AWI People

The group comprises:

	Biography
	Professor Jonathan Cooper :Royal Academy of Engineering Airbus Sir George White Chair of Aerospace Engineering. Upon obtaining a PhD in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of London, Jonathan Cooper worked as a Senior Research Fellow at the Royal Aerospace Establishment, Farnborough, for three years before joining the University of Manchester in October 1989 as a ‘new-blood’ lecturer. During 18 years there, he made a significant contribution in terms of teaching, research and administration, and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in October 1997 and Professor in March 2001, becoming the last Head of School before the merger in October 2004 between the University of Manchester and UMIST. Following a short spell as Professor of Aerostructures and Aeroelasticity at the University of Liverpool, Professor Cooper took up the Royal Academy of Engineering Airbus Sir George White Chair of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Bristol in February 2012. His prime research areas are in aeroelasticity and loads, and is co-author of the Wiley textbook “Introduction to Aircraft Aeroelasticity and Loads”.
‌	Dr Ann Gaitonde: Senior Lecturer in Aerodynamics Ann Gaitonde graduated in Pure and Applied Mathematics from University of Exeter in 1988 and completed her PhD at the University of Bristol in 1991. She is a member of the Computational Aerodynamics Research Group and her main research interests include the development of numerical methods for the prediction of unsteady fluid flows (both for compressible and incompressible including free surface flows), reduced order modelling, continuation and aerodynamic-structural coupling.
	Dr Jason Zheng Jiang: Lecturer in Dynamics and Control Dr Jiang received the Bsc and Msc degree from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (China), and the PhD degree from University of Cambridge (U.K.). He has been a Research Associate at the Control Group, University of Cambridge before joining the Mechanical Engineering department, University of Bristol (U.K.), as a lecturer.
‌	Dr Dorian Jones: Senior Lecturer in Aerodynamics Dr. Jones obtained a BSc in Engineering Mathematics from the University of Bristol in 1989. He was awarded his PhD in 1995, having rejoined the University to undertake a PhD on the Direct Numerical Simulation of turbulent flows. Subsequently he worked in the Aerospace Engineering Department as a post-doctoral researcher developing computational methods to calculate unsteady aeroelastic and multiphaseflows. These research themes have continued during his appointment as a Lecturer and have also been complimented with new research into: aircraft design loads; bifurcation analysis and reduced order modelling.
‌	Professor Mark Lowenberg: Professor of Flight Dynamics Dr Lowenberg obtained his BSc (Eng) and MSc in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and later a PhD from the University of Bristol. His early career included four years in the Flight Mechanics Division of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa and six years as a lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand. He joined the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Bristol in December 1992.
‌	Professor Simon Neild: Professor in Nonlinear Structural Dynamics Simon Neild obtained an MEng in Engineering Science and a DPhil at the University of Oxford before moving to the University of Bristol in 2001. He was appointed as a lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering in 2003 and is now Head of the Dynamics and Control research group. His research focuses on non-linear dynamics of mechanical systems and includes applying analytical techniques to understand nonlinear behaviour and developing modal analysis techniques for nonlinear systems. His research also covers novel vibration suppression devices and methods for dynamically testing nonlinear components and structures.
