Student Activities

Student organizations based in the Aerospace Department allow students to socialize and learn by participating in hands-on activities outside of the classroom.

UC CubeCats

UC Cubecats launching a satellite

The UC CubeCats is a student organization at the University of Cincinnati dedicated to the education of its members through the development and launch of CubeSats (small, standardized satellites built by universities all across the world). The UC CubeCats are currently working on three separate CubeSat missions, with their first mission looking to launch in the 2019-2020 timeframe. The UC CubeCats have also developed a High Altitude Balloon Educational Program for new members that aims to give Freshman experience in space systems engineering before jumping onto the CubeSat program.

UC Women in Flight

Founded by our current graduate student, Rachel Wiggins, Women in Flight is a student organization that fosters a supportive environment for women in aerospace and aviation fields.

Students who are interested in Women in Flight are welcome to contact Rachel Wiggins: wigginre@mail.uc.edu. All UC students are welcome to join the organization.

I want to create a voice for underrepresented female students in engineering.

Rachel Wiggins Aerospace engineering student

AeroCats

Students looking up at a plane in the sky

AeroCats student built aircraft in flight

The 2022 Aerocats finished in 3rd place overall out of 31 teams at the SAE Aero Design West competition in Van Nuys, CA in early April, 2022.  Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico (San Juan, PR) finished in 1st place and Politechnika Poznanska (Poland) finished in 2nd place.  The UC Aerocats finished in 6th place for their design report, 4th place for their oral presentation, and 4th place for the flight competition. UC’s team members included aerospace engineering seniors Sharon Macumber (team leader), Justin Boreman, Elliott Burdick, Marshall Dunlap, Kyle Fishleigh, Aidan Flanigan, Jake Holsapple, Jacob Huelsman, Cole Isaacs, Camron Jolley, Areya Joya, Maxwell Kleinhenz, Nick Krauser, Cameron Long, David Mulligan, Alex Newberg, Josh Ogorzaly, Sam Orians, Taylor Reinhart, Brandon Rider, Dylan Roach, Liz Rochford, and Phillip Rump. Adjunct Professor Mark Fellows was the team’s advisor and Santiago Panzardi was the team’s pilot.

2015 Student Team

2015 AeroCats Student Team

2015 AeroCats Student Team

Congratulations students for another successful year at the SAE Aero Design East Competition.

Our Regular Class team received a 1st place oral presentation, 2nd place maximum payload, 5th place design report, and 1st place overall. Regular class is the most competitive class at the competition, so winning 1st overall is the highest achievement possible at the competition!

2014 Student Team

AeroCats 2014 Student Team

Congratulations students for another successful year at the SAE Aero Design East Competition.

Our Regular Class received a 1st place oral presentation (thanks to Adjunct Professor Tom Black for guidance), 4th place maximum payload, 4th place design report, and 5th place overall!  

Advanced Team also received 1st place presentation, 3rd place report, 2nd closest to target, and 2nd overall!

UC Students for the Exploration and Development of Space

 UC Students for the Exploration and Development of Space

UC SEDS is the campus chapter of an international organization dedicated to the studies of space exploration and development. This chapter was formed by three aerospace seniors. Participation in the club allows you to take part in a yearly competition to design, build, and fly a team spacecraft. In past years the team took home first place in the competition at Culpeper, Virginia in the design and launch of a rocket.

UC Rocket Team

UC Rocket team

UC Rocket team takes home first place at the 2015 Battle of the Rockets Planetary Rover Competition.

Headshot of Prashant Khare

Prashant Khare

Assoc Professor, CEAS - Aerospace Eng & Eng Mechanics

745C Baldwin Hall

513-556-5248

Prashant Khare earned his Ph.D. degree from Georgia Institute of Technology in 2014. Following two years as a Research Fellow at Georgia Tech, he joined the University of Cincinnati (UC) in 2017 as an Assistant Professor of Aerospace Engineering. He was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2022. More detailed information is on Dr. Khare's research website: https://khare.uc.edu.
 
Research.  Dr. Khare’s research focuses on multiphase flows, non-reacting and reacting fluid dynamics, combustion systems, data analytics and high-performance computing relevant to energy, propulsion, and environmental applications.  He addresses the fundamental physics (and chemistry) underlying various physical processes by conducting massively parallel high-fidelity numerical simulations (direct numerical simulations (DNS)/large eddy simulation (LES)) and develops physics-based models using theoretical analyses combined with big-data analytics, which are leveraged for accurate and efficient engineering design and analysis.

RECOGNITIONS, AWARDS and HONORS 
1. Publications and Presentations awards (§denotes awards with students)

§Poster award, CCS2 2nd Annual Commonwealth Computational Summit, 2018
University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
Poster Title: “Spatio-Temporal Predictions of Liquid Fuel Atomization and Spray Flowfields Using Machine Learning”
 
§Best technical content, 13th Dayton Engineering Sciences Symposium (DESS), 2017
American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
Paper Title: “The Effect of Inlet Pulsations on Primary Atomization of Liquid Jets”
 
§Poster award, CCS2 1st Annual Commonwealth Computational Summit, 2017
University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
Poser Title: “High-Fidelity Simulations of Water Jet in Air Crossflow”
 
Best presentation award, 42nd Dayton-Cincinnati Aerospace Sciences Symposium, 2017
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Paper Title: “Multiphysics Modeling and Simulation of Multiphase Flows”
 
Best video, 42nd Dayton-Cincinnati Aerospace Sciences Symposium Art-in-Science Competition, 2017
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Video Title: “Bag Breakup of Liquid Droplets”
 
William R. Marshall Award, 2013
Institute for Liquid Atomization and Spray Systems
Paper Title: “Breakup and Dynamics of Liquid Droplets”
Recognized as the most significant contribution to ILASS-Americas 24th Annual conference on liquid atomization and spray systems.
 
2. Research, Technical, Teaching and Service Honors and Recognitions

Trans-disciplinary Research Leadership Program Scholar, 2019-2020
Office of Research, University of Cincinnati
 
Professor of the Semester, Spring 2018
College of Engineering and Applied Science and the Engineering and Applied Science Tribunal

AIAA Senior Member, 2017-present
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
 
AIAA Distinguished Mentor, 2017-present
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ Distinguished Mentorship Program

Keynote lecture, Atomization of Liquid Jets and Droplets: Theory and Models, 2017
5th International Conference and Exhibition on Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Las Vegas, NV
 
Invited book reviewer for the International Year of Light, 2014
Taylor & Francis

For more information on joining AeroCats or the Spacecraft/Rocket Desgin team, contact Professor Prashant Khare.