Faculty & Advisors
Director
Professor of the Practice of Aerospace Engineering
Professor of the Practice of Mechanical Engineering
Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics
Amrutur Anilkumar
Professor Anilkumar is an Aerospace Engineer and Educator. His research interests are in the areas of aero-propulsion, energy conversion, and microgravity materials processing. He has been a scientific investigator of microgravity fluid physics phenomenon on experiments conducted on two Space Shuttle flights, and of materials processing transport phenomenon on experiments conducted on the International Space Station. Dr. Anilkumar founded the Aerospace Design Laboratory in 2007 which is at the forefront of the design of novel, rocket-flyable, payload systems that highlight major challenges in space exploration and energy conversion.
Faculty Mentor
Dr. William Emfinger
William served as a Graduate Student Mentor for VADL from 2013-2015. His interests are in Integrated software and systems engineering for complex, real-time cyber-physical systems, with applications in both spacecrafts and complex rehabilitation systems; model-based engineering tool-suites for decreasing barrier-to-entry for complex, reliable, and distributed system development, analysis, deployment, and management. He is now leading the department of Research & Development at Permobil.
Laboratory Manager
Mr. Mark Thelen
Mark Thelen is the Laboratory Manager for the VADL team. He is a Mechanical Engineer that has worked in the Automotive and Aerospace fields before coming to Vanderbilt.