#grahamdoig

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Graham Doig awarded grant from National Science Foundation

(Linda Moore, Monica Singer, Andres Hernandez, Nicki Holm, Graham Doig)

Dr. Graham Doig has been awarded a 2-year, $188,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to investigate the reasons why some students choose to participate in co-curricular engineering projects (such as Formula SAE, PROVE Lab, Concrete Canoe, Robotics Club and many more), while some students decide not to participate at all or leave projects after trying them. While the benefits to students of engaged involvement are relatively well documented, participation and experience varies a lot across students from different racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. The study is aimed at obtaining a more scientific understanding of this so that student teams and campus coordinators can offer more effective programs that better encourage improved diversity and inclusivity.

The research will eventually expand to other college campuses in California to better understand how Cal Poly’s student body and “Learn by Doing” approach compares. The project, which will support several student researchers (including new hires Linda Moore and Andres Hernandez), is a collaboration with Dr. Chance Hoellwarth (Center for Engineering, Science and Mathematics Education) and Dr. Kathy Chen (Materials Engineering), with CSU STEM VISTA AmeriCorps volunteers Nicki Holm and Monica Singer.

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2017 NASA Ames Interns

Several students from Cal Poly Aerospace Engineering Department are heading to NASA Ames Research Center this summer. Long-time Low Speed Wind Tunnel assistant (and 2016 aerodynamics team lead for PROVE Lab), Riess Haslam, (left), will be working in the Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel (same as last year!) with Lauren Polo (next to Riess) who helped out with the wind tunnel traverse this year, and Tyler Miles (rear) who spent last summer at Ames’ Fluid Mechanics Lab under the mentorship of a great friend to Cal Poly Aero, Kurt Long. This year, Katie Breitenstein (rear) will be at the Fluid Mechanics Lab - Katie’s been helping get a seal swimming project started. And Bob Comstock, currently PROVE Lab’s CAD guru, will be working on developing CFD tools in a separate division at Ames. Lucas Dodd (not pictured) is also heading to the Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel complex, having worked with Dr. Doig on bird wing aerodynamics last year. Whew. That’s a lot of people who’ve done a lot of great stuff about to have an incredible summer.   

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Cal Poly Engineering Names Dr. Graham Doig as a Lockheed Martin Endowed Professor

Awarded biannually in conjunction with Lockheed Martin, the $25,000 professorships provide time and resources for professional growth and development to enrich the educational experiences of Cal Poly students. The award recognizes faculty members who contribute new knowledge in the field of engineering, partner with industry, involve students with advanced ideas and enhance teaching by introducing state-of-the-art topics into the classroom.

Since joining Cal Poly in late 2014, Graham Doig (pictured here with Ed Burnett of Lockheed Martin) has integrated undergraduate aerospace engineering students into aerodynamic research of a nearly professional quality. He has overseen the significant modernization of Cal Poly’s Low-Speed Wind Tunnel, and he has overhauled key courses in fluids, thermodynamics and applied aerodynamics to offer more project-based learning and foster increased student creativity. Doig founded and advises the high-profile, student-led Cal Poly Prototype Vehicles Lab, which is building a car to break the land speed record for a solar-powered vehicle in the summer of 2018. 

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Students who work in or have projects in the Low Speed Wind Tunnel lab got together at the end of last quarter to farewell long-time fixer-of-all-things, Matt Paul (never seen without baseball cap). Matt recently started work at NASA Ames' Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel, having worked as a wind tunnel test engineer and teaching assistant at Cal Poly while completing his Master's degree. We'll miss you, Matt! Now we can start clearing up after you...!

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Real World Testing of Vehicle Aerodynamics

Cal Poly students Danny Stalters (aero) and Andrew Furmidge (ME) have been making great progress on an undergraduate research project funded by a Baker and Koob Endowment grant. The goal is to determine whether machine learning applied to aerodynamic data during a track test featuring multiple variables can be used to the point where the vehicle could sense oncoming flow conditions and, in near real time, predict what the aerodynamic response of the vehicle would be. Thanks to the team at Allan Hancock College for the help at the Lompoc test track!

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Cal Poly awarded new High Performance Computing resource

Dr. Graham Doig was PI on a grant to obtain a new high performance computing resource for Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. The cluster, from Silicon Mechanics, will greatly enhance computational fluid dynamics capability on campus for students and researchers, and opens the door to collaborations across the College of Engineering.  

You can read Cal Poly’s press release here.

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2017 Ames visit - on a wet and wild day in February, students in Dr. Doig’s ground-breaking Aerodynamic Research and Development course visited NASA Ames for presentations and the Cal Poly Insider Tour of the Unitary Plan supersonic test section (top), including a peek in the full-scale tunnel while Wired were filming. 

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PROVE Lab have started manufacturing their solar-powered land speed record car - here’s a look back at the simulation that went into creating the shape for one of the lowest-drag vehicles ever. FLIP was the design and testing partner for this part of the program, for wind tunnel and CFD work.