Group Leader
Dr. Xinfeng Gao
Dr. Xinfeng Gao leads the CFD & Propulsion Laboratory and is a professor of Aerospace Engineering with research focuses on developing convergent algorithms of HPC, CFD, and data analytics for complex high-speed flows.
Xinfeng Gao
Professor of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Xinfeng Gao's research is focused on the development of high-performance computing (HPC) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) algorithms for a wide range of applications in aerospace and mechanical engineering, involving shock waves, turbulence, combustion, plasma, and multifluids. Her research is categorized into three areas:
Current Students
Grady Regan
Grady Regan has a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Clarkson University in May 2024. He Joined the CFD & Propulsion lab in June 2024 and his Ph.D. research topic is focused on the development of moving boundaries for applications to hypersonic flows.
Andrew Davis
Andrew Davis completed his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Mathematics from Tennessee Technological University in December of 2020. Andrew Joined the CFD & Propulsion Laboratory as a Master’s student in January of 2021 and then transferred to the Ph.D. study in September of 2021. His research is focused on the development of CFD algorithms for GPUs and application of these algorithms for hypersonic flows.
Justin Yankow
Justin Yankow is an undergraduate student at the University of Virginia pursuing a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering with a minor in Applied Mathematics. He began his studies at the university in the fall of 2021 and joined the CFD & Propulsion Laboratory in the summer of 2024. His research is focused in the application of Direct Simulation Monte Carlo algorithms to complex, high-velocity flows.
Former Students
Chris Hurst
Chris Hurst started his Ph.D. study under Dr. Gao in the fall of 2018. His research is focused on the development of novel data assimilation methods for complex fluid dynamical systems. He remains in Colorado State at Dr. Gao’s previous CFD & Propulsion Laboratory to complete the final stage of his research and expects to defend his dissertation in the spring of 2024. Chris completed his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology with a concentration in aerospace in May 2017. He took a year off school working for SpaceX’s launch site at Vandenberg AFB, assisting his grandfather with harvest in New Zealand, and taking a three-month climbing tour all around North America.
Erik Brodin
Erik Brodin started his Ph.D. study under Dr. Gao in the fall of 2019. His research involves the development of a CFD algorithm for filament modeling in additive manufacturing. He remains in Colorado State at Dr. Gao’s previous CFD & Propulsion Laboratory to complete the last stage of his research and expects to defend his dissertation in the spring of 2024. Erik has a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering and M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Miami University (Ohio) in 2018.
Nate Overton-Katz
Degree (Year): Ph.D. (2022)
Time Period and Thesis: 08/2016-08/2022, Geometry Considerations for High-Order Finite-Volume Methods on Structured Grids with Adaptive Mesh Refinement
Job Upon Graduation: Postdoctoral scientist at the Applied Numerical Algorithms Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Sean Walters
Degree (Year): Ph.D. (2022)
Time Period and Thesis: 05/2016-05/2022, Large-Eddy Simulation of Compressible Flows Using the Stretched-Vortex Model and a Fourth-Order Finite Volume Scheme on Adaptive Grids
Job Upon Graduation: Assistant professor at Southern Adventist University
Scott Polak
Degree (Year): Ph.D. (2022)
Time Period and Thesis: 01/2016-05/2022, A Fourth-Order Finite Volume Algorithm with Adaptive Mesh Refinement in Space and Time for Multi-Fluid Plasma Modeling
Job Upon Graduation: Member of Technical Staff, Remote Plasma Sources, Advanced Energy, Fort Collins, Colorado
Yijun Wang
Degree (Year): Ph.D. (2022)
Time Period and Thesis: 08/2016-01/2022, Bayesian Data Assimilation for CFD Modeling of Turbulent Combustion
Job Upon Graduation: Data Scientist at Huma.AI, Inc
Joshua Christopher
Degree (Year): Ph.D. (2021)
Time Period and Thesis: 06/2014-12/2021, Time Integration for Complex Fluid Dynamics
Job Upon Graduation: Postdoctoral scientist at the Center for Advanced Propulsion and Power Research, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois
Noah Meisner
Degree (Year): M.S. (2019)
Time Period and Thesis: 09/2016-05/2019, Entropy Stability for a Forth-Order Accurate Finite Volume Method
Job Upon Graduation: Karagozian & Case
Landon Owen
Degree (Year): Ph.D. (2019)
Time Period and Thesis: 08/2013-06/2019, A Fourth-Order Solution-Adaptive Finite-Volume Algorithm for Compressible Reacting Flows on Mapped Domains
Job Upon Graduation: Postdoctoral scientist at the Combustion Research Facility, Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore Campus, California
Justin Weinmeister
Degree (Year): M.S. (2018)
Time Period and Thesis: 04/2016-05/2018, Development of Reduced Polynomial Chaos-Kriging Metamodel for Uncertainty Quantification of Computational Aerodynamics
Job Upon Graduation: Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Tyler Schott
Degree (Year): M.S. (2016)
Time Period and Thesis: 11/2013-06/2016, CFD Modeling of Aircraft Pressure Relief Doors
Job Upon Graduation: Blue Origin
Nathan Spotts
Degree (Year): M.S. (2015)
Time Period and Thesis: 02/2012-12/2015, Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes Simulations of Inlet Flow Distortion in the Fan System of a Gas-Turbine Aero-Engine
Job Upon Graduation: Woodward Inc
Former Research Scientists
Dr. Catherine Olschanowsky
Dr. Catherine Olschanowsky is now an associate professor of Computer Science at Boise State University. She was a research professor in Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering Departments at CSU, working in the CFD & Propulsion Laboratory from July 2013 to July 2016. Her work involved using the Rose compiler to customize CFD applications to complex computer architectures. She earned her Ph.D. in Computer Science from University of California at San Diego in the Performance Modeling and Characterization Laboratory. Dr. Olschanowsky also worked as a research scientist and software engineer at the San Diego Supercomputer Center.