Brian Argrow News

CU Boulder will share atmospheric science tech, expertise through new grant

Jeff Zehnder — Mon, 07 Oct 2024 21:52:16 +0000

CU Boulder will share atmospheric science tech, expertise through new grant Jeff Zehnder Mon, 10/07/2024 - 15:52

Jeff Zehnder

Above: RAAVEN uncrewed aerial vehicle over the Atlantic Ocean.
Header Image: Meteorological map showing storms during a deployment.

Drone technology and atmospheric science instruments developed by the University of Colorado Boulder will be available to researchers nationwide through a new grant.

The National Science Foundation has awarded CU Boulder a three-year, $1 million grant to establish a Community Instruments and Facilities program titled Mobile Uncrewed Systems for Atmospheric Science (MUSAS).

“We have a track record for atmospheric research with the equipment we’ve created and the campaigns we’ve partnered in. Whenever atmospheric scientists need to collect data in environments they can’t get other ways, that’s where we come in,” said Brian Argrow, principal investigator for the grant.

Argrow, a professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, is a nationally recognized expert in uncrewed aerial systems. He and CU Boulder colleagues have spent decades developing fixed-wing and quad-copter-style drone systems to study weather and other atmospheric conditions.

Their work has spanned the globe, including in extreme conditions like the North Pole and several campaigns in the United States to analyze supercell thunderstorms that spawn tornadoes.

The new grant will provide the larger scientific community access to CU Boulder’s instrumentation and know-how.

“We’re bringing aerospace to the atmospheric sciences community,” Argrow said. “We have the expertise, the drones, the deployment systems, and regulatory approval to fly in the national airspace system.”

Although the program does not officially begin until Nov. 1, Argrow said they have already been contacted by a university with a partnership proposal.

Inspecting a RAAVEN drone while on deployment.

“By increasing access to small uncrewed aerial systems, we’ll increase the amount of data available to the broader community to help solve some of the toughest problems in atmospheric science. Our technology can sample the physics and chemistry of the lower atmosphere and offer new perspectives on this environment,” Argrow said.

MUSAS joins a network of NSF-supported initiatives across the country that allow universities to share research equipment and expertise.

Through the program, partners will have access to CU Boulder’s personnel as well as the RAAVEN and Super RAAVEN fixed-wing drones and the CopterSonde 3 quad-copter, along with deployment and tracking vehicles.

Argrow anticipates an array of research to come from the partnerships, including into boundary layer processes, coastal circulations, aerosol processes, turbulence and turbulent fluxes, surface-atmosphere exchange, high-latitude environments, and severe weather.

“Building on the initial investment from the CU Grand Challenge Initiative, we have assembled infrastructure which is unique,” Argrow said. “CU Boulder has extensive experience operating and developing these systems, and this gives us the opportunity to expand our impact.”

Drone technology and atmospheric science instruments developed by CU Boulder will be available to researchers nationwide through a new grant. The National Science Foundation has...

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Blockbuster science: Storm-chasing drone appears in ‘Twisters’

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 18:58:46 +0000

Blockbuster science: Storm-chasing drone appears in ‘Twisters’ Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 07/18/2024 - 12:58

A storm-chasing drone operated by researchers at CU Boulder got the blockbuster treatment when a version inspired by it appeared in the summer popcorn flick “Twisters.”

The RAAVEN drone was developed by researchers at CU Boulder’s Integrated Remote and In-Situ Sensing (IRISS) program. It’s part of the Targeted Observation by Radars and UAS of Supercells (TORUS) project, a research effort that uses small drones and remote-sensing instruments to collect data on tornado formation in supercell thunderstorms. TORUS is led by principal investigator Adam Houston of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Brian Argrow and Eric Frew, professors in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at CU Boulder, are among the co-principal investigators for the project.

In trailer scenes for “Twisters,” an uncrewed aircraft that matches RAAVEN swoops like a fighter jet toward storm clouds.

The RAAVEN’s appearance in the trailer surprised and delighted Argrow, its lead developer, when he first viewed it during the Super Bowl halftime this past February.

Argrow said he didn’t realize a blockbuster like “Twisters” was underway when a film crew contacted him in April 2023 for permission to create a radio-controlled model of the RAAVEN. He directed the moviemakers to make arrangements with the drone’s airframe manufacturer.