‌	Dr Alberto Pirerra: Lecturer in Composite Structures Alberto Pirrera currently holds an EPSRC Early Career Research Fellowship (2015-2020) at the Department of Aerospace Engineering of the University of Bristol, where he has been a faculty member since 2013 and where he completed his PhD in 2011. Before that, Alberto obtained his Master’s in Aerospace Engineering from Università degli Studi di Palermo, in Italy. His academic home is the Advanced Composites Centre for Innovation & Science (ACCIS), where he is actively involved with its Centre for Doctoral Training. A modeller and a theoretician specialising in engineering science, Alberto’s research interests lie in the area of structural analysis, design and optimisation. In recent years, he has focused on well-behaved nonlinear structures, on morphing, adaptive and shape changing devices and on wind turbine blades.
‌	Dr Pia Sartor: Lecturer in Aerospace Engineering Pia Sartor completed her Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering (Honours) degree at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. While completing a Knowledge Transfer Partnership project with Messier-Bugatti-Dowty and the University of Sheffield, she obtained her PhD. In 2011, Pia joined the Systems Integration and Test department in the Landing Gear division of Messier-Bugatti-Dowty as a Senior Systems Engineer. In 2013, Pia joined the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Bristol where she has continued to work on research projects including the Agusta Westland Rotor Technology Vehicle Platform (RTVP) and the EU FP7 Clean Sky Modelling of Adaptive Wing Structures (MAWS) project. She has also been collaborating with Messier-Bugatti-Dowty and the University of Sheffield on the LAnding GEar MOnitoring SYStem (LAGEMOSYS) project and with Airbus on the Agile Wing Integration (AWI) program. Pia is a Chartered Engineer and committee member of the IMechE Aerospace Materials and Structures Technical Activity Committee (AMSTAC) and Aerospace Industry Steering Committee on Structural Health Monitoring and Management (AISC-SHM).
‌	Dr Chris Howcroft: Research Assistant Chris Howcroft studied for a Masters in Engineering Mathematics at the University of Bristol and graduated in 2009, receiving the IMA prize for outstanding performance as the top scoring graduate. He went on to complete a PhD at Bristol working on an Airbus funded Industrial Case Award applying nonlinear dynamical systems methods to the study of landing gear shimmy. Following on from this he spent three months working with the future projects group at AirbusUK looking at the application of nonlinear techniques to the modelling of flexible wings. He went on to take a research post at Bristol University, joining the aeroelastic research group; current work undertaken as part of the agile wing integration (AWI) project is focused on the reduced order modelling of highly flexible aircraft. His research interests are in the fields of applied nonlinear dynamics and aeroelastic modelling.
‌	Dr Dario Calderon Robayo: Research Assistant Dario Calderon graduated with an MMath in Pure and Applied Mathematics from the University of Bath in 2007 and an MSc in Aerospace Engineering in 2008. He was awarded his PhD in 2013 from the University of Bath entitled “Plunging Low Aspect Ratio Wings in Low Reynolds Number Flows”. Between 2012 and 2013 he was also a research assistant, studying oscillating flexible foil structures, on a grant issued by the Office of Naval Research. During his time at the University of Bath he developed expertise in various flow measurement techniques including volumetric velocimetry, used predominantly to analyse three-dimensional vortex structures. In 2014 he became a research assistant at the University of Bristol working on a folding wing-tip project funded by the UK Aerodynamic Centre. He was then involved in a Clean Sky project entitled the ‘Gust Load Alleviation techniques assessment on wind tUnnel MOdel of advanced Regional aircraft’ (GLAMOUR). In 2015 he joined the AWI group to develop aeroelastic modeling techniques for highly flexible wings.
