Two AME faculty members named AIAA Associate Fellows

Thomas Juliano and R. Mark Rennie

Associate Professor Thomas J. Juliano and Research Associate Professor R. Mark Rennie have been named Associate Fellows of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). They will be honored with the other new Associate Fellows in January 2022 in San Diego, Calif., during the 2022 AIAA SciTech Forum.

The grade of Associate Fellow recognizes individuals “who have accomplished or been in charge of important engineering or scientific work, or who have done original work of outstanding merit, or who have otherwise made outstanding contributions to the arts, sciences, or technology of aeronautics or astronautics.”

Juliano was selected “for innovative facility and instrumentation development/deployment and fundamental research that have advanced our understanding of hypersonic boundary-layer transition processes.” He leads the Hypersonic Aerodynamics Lab at Notre Dame, where his work focuses on high-speed aerodynamics and hypersonics.

A faculty member since 2014, Juliano previously served as a research associate on a National Academy of Sciences fellowship at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and as a postdoctoral researcher at Ohio State University.

Rennie was cited for “groundbreaking work in the field of aero-optics, especially the development of effective passive flow-control technologies to mitigate aero-optical degradation of airborne optical systems.”

He conducts research in aero-optics and experimental and computational fluid dynamics, specifically focusing on methods of measuring the optical behavior of compressible turbulent flows and their effects on aircraft-mounted optical devices.

Prior to joining the ND Engineering faculty in 2008, he served as a visiting research assistant professor and postdoctoral researcher in the AME department. He also served as a senior aerodynamicist with Aiolos Engineering Corporation and an aerodynamicist with DSMA International.

“The selection process for AIAA Associate Fellows is an extremely competitive one,” said David B. Go, professor and chair of aerospace and mechanical engineering. “Being elected is a great distinction.

“The department is very proud of Tom and Mark. They have exhibited a dedication to aerospace engineering that has already produced significant contributions to the field and promises many more to come.”

— Nina Welding, College of Engineering