“I don’t usually watch the halftime show, so I was about to go downstairs when the trailer came on,” he recounted. “I was shocked. This really is a big movie! And as I was watching, the RAAVEN appears. I said to my wife: ‘Did you see that? That’s a RAAVEN!’”

However, the RAAVEN already is a star.

Since 2017, the 6-and-a-half-foot wingspan drone has played a leading role in TORUS, which combines drones and tracking vehicles to gather thunderstorm data. TORUS explores how supercell thunderstorms give rise to tornadoes, and the researchers hope to help improve tornado warnings across the country. The project also involves the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Severe Storms Laboratory, the University of Oklahoma's Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations and Texas Tech University.

The RAAVEN can fly as fast as 90 miles per hour and has a battery life of up to three hours, putting it ahead of standard rotary wing drones, which can’t keep up with storms moving at 30 to 60 miles per hour and often run short of battery life, Argrow said.

“No one else is doing what we do,” he said, adding that it’s the RAAVEN and its mobile ground stations, authorized by the FAA, that make the research unique.

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Argrow named a CU Distinguished Professor

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 18:54:35 +0000

Argrow named a CU Distinguished Professor Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 11/09/2023 - 11:54

The University of Colorado this week welcomed six new members to its roster of Distinguished Professors, a title signifying the highest honor awarded to faculty across the CU system’s four campuses.

CU Distinguished Professors are tenured faculty members who demonstrate exemplary performance in research or creative work; a record of excellence in promoting learning and student attainment of knowledge and skills; and outstanding service to the profession, the university and its affiliates.

The CU Board of Regents on Nov. 7 voted to approve the cohort of faculty members, recommended by President Todd Saliman with the concurrence of the systemwide Committee of Distinguished Professors. This year’s honorees will be formally celebrated during a board meeting in spring 2024.

Including this year’s honorees, 144 Distinguished Professors have been named since the title’s establishment in 1977.

Distinguished Professors for 2023 are:

Brian Argrow, Ph.D., Glenn L. Murphy Professor, Ann & H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences; Director, Integrated Remote & In-Situ Sensing Systems Program (IRISS), College of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Colorado Boulder

Elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2022, Argrow is widely recognized for his pioneering efforts in the design and deployment of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to penetrate tornadoes, supercell thunderstorms and other severe weather events, gathering previously unattainable data. These remarkable results required aerodynamic and sensor sophistication, but also the development and utilization of mobile communications networks that enabled highly sophisticated communication and telemetry in incredibly dynamic environments.

Argrow is one of the first pioneers to study and later utilize mobile ad hoc networks to gather scientific information. He also is well-known for his work on atmospherics and low-density gas dynamics that are highly relevant to the development of super- and hypersonic vehicles.

Argrow’s impact extends beyond the scientific and engineering realms. His work on unmanned aircraft systems has been central in shaping the Federal Aviation Administration’s standards of operation for small UAS. His work continues to inform, and at times change, those FAA UAS flight standards. His severe weather work has been helpful in the development of better models to predict severe weather events, and in so doing, to mitigate the loss of property and life to those events.

Argrow is among the lead architects of the nationally and internationally recognized Smead Aerospace Engineering Sciences undergraduate curriculum. He served as the associate dean of education in CEAS for five years during a period of incredible growth and transformation in the college. Part of the CU Boulder community since 1992, Argrow has been honored with many awards and accolades for outstanding teaching, service and leadership.

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CU Boulder honored for drone research

Anonymous — Tue, 23 May 2023 15:05:20 +0000

CU Boulder honored for drone research Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 05/23/2023 - 09:05

Above: CU Boulder RAAVEN (Robust Autonomous Airborne Vehicle - Endurant and Nimble) uncrewed aerial vehicle flying over a wind farm.
Headline Photo: Showcasing a large uncrewed aerial vehicle east of Boulder.

The University of Colorado Boulder has been named 1st place winner in Academic Research category of the XCELLENCE Awards by the Association for Uncrewed Vehicles Systems International (AUVSI).

CU Boulder was selected from a pool of applicants for their work in uncrewed systems technology. Winners were publicly congratulated during the XCELLENCE awards ceremony during AUVSI XPONENTIAL on May 9.