‌	Dr Olivia Stodieck: Research Assistant Olivia Stodieck is originally from Hamburg in Germany, but she lived in Paris for 8 years before moving to the UK in 2003 to study Aeronautical Engineering at Imperial College London. After graduating with a First Class Masters degree in 2007, Olivia joined the Airbus graduate scheme in the UK as a structures engineer. At the end of the scheme, she joined the nonlinear FEM group, working on methods development as well as providing structural analysis support to the A400M, A350 and A380 projects. After a few years of solid industrial experience, she decided to do a PhD to research ways of improving the current aircraft design process, in particular by more closely integrating the structural and aerodynamic disciplines right from the start. Luckily, Prof. Jonathan Cooper was looking for a student at the time and so she moved to the University of Bristol at end of 2012. Her PhD on the use of tow-steered composite materials for aeroelastic tailoring is a CASE award, sponsored by the EPSRC and Airbus. She is joining the AWI project in July 2015 as a research assistant.
	Andrew Eaton: PhD Researcher Andrew Eaton graduated from the University of Bristol in 2012 with an MEng in Engineering Design. After graduating, he undertook an industry role at WS Atkins as part of their aerospace business and worked on a variety of Airbus projects. He joined the AWI in July 2015 as a PhD student working on the project ‘nonlinear dynamics of highly-flexible wings’.
	Daniel Francis: PhD Researcher Daniel Francis studied Aeronautical Engineering at the University Of Bristol, UK and received an M.Eng. in 2014. Daniel had his first industrial experience working for 12 months with Airbus Defence & Space, Stevenage. He worked as part of the structures group developing new software for rapid concept design optimisation for early mechanical design trade-off's. Selected to be a member of the Airbus Juniors Programme. He started a PhD project in June 2015 and is currently researching ‘Multi-fidelity structural optimisation’ in collaboration with Airbus, Filton on the AWI project. He is also a senior resident at Manor Hall helping to look after undergraduate students in university accommodation.
	Luca Hawkes: PhD Researcher Luca obtained a first class Bachelor’s degree in Aviation Engineering at Brunel University London in 2014. She continued her studies at Brunel during 2015 to attain an MSc in Aerospace Engineering. Luca spent 15 months during 2012-2013 on industrial placement in the Structures Test department at Airbus Filton. Here she worked with the experimental mechanics team and gained experience using various data acquisition systems. In October 2015, Luca started her PhD project at the University of Bristol, researching “Hybrid testing of large scale aircraft structures and components”. She also has a Private Pilot’s Licence, and enjoys flying light aircraft in her spare time.
	Will Hewson: PhD Researcher Will studied Aerospace Engineering at Queen Mary University of London, obtaining an MEng in 2015. In 2013 Will undertook a year placement working in the fuel test department at Airbus, Filton. His placement coincided with the flight test phase of the A350 campaign, with his focus directed on the type certification of the A350 fuel inerting system. Will started his PhD in October 2015, his research is based on the aerodynamics of high aspect ratio wings, with an interest in reduced order modelling of dynamic stall.
	Teresa Reis: PhD Researcher Teresa graduated from Aerospace Engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, Portugal. She then proceeded with her MSc degree in IST specializing in the field of Avionics. She spent the first seven months as an exchange student in Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, in Spain. As a part of her MSc thesis, Teresa did an internship at NAV Portugal, the Portuguese Air Traffic Control Centre. She developed a tool to study incoming traffic to the terminal area of an airport. It is assisting the airspace designers, airspace planners, controllers and the AMAN development team in Portugal in the process of creating a more efficient, flexible and dynamic airspace structure.
	Chris Szczyglowski: PhD Researcher Chris studied Aeronautical Engineering at the University Of Bristol, UK and received an M.Eng. in 2015. He was also the recipient of the Weirtheimer Memorial Prize; a prize awarded to the final year student who is considered to have made the best contribution to the life of the Faculty and of their fellow students. He started a PhD project in September 2015 and is currently researching ‘Nonlinear Loads Control’ in collaboration with Airbus, Filton on the Agile Wing Integration project. Chris' hobbies include keeping fit and playing the drums.

