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Chun-Yi W

- Research Program Mentor

PhD candidate at University of Texas Austin (UT Austin)

Expertise

Aerospace engineering

Bio

Hi! My name is Chun-Yi Wu, and I'm a graduate student at UT Austin studying aerospace engineering. My life goal is to be involved in missions to explore the solar system, and that is why I chose this field for my career. My research focuses on trajectory design, specifically looking at the use of gravitational assist to save fuel, thus making a mission to icy moons like Enceladus and Europa possible. In my free time, I love to cook, play board games, and hang out with friends.

Project ideas

Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

Interplanetary Trajectory Solver

There are many scientifically significant destinations in the outer solar system for exploration, and determining the trajectory to reach them is important to make the mission possible. These kinds of problems involve discrete (e.g., which bodies to perform flybys with) and continuous (e.g., when the flybys will occur, how much fuel to burn) optimization. There are many ways to find the trajectories, including the use of a Lambert solver (which gives you the orbit that contains two points with a specific time duration), a genetic algorithm, etc. The project could involve building these toolboxes that, when combined, produce a trajectory solver/database.

Coding skills

Matlab, Fortran, some Python

Languages I know

Mandarin (native speaker), Japanese (conversational)

Teaching experience

During undergraduate, I have done one-on-one tutoring for other students who needed some help with their homework. During graduate school, I have taught a class about spacecraft design and led TA discussion sessions on orbital mechanics.

Credentials

Work experience

JHU APL (2017 - 2022)
Technical Aide
UT Austin (2023 - Current)
Assistant Instructor

Education

University of Texas Austin (UT Austin)
BS Bachelor of Science (2014)
Aerospace Engineering
University of Texas Austin (UT Austin)
MS Master of Science (2017)
Aerospace Engineering
University of Texas Austin (UT Austin)
PhD Doctor of Philosophy candidate
Aerospace Engineering

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