CU Boulder’s Research and Engineering Center for Unmanned Vehicles (RECUV), and Integrated Remote and In Situ Sensing Program (IRISS) have led small uncrewed aerial systems (sUAS) research for more than 20 years. With increasingly autonomous operations, this research supports applications from military communications to severe convective storms over the Great Plains to ocean-atmosphere interactions in the Arctic and the tropics.

“On behalf of my colleagues in the Research and Engineering Center for Unmanned Vehicles, the Integrated Remote and In Situ Sensing Program, and our collaborators around the world, I thank AUVSI for recognizing our UAS research with the 2023 XCELLENCE Award for Academic Research. We look forward to this recognition encouraging even more partnerships and collaborations," said Brian Argrow, a professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences and director of IRISS.

Major achievements from CU Boulder UAS programs include:

Design and demonstration of the US Air Force Ad-Hoc UAS Ground Network (AUGNet), the first meshed-radio, mobile ad-hoc network supported by multi-sUAS teams
FAA certificates of authorization for severe-weather research now covering more than 500,000 sq-mi of the Great Plains
The first sUAS meteorological measurements in a tornadic supercell thunderstorm, part of the NSF/NOAA Second Verification of the Origin of Rotation in Supercells Experiment (VORTEX2)
Multi-sUAS measurements of turbulence in the nocturnal boundary layer in the month-long NSF Instabilities, Dynamics, and Energetics Accompanying Layering (IDEAL) campaign in Utah
sUAS measurements in 15 supercells (seven with tornadoes) during the 2019 NSF/NOAA Targeted Observations with Radar and UAS of Supercells (TORUS) campaign
Monthlong measurement campaign from Barbados for NOAA’s Atlantic Tradewind Ocean-Atmosphere Mesoscale Interaction Campaign (ATOMIC) in 2020
6-month sUAS measurement campaign to study sea-ice-atmosphere interactions from the Polarstern icebreaker near the North Pole for the international MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate) expedition
4-month campaign supporting the US DOE’s Tracking Aerosol Convection Interactions Experiment (TRACER) near Houston, TX

Other sUAS campaigns include the North Slope of Alaska, Antarctica, Peru, Japan, and Norway.

The AUVSI XCELLENCE Awards honor innovators with a demonstrated commitment to advancing autonomy, leading, and promoting safe adoption of uncrewed systems and developing programs that use these technologies to save lives and improve the human condition.

For more information about AUVSI visit AUVSI.org. For more information about the AUVSI XCELLENCE Awards and XPONENTIAL 2023, visit xponential.org.

The University of Colorado Boulder has been named 1st place winner in Academic Research category of the XCELLENCE Awards by the Association for Uncrewed Vehicles Systems International (AUVSI). CU Boulder was selected from a...

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Brian Argrow reflects on time as chair and future of DEI in STEM

Anonymous — Thu, 24 Feb 2022 21:33:50 +0000

Brian Argrow reflects on time as chair and future of DEI in STEM Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 02/24/2022 - 14:33

Like many young people across America at the time, Brian Argrow was mesmerized by images beamed back to Earth of American astronauts engaged in the Space Race.

He was just a little too young for Mercury but was certainly enraptured by the Gemini and Apollo missions. And he clearly remembers the moon landing – an event that still gives him goosebumps to this day to think about.

“That was also the golden age of aircraft in general with the advancements in supersonic aircraft like the X-15,” he said. “I was really fascinated by all of it. And my early love of astronomy fed into that as well. Put it all together and what else could it be for me than aerospace engineering?”

Today, Argrow is a professor and Schaden Leadership Chair of the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at CU Boulder. He was also recently elected to the National Academy of Engineering for his work to advance uncrewed aerial systems to increase our understanding of supercell thunderstorms that can spawn tornados.

However, Argrow’s path into aerospace engineering and research wasn’t always clear and set. He actually grew up wanting to be an astronomer and later wrote in his high school yearbook about plans to be a nuclear physicist before eventually taking courses in the new field of computer science during his first year at the University of Oklahoma. He said those early courses were exciting, but it wasn’t until he got onto campus and worked with an aerospace professor that he found and entered the field that would define his career and combine all of his interests.

