Rishita Das and Komal Kumari, two doctoral students from the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University, have been named 2019 Amelia Earhart Fellows by the Zonta International Foundation.
The $10,000 fellowship is awarded annually to up to 30 women pursuing doctoral degrees in aerospace-applied sciences or aerospace-applied engineering. Das is pursuing research in turbulence under the supervision of Dr. Sharath Girimaji, while Kumari is focused on research in turbulence and advanced computations under Dr. Diego Donzis. Both hold Bachelor of Technology and Master of Technology degrees in aerospace engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India.
Das’ research focuses on understanding velocity gradients and local flow topology of incompressible turbulent flows. She is studying the distribution and time evolution of small-scale turbulent structures in an isotropic turbulent flow and the occurrence of extreme events in these structures.
Her research will help understand the physical processes that govern turbulent flow phenomena, like mixing and fluid-element deformation. Finally, she aims at developing a physics-based stochastic model for velocity gradient dynamics to capture small-scale turbulence statistics. This would provide a physical understanding of complex turbulent flows of interest, for which simulation of the entire turbulent flow field is prohibitively expensive. The model will be specifically useful in developing efficient design and enhancing controlling capabilities of aerospace fluid systems where proper understanding is lacking due to computational limitations.
“I am most honored and grateful to the Zonta International Foundation for awarding me the Amelia Earhart Fellowship,” said Das, who aspires to develop expertise in the wide-ranging physics underlying turbulence and further enhance the simulation capabilities for turbulence in engineering flows.
The prime focus of Kumari’s research is the development, analysis and implementation of a novel asynchronous and optimal mathematical framework that will effectively leverage the largest computational resources. This asynchronous paradigm significantly improves the scalability of numerical solvers and facilitates the use of billions of processors or more, an impossible task for virtually all current solvers. She will use this framework for simulations of turbulent flows at unprecedented levels of physical realism and accelerate the development and understanding of the physics of turbulence at scales and conditions unachievable on current supercomputers. These new insights will help improve the turbulence models used for industrial scale simulations and facilitate the design of more efficient airplanes, rockets and jet-engines.
“Being selected as an Amelia Earhart Fellow is an honor that I'll forever treasure,” said Kulmari. “It reminds me of how much I have learned and grown during my time here at Texas A&M and for this I am truly grateful to my advisor, Dr. Donzis, for his support, guidance and all his pep talks. This award is a recognition of the hard work and effort that we put in. It is a boost to my confidence and encourages me to continue doing what I love to the best of my abilities and contribute to the advancement of my field.”
The prestigious fellowship, established in 1938 in honor of famed pilot Amelia Earhart, aims to carry out Zonta’s mission that women have access to all resources and are represented in decision-making positions on an equal basis with men.