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Hannah S

- Research Program Mentor

PhD candidate at Texas A&M University

Expertise

unmanned vehicles, aerospace structures, computational mechanics, modeling, airframe design, experiment design, structural testing, manufacturing methods, metallurgy, material response, biomedical device design

Bio

Howdy! My name is Hannah and I am a second year PhD student (and NSF Fellow) at Texas A&M University in aerospace engineering. I am originally from Buffalo, New York. My background is very broad, and I am constantly expanding my research interests. I have hands on experience in manufacturing (additive and traditional), metallurgy, airframe design and structural test, experiment design, wind tunnel and water tunnel test, etc. I currently work with computational tools (so using computers instead of experiments!) to explore how fluids (such as water, air, and blood) interact with structures (such as planes, boats, and medical devices). If you want to get nitty gritty with what my projects are, I've done modeling and experimental evaluation of knitted shape memory alloys and am currently working on modeling bioabsorbable medical devices. My personal interests are just as diverse as my research ones! I am interested in triathlons, weightlifting, climbing, and hiking, but I also enjoy knitting, crochet, cross stitch, and painting. I am not necessarily very good at any of these things, but I enjoy them and that's what counts! I'm interested in mentoring because it allows me to share the best aspects of my experiences to help you further your goals. I'm certainly not what Newton would call a giant, but hopefully from my shoulders you'll see a bit farther anyway.

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.

Mechanical testing of various knit architectures

Students will understand the differences between knit architectures and relate these architectures to knit patterns. Students will learn the basics of mechanical/structural testing and understand mechanical property evaluation. Students will gain experience in designing experiments. Students will have the option to extend their study to pattern optimization.

Design of a Reconfigurable UAV Test Bed

Students will learn the basics of aerospace structural design. Students will understand the trade offs made in air vehicle design. Students will design a vehicle capable of meeting customer requirements that serves as a multifunctional "flying experiment lab", where various equipment can be tested under flight conditions.

Manufacturing Methods

Students will explore the trade offs between traditional methods and additive methods for complex parts from a variety of fields (with an emphasis on aerospace). Students will develop intuition for choosing methods of manufacturing based on trade offs and engineering requirements.

Coding skills

MatLab, Fortran, python, html

Teaching experience

I served as a TA for precalculus for freshman engineers in 2015. In 2018, I developed curriculum for and TA'ed for an aerospace engineering design elective called Unconventional Applications of Aerospace Engineering, in which students had to use their aerospace knowledge of fluids, structures, and dynamics to develop devices in other disciplines (medical devices, wind turbines, oil pipelines, etc.). This year, I am developing and teaching (as a full instructor, with my own TA!) a course aimed at sophomores and juniors on developing outreach activities for K-12 students. I have mentored seven undergrads through various research projects, three of which consisted of the student developing their own projects.

Credentials

Work experience

Fort Wayne Metals (2018 - 2018)
Research and Development Engineering Intern
Insitu, Inc. (2017 - 2017)
Advanced Development Intern
Insitu, Inc. (2016 - 2016)
Manufacturing Intern
Buffalo Manufacturing Works (2015 - 2015)
Additive Manufacturing Intern

Education

Texas A&M University
BS Bachelor of Science (2018)
Aerospace Engineering
Texas A&M University
MS Master of Science
Aerospace Engineering
Texas A&M University
PhD Doctor of Philosophy candidate
Aerospace Engineering

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