A national merit scholar and co-valedictorian of his high school class, he said he came out of a small school where no one could really envision that sort of path for him.

“To be honest, they were more interested in where I was going to play football than what I was going to study when I got there,” he said. “And I think I would have been a good candidate for something like the GoldShirt Program we have here in the college now because I had never taken a math course above algebra at that point – that was all that was available to me even though I was a merit scholar and interested in these science fields.”

Argrow would go on to get all three of his degrees from OU, finishing his PhD in 1989 as a dual National Science Foundation and Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering and Science (GEM) Fellow. Having both funding opportunities allowed him to stay in Oklahoma to take care of his family during grad school. And the GEM fellowship provided him with a key internship opportunity with the Aerospace Corporation in southern California, where he worked on projects related to Vandenberg Air Force Base’s development into a space launch complex. He said that was an incredible opportunity, but it also really confirmed his undergraduate preparation.

“I think I arrived there with some imposter syndrome because of who I was and where I was coming from. Most of the other students were from places like Stanford, but I quickly realized that the fundamentals of my education at Oklahoma had prepared me well, and I was more than able to hold my own – and more,” he said.

Argrow's path to CU Boulder

Argrow had many mentors in his career but said the time he spent with John E. Francis – an aerospace engineering professor at OU who went on to become Bradley University’s dean of engineering – was especially pivotal. He also noted that Howard Adams was another great mentor and responsible for getting Argrow into the GEM fellowship program, which was still new at the time.

Professor Brian Argrow talks with IRISS Lab Manager Michael Rhodes between deployments. Photo by Josh Rhoten, CEAS

“Howard was the executive director for that program, and he was one of the best speakers I had ever seen. He was so inspirational, and I loved to hear him speak when he came to campus,” Argrow said.

Argrow joined CU Boulder in 1992. When he was hired, he was one of just three Black tenure-track professors in the College of Engineering and Applied Science. And between 2010 and the summer of 2021, he was the only Black tenure-track professor in the college. Coming out of a small, rural high school and attending OU, he said it was a familiar pattern, but something he has worked to change during his time as department chair and throughout his career.

He said events over the last two years in America have brought aspects of non-inclusion and discrimination to the forefront in ways that can no longer be easily denied or dismissed. He said that is true for STEM, academia and many other aspects of modern American life – but that for every push forward there will be a push back.

“You have to be realistic about the pace of change so that you don’t become too discouraged, and I think significant change in these areas will be measured in decades,” he said.

Argrow said within academia specifically, true change will come when reward structures such as tenure and pay are re-examined.

“Those are the kinds of spaces where we codify values. And you can’t deny that people tailor their behavior to be rewarded,” he said. “I think for years we have focused on the minority population regarding these issues. And what we should be doing is getting the majority population to invest in them in parallel and in a much deeper way. We can continue to talk, but we can’t depend on altruism to see significant change. The way you get it done is through encouraging behaviors through institutions if we really want to see equity in our field and in this country.”

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CU Boulder's Brian Argrow inducted into National Academy of Engineering for UAV severe storm research

Anonymous — Fri, 18 Feb 2022 15:44:00 +0000

CU Boulder's Brian Argrow inducted into National Academy of Engineering for UAV severe storm research Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 02/18/2022 - 08:44

Jeff Zehnder

The National Academy of Engineering is recognizing Brian Argrow as a new member for 2022.

The distinction is one of the highest an engineer can receive in their career.

As a professor and chair of the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder, Argrow has conducted major research to advance uncrewed aerial systems to increase our understanding of supercell thunderstorms that can spawn tornados.

“It’s an honor, and it highlights our entire team. I’m just one person, but our work in uncrewed aerial systems is a team effort. It’s an interdisciplinary research area, with additional faculty here, professors at other universities and students. I’m getting credit, but there are a lot of contributors,” Argrow said.

Argrow joined CU Boulder in 1992 and was originally focused primarily on computational fluid dynamics, particularly for potential hypersonic vehicles. It is still an ongoing area for his research, but at the time, the field was quite small and the aerospace department leadership was eager to have more research in applied aerodynamics, particularly autonomous systems or drones.

