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Home / Research

Research

Advancing Technology

From Guidance Systems to Green Energy

UA Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, with annual research expenditures of $5.5 million, has initiated breakthroughs in areas ranging from microelectromechanical systems to the behavior of objects in space.

AME faculty and students collaborate with researchers across campus and around the world to develop technology and processes for creation of the next aircraft materials, spacecraft guidance systems, autonomous vehicles, implantable medical devices, tissue engineering and renewable energy, for example. 

Some of the nation’s top aerospace, defense and high-tech manufacturing companies are in close proximity to the University of Arizona. These industries work with AME on research for technological advancement, and the university’s commercial arm, Tech Launch Arizona, helps ensure inventions get to market. 

Primary Research Areas

  • Aerospace technology
  • Biomechanics
  • Computational mechanics
  • Fluid mechanics
  • Micro- and nanotechnology
  • Renewable energy
  • Solid mechanics

See research Focus Areas for more information.

Project Highlights

NASA Funds UA Space Exploration Missions

An AME team led by assistant professor Jekan Thanga is partnering with the Colorado School of Mines as part of NASA’s Artemis Student Challenge. Their project will use lasers and CubeSats to search for water on permanently shadowed regions of the moon.

Our project is a stepping-stone to building up the necessary technologies to prospect and extract water on the lunar surface.

$1.7M in DOD Funding Enhances UArizona's National Aerodynamics Reputation

Jesse Little, associate professor and associate department head for graduate studies

Hypersonics is a key part of the university's strategic plan. Our department has a legacy in fluid mechanics and aerodynamics, and we are building on decades' worth of research done by colleagues. When we're done, across a few different facilities, we'll be able to experiment from Mach 0 to Mach 5, at scales relevant for real problems, not just theoretical ones.

Hypersonic cooling

Kyle Hanquist, joined AME as an assistant professor after earning his doctoral degree in aerospace engineering and completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. His most recent focus area is in using computational hypersonics to investigate cooling mechanisms for high-speed vehicles.

The UA really stood out compared to other opportunities. The people both at the university and around town are super friendly, and my research aligned well with the department and local industry.

Tackling TBI

Using a combination of computational and experimental data, professor Samy Missoum is developing a tool to predict the likelihood of traumatic brain injury after a car crash, based on crash conditions like impact velocity and angle.

Let’s say a paramedic arrives at the scene of a car accident. They could input the information into a tool and say, ‘Okay, based on the characteristics of this accident, this person is going to have a 70% to 80% chance of severe traumatic brain injury.

Understanding Space Debris

A team of UA researchers, including Roberto Furfaro professor and director of Space Situational Awareness Arizona, is collaborating with universities from around the world to employ an advanced camera on a CubeSat that will monitor meteorites striking the moon.

Now agencies are exploring the feasibility of sending these cubes out not just around Earth, but to explore other areas.

Centers and Facilities

AME’s wind tunnels and machine shop rival many in academia and industry. Additionally, the University of Arizona, a Tier 1 research institution, is home to a number of renowned labs, centers and institutes vital to the work of AME researchers.

See UA College of Engineering-affiliated Research Centers and Institutes.

Featured Video

Hypersonics – UA Engineering Speaker Series
Fast Facts
4 th
aerospace manufacturing, state ranking
(PricewaterhouseCoopers)
$ 5 .5 million
annual research expenditures
Mach 5
wind tunnel capabilities
  • Employee Resources
The University of Arizona
Department of Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering
1130 N. Mountain Ave.
P.O. Box 210119
Tucson, AZ 85721
520.626.2053

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