. If you are ready to take on this challenge and be part of an ambitious team of mission operators, apply now!

Project: Various experimental research activities in the Ben T. Zinn Combustion Lab
Can this work be performed remotely or online, if needed? No, projects require hands-on work in the lab.
Project Manager: Drs. Mazumdar, Steinberg, Sun, and Wehe.
Action: Email your resume to Dr. Shawn Wehe (swehe7@gatech.edu)
Office: Ben T. Zinn Combustion Lab
Semesters: Ongoing, mostly during Fall and Spring semesters.
Time Commitment: Typically about 10 hrs per week, but lower commitments possible. Scales to the number of credit hours registered for undergraduate research.
Number of Students Needed: Around 15-20 each semester
Citizenship Requirement: Generally no, though some projects may require US Persons.
GPA Requirement (optional): 3.5+ preferred; 3.25 minimum
Majors: AE and ME
Details: The Ben T. Zinn Combustion Lab is one of the largest and most advanced academic research facilities in the world dedicated to the science and engineering of combustion systems. There typically are dozens of active research projects in the lab at any given time, on topics such as sustainability and alternative fuels, pollutant emissions, supersonic transport, hypersonic systems, combustion chemistry, multi-phase flows, energetic materials, detonations, plasmas, laser combustion diagnostics, reacting turbulence, and many other topics. This posting is for students who are generally interested in conducting research in the Combustion Lab. Alignment of individual students and projects will occur during interviews and meetings prior to each semester.

Project: Multiple positions in Rotating Detonation Engine (RDE) Simulations, Solid Fuel Ramjet (SFRJ) Simulations, GPU programming and Machine Learning (ML).
Can this work be performed remotely or online, if needed? Yes, with GT VPN with occasional review in lab; email response expected when working. Weekly research schedule should be available.
Project Manager: Dr. Achyut Panchal and Prof. Suresh Menon
Action: Email your resume and interest to apanchal7@gatech.edu and suresh.menon@ae.gatech.edu
Office: Guggenheim 351 and 352; Computer lab Guggenheim 349
Semesters:  Summer 2023, Fall 2023, Spring 2024, Summer 2024
Background: Familiarity with Compressible Flows, Thermodynamics essential. Turbulence, Viscous Flows, Combustion, Propulsion, Parallel Programming, CFD experience preferred but not essential.
Time Commitment: About 8-10 hours per week (flexible, can include weekends/evenings). Limited to students with minimum 2 years before graduation. Task completion is a successful milestone.
Registration: For active UG students; will get research credit in 2699 (2 credits/sem, 2 semesters max) or 4699 (2 credits/sem, 2 semesters max) depending on academic state. After 2-3 semesters if showing promise and still interested in the work will be paid hourly (but no course credit) on funded projects. BS/MS students with interest in MS with thesis in CCL are especially encouraged to apply.
Number of Students Needed: 4-5
Citizenship Requirement: No (but preferred)
GPA Requirement (optional): 3.5+ preferred, 3.2 minimum
Majors: Open to all majors; AE/ME preferred.
Software: Python experience/knowledge required; Linux OS, ICEM-CFD, ParaView, Tecplot, Fortran, C or C++, and parallel (MPI or GPU) programming preferred but not required.
Details: The research will focus on simulations of RDE and/or SFRJ cases and related reduced configuration. Students will set up and monitoring parallel simulations on the Georgia Tech supercomputing cluster, write Python scripts, process and analyze the simulation outputs. Other work may involve evaluating codes for GPU scaling and applying current ML tools to predict the simulations. Coordination with research staff and graduate students required and expected