Because he had a personal interest in meteorology from a childhood growing up in rural Oklahoma, where tornadoes are a fact of life, Argrow saw potential to use drones to study storms. He decided to branch out into the subject.

To begin his work in the area, Argrow needed a drone. Although quad copters are now widely available, drones were far harder to come by in 1994. He got in touch with a professor at his alma mater, the University of Oklahoma.

Argrow knew OU researchers had built a small fixed-wing drone, and he hoped to join in the research they were doing. Instead, he learned the drone had flown only a handful of times before the project was abandoned.

“We were able to bring it to CU Boulder and tinkered around with it, but realized it wasn’t what we needed and we had to start from scratch,” Argrow said. “The culmination of that is we developed the capability of flying into supercells, which we continue to refine.”

The team’s work since then has been extraordinary.

They have developed multiple generations of UAVs and advanced the science of weather sensor technology. They also have special authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration to fly higher and in areas other small aircraft are not allowed to go.

Typically, the team spends part of each spring out in the field, traveling across the Great Plains pursuing supercell storms.

Their most recent field campaign, the TORUS Project, was conducted in 2019. Work in 2020 and 2021 was halted by the pandemic, but he is hopeful to be out again this year.

“We’re getting as many sensors onto a small aircraft as possible to maximize every flight we make into a storm. We want to increase the data to get at what is the recipe to making a tornado in order to develop better warning systems,” Argrow said.

The data they capture will eventually be released publicly online so other scientists and engineers can study it. Although there are many researchers who are interested in analyzing tornadoes, none have the ability to collect field data from the air like Argrow’s team.

“We all stand on the shoulders of people who came before us. I didn’t invent calculus, Newton did. But I can use that knowledge,” Argrow said. “These data can help everyone.”

With gigabytes of information already collected on supercell storms, Argrow is hoping to expand his research into a related area: hail. His engineering team is part of a larger science team pursuing National Science Foundation funding for a project called ICECHIP that would use existing drones to study storms that produce hail.

“Many of those will also be supercells, not always. Like with our tornado work, it’s about learning the mechanism behind them. We want to develop more advanced warning, but if you know what forms them, maybe you can also prevent them,” Argrow said. “That’s kind of pie in the sky. It’s a ways off, and perhaps I won’t be here for that, but someone will.”

Argrow will be officially inducted into the NAE during the organization’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 2.

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Record breaking $50 million+ year for aerospace research at CU Boulder

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Oct 2021 14:45:37 +0000

Record breaking $50 million+ year for aerospace research at CU Boulder Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 10/26/2021 - 08:45

Jeff Zehnder

Chart Information

Year	Research Income	# of Research Awards
2021	$53,101,624	224
2020	$33,482,927	220
2019	$20,925,397	189
2018	$21,693,350	173
2017	$15,776,823	174
2016	$15,298,323	163
2015	$15,233,210	156
2014	$12,880,920	142
2013	$16,737,155	139
2012	$21,820,850	147
2011	$11,081,112	129

The Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder has had a record-breaking year for research funding, bringing in $53 million in awards.

The fiscal year 2021 number, which totals $53,101,624, blasts by the previous record of $33.2 million, set just one year ago in 2020.

CU Boulder ranks in the top 5 percent of all U.S. schools in aerospace expenditures and in the top 10 percent for overall research, according to American Society for Engineering Education 2020 Profiles.

“We couldn’t be prouder of the work going on in Smead Aerospace,” said Massimo Ruzzene, Associate Dean for Research. “As a Tier 1 institution, CU Boulder is on the forefront of research in engineering, and the growth we’ve seen in aerospace demonstrates that.”

The department’s research revenue has more than tripled over the last five years. Aerospace Chair and Professor Brian Argrow credits additional investment in both traditional aerospace fields and a push into new areas. The department has ongoing work in astrodynamics, modeling and simulation, hypersonics, space life-sciences, and uncrewed aircraft systems (drones).

“The $10 million Ann Smead and Michael Byram gift in 2017, coupled with the campus investment in our new Aerospace Engineering Sciences Building are the accelerants enabling our faculty, staff, and student research teams to achieve new heights in research, of which dollars are but one measure, while reputation and competitiveness are others,” Argrow said.

U.S. News and World Report ranks Smead Aerospace as the #6 public undergraduate program and #7 public graduate program among all universities.

