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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 Highlight

Deep Learning for Data Tracking

Vitaliy Yurkiv, an assistant professor, and Farzad Mashayek, professor and head of the aerospace and mechanical engineering department, research artificial intelligence algorithms that quickly analyze complex data from microscopy images.

"Now with machine learning, we can do it in a couple of seconds. Or, when an experiment recorded 1,000 images or 10,000 images, a researcher would need years to analyze them. But now, with our developed method, we can do it in one hour or less with modern graphics processing units," Yurkiv said.

Vitaliy Yurkiv

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 Videos

Engineering by Touch
Kavan Hazeli

Speeding Toward Hypersonic Flight 
Jesse Little and Erica Corral

Keeping Space and Planets Safe
Robert Furfaro and Vishnu Reddy

Fast Facts

6th

NASA-funded activity

$8.8 million

annual research expenditures (2023)

Mach 5

wind tunnel capabilities