Project: ASDL GT Smart Campus – Sensor (IoT) development and deployment
Can this work be performed remotely or online, if needed? Not completely. Mixture of in person meetings with the existing team and remote check-ins.
Project Manager: Dr. Jung-Ho Lewe / Dr. Scott Duncan
Action: Email your resume and interest to Dr. Jung-Ho Lewe (j.lewe@gatech.edu) and cc: Dr. Scott Duncan (duncan@gatech.edu)
Office: Weber 100
Semesters: Summer/Fall 2023
Time Commitment: About 5-10 hrs per week (flexible). Scales to the number of credit hours registered for undergraduate research.
Number of Students Needed: 1-2
Citizenship Requirement: No
Details: ASDL’s GT Smart Campus group has a sub-team that has been developing low-cost, wireless sensors to measure various properties relating to campus buildings: indoor thermal conditions, airflow, occupancy, exterior conditions, imaging sensors, etc. A variety of sensors already exist and can be modified, upgraded, or re-engineered to improve performance, as well as tested in various campus spaces. This team needs “hands-on” students interested in mechanical design (e.g., packaging via 3D printing), sensor software design (using Raspberry Pi-based consumer-grade IoT computing devices that transmit data home over GTwifi), database design, or any combination thereof. No experience is necessary but a natural inclination towards tinkering, hacking, and making is a must!

Project: ASDL GT Smart Campus – Data Science and Engineering 
Can this work be performed remotely or online, if needed? Not completely. Mixture of in person meetings with the existing team and remote check-ins. 
Project Manager: Dr. Jung-Ho Lewe / Dr. Scott Duncan 
Action: Email your resume and transcript to Dr. Jung-Ho Lewe (j.lewe@gatech.edu) and cc: Dr. Scott Duncan (duncan@gatech.edu) 
Office: Weber 100 
Semesters: Summer/Fall 2023 
Time Commitment: About 5-12 hrs per week (flexible). Scales to the number of credit hours registered for undergraduate research. 
Number of Students Needed: 2-3. Open to any major and program. 
Citizenship Requirement: No 
Details: ASDL’s GT Smart Campus team of research faculty and students collaborates with GT Facilities engineers to evaluate data from campus buildings, central plants, and other infrastructure, including the ultra-sustainable Kendeda Living Building. Students joining this team will help out with data processing, analytics, and machine learning to better understand and inform the performance of campus energy (and water) systems. Existing skills with Python are a plus. Please visit [here](energywatch.gatech.edu/about) for more details. 

 
Project: ASDL GT Smart Campus – Modeling and Simulation 
Can this work be performed remotely or online, if needed? Not completely. Mixture of in person meetings with the existing team and remote check-ins. 
Project Manager: Dr. Jung-Ho Lewe / Dr. Scott Duncan 
Action: Email your resume and transcript to Dr. Jung-Ho Lewe (j.lewe@gatech.edu) and cc: Dr. Scott Duncan (duncan@gatech.edu) 
Office: Weber 100 
Semesters: Summer/Fall 2023 
Time Commitment: About 5-12 hrs per week (flexible). Scales to the number of credit hours registered for undergraduate research. 
Number of Students Needed: 2-3. Open to any major and program. 
Citizenship Requirement: No 
Details: ASDL’s GT Smart Campus team of research faculty and students collaborates with GT Facilities engineers to evaluate data from campus buildings, central plants, and other infrastructure, including the ultra-sustainable Kendeda Living Building. Students joining this team will help out with modeling and simulation of GT energy and water infrastructure. Existing skills with Python and Modelica are a plus. Please visit [here](energywatch.gatech.edu/about) for more details. 

Project: Design, build, and test a magnetic field mapper
Can this work be performed remotely or online, if needed? Yes, but in-person meetings are preferred
Project Manager: Dr. Álvaro Romero-Calvo
Action: Email your resume and interest to Dr. Álvaro Romero Calvo (lowgravitylab.ae.gatech.edu)
Office: ESM 203A
Semesters: Fall 2023
Time Commitment: About 5-10 hrs per week (flexible). Scales to the number of credit hours registered for undergraduate research.
Number of Students Needed: 3-4
Citizenship Requirement: No
Majors: AE and ECE
Details: Magnetic field mapping systems create a high-resolution map of the magnetic field around an electromagnet or permanent magnet. The Low-Gravity Science and Technology Laboratory is looking for students with a strong interest in hardware development, electronics, CAD design, manufacturing, and electromagnetic simulation to design, build, and test one of such devices. This instrument will be used to characterize the magnetic field around the permanent magnets used in the low-gravity magnetohydrodynamic projects pursued by the lab. It will also be employed to test magnetorquers and other electromagnetic spacecraft attitude control systems. We aim to produce a low-cost, open-source device that helps support academic research with a fraction of the cost imposed by commercial alternatives. The mapper should be operative by the end of 2023.