The FY 2021 awards includes 224 unique grants for research advancing frontiers across aviation and space, with grants coming from NASA, the National Science Foundation, private businesses, universities, and other organizations.

Header Photo: �鶹��Ժ working with Professor Tim Minton.

The Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder has had a record-breaking year for research funding, bringing in $53 million in awards. The fiscal year 2021 number, which totals $53,101,624, blasts by the previous record of $33.2 million, set just one year ago in 2020...

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Lockheed Martin satellite mockup dedicated in Aerospace Building

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Sep 2021 22:27:27 +0000

Lockheed Martin satellite mockup dedicated in Aerospace Building Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/28/2021 - 16:27

Jeff Zehnder

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdPbV4PULJg]Watch a timelapse video of the satellite mockup's installation in late June.

Flickr Gallery of the Dedication Ceremony

A special 1/3 scale GPS IIIF satellite mockup built by Lockheed Martin has been dedicated in the University of Colorado Boulder Aerospace Building.

CU Boulder and Lockheed Martin officials held a ceremony Friday, Sept. 24 to mark the installation of the satellite, which is suspended from the 4th floor overlook of the Aerospace Building.

The formal program included:

Brian Argrow, Chair, Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences
Terri Fiez, Vice Chancellor for Research & Innovation
Tonya Ladwig, Navigation Systems Mission Area Vice President, Lockheed Martin
Keith Molenaar, Interim Dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science
Johnathon Caldwell, Business Innovation, Transformation and Enterprise Excellence Vice President, Lockheed Martin
Scott Thomas, Program Manager for GPSIII, Space Systems Command

Speakers at the event emphasized the importance of GPS technology for commercial, military, and civilian uses and stated their desire for the model to be an inspiration for students.

"The aviation, agriculture, construction and ride-share industries are dependent on GPS. If you used car navigation, made a bank transaction, or tracked your workout distance on a smart watch today – you used GPS. It is not really a question of if you used GPS today, instead ask yourself, how many times did you use GPS today," Ladwig said, in prepared remarks.

The full-sized GPS IIIF is the upgraded follow-on for the third-generation global positioning system satellite. Designed and built by Lockheed Martin, the GPS III first launched in 2018.

It is the most powerful GPS satellite created to date, with increased accuracy and anti-jamming capabilities. This new GPSIIIF is the follow-on design that incorporates a flexible technology architecture with a fully digital navigation system, accuracy-enhancing laser retroreflector array, regional military protection capability, and a search-and-rescue payload.

A special 1/3 scale GPS IIIF satellite mockup built by Lockheed Martin has been dedicated in the University of Colorado Boulder Aerospace Building. CU Boulder and Lockheed Martin officials held a ceremony Friday, Sept. 24 to mark the installation of the satellite, which is...

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Seminar: Supercells to Supersonics: Aerospace Engineering Applied to Atmospheric & Weather Research - March 16

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Mar 2021 22:47:05 +0000

Seminar: Supercells to Supersonics: Aerospace Engineering Applied to Atmospheric & Weather Research - March 16 Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 03/11/2021 - 15:47

Brian Argrow
Professor and Chair, Smead Aerospace
Tuesday, March 16 | 3:00 P.M. | Zoom Webinar

Abstract: In June 2010, the University of Colorado and University of Nebraska collaborated for the first collection of thermodynamic data in a supercell thunderstorm using an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) as part of the “Second Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment” (VORTEX-2). In 2019, the CU-NU UAS team again deployed to the Great Plains with new and improved UAS and storm-intercept strategies for the project “Targeted Observations by Radars and UAS of Supercells” (TORUS). The 2019 TORUS field campaign was highlighted by intercepts of several supercells that produced tornadoes while UAS were sampling the storms.

The TORUS field campaign also provided an opportunity to deploy balloon-borne instruments to begin to characterize how supercells, that can grow above 70,000 feet, generate disturbances in the stratosphere as part of the Hypersonic Flight in the Turbulent Stratosphere (HYFLITS) project. The objectives of HYFLITS research are to measure turbulence and particulates in the stratosphere, and to refine models for the design of hypersonic aircraft. This talk will review the TORUS and HYFLITS campaigns and discuss contributions to severe weather research and efforts to characterize the stratosphere for hypersonic aircraft.

