NASA University Leadership Initiative
UC San Diego and its partners are creating computational models and optimization algorithms that will enable faster, more effective design of urban air mobility vehicles. This three-year project is funded by University Leadership Initiative (ULI) within NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD).
The ULI team
John Hwang (UC San Diego) leads the team, which also includes San Diego State University, UC Davis, Brigham Young University, Aurora Flight Sciences, and M4 Engineering. The expertise areas of the faculty and industry investigators span all the aircraft disciplines and several key areas in computational science & engineering.
Project goals
Create a software framework for vehicle design using large-scale multidisciplinary design, analysis, and optimization (MDAO)
Use this large-scale MDAO framework to solve three technical challenge (TC) problems
Advance knowledge in high-impact research areas
Mathematical modeling of electric aircraft for urban air mobility
Partial-differential-equation-based computational engineering (code generation methods, isogeometric analysis, immersed methods)
Multidisciplinary design optimization (local sensitivity analysis, modeling languages)
Broaden diverse participation in aeronautics
Student research and leadership opportunities
Deployment of computational design tools in undergraduate and graduate teaching
Local outreach