Project: Solar Energy Generation at Airports - ASDL
Can this work be performed remotely or online, if needed? Yes
Project Manager: Dr. Cedric Justin
Action: Email your resume to cedric.justin@gatech.edu using email subject:
 ASDL Solar Energy Generation at Airport - last name, first name.
In the text,  include citizenship info, gpa, expected graduation date & level (1st year, 2nd year, etc.)
Office: Weber 113A
Semesters: at least one, could be two
Time Commitment: 8 hrs /week ~ 2 Credit hours
Number of Students Needed:  1-2 Self-Driven Motivated Students
Citizenship Requirement: None
GPA Requirement: 3.5+ preferred; 3.2 minimum
Details: Airports are sitting on vast amounts of land that are not put to productive use. As part of this research, we will be reviewing how these large amounts of lands can be put to productive use by sitting solar arrays for in-situ production of electric energy to power future electric aircraft. We will investigate regulations regarding the sitting of solar arrays at airports near runways and taxiways. We will then use and possibly modify an existing environment to estimate the quantity of solar arrays that can be placed as well as the amount of power and energy that can be produced.  Interactions with the industry and presentation of results may occur during the Semester.
Requirements for the positions: Python Experience & some Autocad Experience
Sample projects & external collaborators: Possibly with NASA / NREL
Additional information:  None

Project: Development of Rocket Propellant Sloshing Analysis Framework
Can this work be performed remotely or online, if needed? Yes, but in-person meetings are preferred
Project Manager: Dr. Álvaro Romero-Calvo
Action: Email your resume and interest to Dr. Álvaro Romero Calvo (lowgravitylab.ae.gatech.edu)
Office: ESM 203A
Semesters: Fall 2023
Time Commitment: About 5-10 hrs per week (flexible). Scales to the number of credit hours registered for undergraduate research.
Number of Students Needed: 6-8
Citizenship Requirement: No
Majors: AE-only
Details: The term “sloshing” refers to the movement of liquids in partially filled containers. Sloshing is key for space applications because it can significantly alter the dynamics of space vehicles, potentially leading to mission failure if not properly accounted for. The Low-Gravity Science and Technology Laboratory is looking for students with a strong interest in rocket propulsion to develop an analytical open-access framework to study the sloshing of propellants in launch stages. Our goal is twofold: first, to recover, synthesize, and update the knowledge acquired in the field since the 1960s, and secondly, to make it accessible to everyone. Students will develop a graphical user interface in Python (preferred) or Matlab that will implement analytical tools and experimental correlations used to obtain the modal response of liquid interfaces. If needed, participants will also have the chance to experimentally obtain sloshing damping correlations for different tank shapes and propellant management devices. More info on the research and methods can be found at NASA’s SP-106 and F.T. Dodge’s “The New Dynamic Behavior of Liquids in Moving Containers” (available upon request).

Project: System Modeling Using SysML - ASDL
Can this work be performed remotely or online, if needed? Yes
Project Manager: Dr. Selcuk Cimtalay
Action: Follow instructions on slide #10 in the “Model-Based Systems Engineering Information (pdf)” presentation (see “Additional information” below).​
Office: Weber 104
Semesters: at least one, could be several
Time Commitment: 4 hrs/week
Number of Students Needed:  1-15
Citizenship Requirement: varies
GPA Requirement: 3.5+ preferred; 3.2 minimum
Details: Multiple potential position types (depending on interests). Most, but not all, of our Systems Modeling Language (SysML) projects require US Persons, either US citizens or permanent residents
Requirements for the positions: A key requirement is an interest in SysML (no prior SysML experience required) and a willingness to learn and explore
Sample projects & external collaborators: Lockheed MBSE - CubeSat testbed – NASA MBSE Pathfinder initiative – US Navy (NAVAIR) Model-Centric Engineering (MCE) – UAV testbed – NASA JPL: model-based systems engineering (MBSE); model-based wikis; embedded s/w – Boeing: MBSE model complexity & health management.
Additional information:  Model-Based Systems Engineering Information (pdf)