Bio: Brian M. Argrow is Schaden Leadership Professor and Chair of the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, and Director of the Integrated Remote & In-Situ Sensing Program (IRISS). His research includes design and deployment of small unmanned aircraft systems, airspace integration, aerodynamics, and high-speed gas dynamics. He is a Fellow of the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA); a current member of the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; a current member of the Defense Innovation Board Space Advisory Committee; and he received the Department of the Air Force Exemplary Civilian Service Award for his service on the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board.

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Argrow named Schaden Leadership Chair

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 22:58:57 +0000

Argrow named Schaden Leadership Chair Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/17/2019 - 16:58

I am thrilled to report that our philanthropic campaign to increase our support and engagement with Colorado’s aerospace sector has surpassed its goal and enabled us to establish three new endowed leadership chairs in electrical, computer and energy engineering, mechanical engineering and aerospace engineering sciences.

While this campaign continues through the end of the calendar year, the overwhelming success of this effort means that we have fully met our fiscal obligations towards construction of the new Aerospace Engineering Sciences building. In doing so, we are the first academic unit in University of Colorado Boulder history to surpass a building campaign goal. Achieving this milestone would not have been possible without the seamless collaboration of Advancement personnel with faculty and staff from across our college.

The building itself is a remarkable testament to our team efforts. In addition, through a unique partnership with campus, we were able to largely focus our fundraising energy on raising endowment dollars for the people that make our college the special place that it is. These funds benefited the Departments of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, Computer Science, Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering – each of which contribute to making Colorado the number one state for private sector aerospace employment and the University of Colorado, the number one public university for NASA funding.

Bob Erickson

Mike Hannigan

Brian Argrow

If you attended the grand opening of the Aerospace Engineering Sciences building, you heard me announce our new leadership chairs. Endowed chairs are an important investment in our faculty and students. They enable us to recruit and retain exceptional faculty who are national leaders in their fields — and support the students and programs around them. In this particular case, endowed leadership chairs were created to augment the operations budgets of three CEAS departments.

We are grateful to the people whose generosity made these chairs possible.

You may know Chuck Palmer (ElEngr’76, MS’88). He has been a longtime supporter of the college and in 2016, set up two endowed chairs currently held by Lucy Pao in Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering and Kurt Maute in Ann and H.J. Smead Aerospace Engineering Sciences. His latest gift established the Palmer Leadership Chair in Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering. Interim department chair Bob Erickson will be the inaugural chairholder.

The Leadership Endowed Chair in Mechanical Engineering was made possible through gifts from Steve Woodward (MechEngr’80) and Herb Vogel (MechEngr’82). Both are founding and current members of the Mechanical Engineering Strategic Advisory Board. Woodward and his family have supported the college for many years through endowments, and Vogel is a longtime contributor to the college through fellowships. The inaugural holder of the chair that they made possible is mechanical engineering department chair Mike Hannigan.

Richard Schaden and his wife, Akiko, created the Schaden Leadership Chair in Aerospace Engineering Sciences. Richard is an aeronautical engineer, pilot and international aviation and public-interest trial attorney. He has been a long-time friend and supporter of Smead Aerospace and our college. He presently serves on the Aerospace Engineering Sciences Advisory Board and is co-developing a new course in trial law with CEAS Professor Michael Readey and Wolf Law School faculty member Valeri Pappas. The inaugural holder of the Schaden Leadership Chair in Aerospace Engineering Sciences is department chair Brian Argrow.

These endowed chairs also underscore the fundamental importance of department leadership in our college. I am pleased to recognize some of our exceptional faculty leaders in this way and to celebrate the distinction this brings to CEAS. These chairs represent the breadth of impact this campaign had not only for our aerospace engineering sciences programs, but for other departments as well.

Please join me in thanking our esteemed college partners and congratulating the three CEAS faculty leaders holding these newly endowed chairs.

Bobby Braun is Dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science at CU Boulder.

Richard Schaden and his wife, Akiko, created the Schaden Leadership Chair in Aerospace Engineering Sciences. Richard is an aeronautical engineer, pilot and international aviation and public-interest trial attorney. He has been a long-time friend and supporter of Smead Aerospace and our...

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