Biography

Professor Jonathan Cooper

Professor Jonathan Cooper :Royal Academy of Engineering Airbus Sir George White Chair of Aerospace Engineering.

Upon obtaining a PhD in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of London, Jonathan Cooper worked as a Senior Research Fellow at the Royal Aerospace Establishment, Farnborough, for three years before joining the University of Manchester in October 1989 as a ‘new-blood’ lecturer. During 18 years there, he made a significant contribution in terms of teaching, research and administration, and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in October 1997 and Professor in March 2001, becoming the last Head of School before the merger in October 2004 between the University of Manchester and UMIST. Following a short spell as Professor of Aerostructures and Aeroelasticity at the University of Liverpool, Professor Cooper took up the Royal Academy of Engineering Airbus Sir George White Chair of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Bristol in February 2012. His prime research areas are in aeroelasticity and loads, and is co-author of the Wiley textbook “Introduction to Aircraft Aeroelasticity and Loads”.

‌ Ann Gaitonde

Dr Ann Gaitonde: Senior Lecturer in Aerodynamics

Ann Gaitonde graduated in Pure and Applied Mathematics from University of Exeter in 1988 and completed her PhD at the University of Bristol in 1991. She is a member of the Computational Aerodynamics Research Group and her main research interests include the development of numerical methods for the prediction of unsteady fluid flows (both for compressible and incompressible including free surface flows), reduced order modelling, continuation and aerodynamic-structural coupling.

Jason Jiang

Dr Jason Zheng Jiang: Lecturer in Dynamics and Control

Dr Jiang received the Bsc and Msc degree from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (China), and the PhD degree from University of Cambridge (U.K.). He has been a Research Associate at the Control Group, University of Cambridge before joining the Mechanical Engineering department, University of Bristol (U.K.), as a lecturer.

Dorian Jones

‌

Dr Dorian Jones: Senior Lecturer in Aerodynamics

Dr. Jones obtained a BSc in Engineering Mathematics from the University of Bristol in 1989. He was awarded his PhD in 1995, having rejoined the University to undertake a PhD on the Direct Numerical Simulation of turbulent flows. Subsequently he worked in the Aerospace Engineering Department as a post-doctoral researcher developing computational methods to calculate unsteady aeroelastic and multiphaseflows. These research themes have continued during his appointment as a Lecturer and have also been complimented with new research into: aircraft design loads; bifurcation analysis and reduced order modelling.

Mark Lowenberg

‌

Professor Mark Lowenberg: Professor of Flight Dynamics

Dr Lowenberg obtained his BSc (Eng) and MSc in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and later a PhD from the University of Bristol. His early career included four years in the Flight Mechanics Division of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa and six years as a lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand. He joined the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Bristol in December 1992.

Simon Neild

‌

Professor Simon Neild: Professor in Nonlinear Structural Dynamics

Simon Neild obtained an MEng in Engineering Science and a DPhil at the University of Oxford before moving to the University of Bristol in 2001. He was appointed as a lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering in 2003 and is now Head of the Dynamics and Control research group. His research focuses on non-linear dynamics of mechanical systems and includes applying analytical techniques to understand nonlinear behaviour and developing modal analysis techniques for nonlinear systems. His research also covers novel vibration suppression devices and methods for dynamically testing nonlinear components and structures.

Alberto Pirrera

‌

Dr Alberto Pirerra: Lecturer in Composite Structures

Alberto Pirrera currently holds an EPSRC Early Career Research Fellowship (2015-2020) at the Department of Aerospace Engineering of the University of Bristol, where he has been a faculty member since 2013 and where he completed his PhD in 2011. Before that, Alberto obtained his Master’s in Aerospace Engineering from Università degli Studi di Palermo, in Italy. His academic home is the Advanced Composites Centre for Innovation & Science (ACCIS), where he is actively involved with its Centre for Doctoral Training. A modeller and a theoretician specialising in engineering science, Alberto’s research interests lie in the area of structural analysis, design and optimisation. In recent years, he has focused on well-behaved nonlinear structures, on morphing, adaptive and shape changing devices and on wind turbine blades.

Pia Sartor

‌

Dr Pia Sartor: Lecturer in Aerospace Engineering

Pia Sartor completed her Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering (Honours) degree at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. While completing a Knowledge Transfer Partnership project with Messier-Bugatti-Dowty and the University of Sheffield, she obtained her PhD. In 2011, Pia joined the Systems Integration and Test department in the Landing Gear division of Messier-Bugatti-Dowty as a Senior Systems Engineer. In 2013, Pia joined the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Bristol where she has continued to work on research projects including the Agusta Westland Rotor Technology Vehicle Platform (RTVP) and the EU FP7 Clean Sky Modelling of Adaptive Wing Structures (MAWS) project. She has also been collaborating with Messier-Bugatti-Dowty and the University of Sheffield on the LAnding GEar MOnitoring SYStem (LAGEMOSYS) project and with Airbus on the Agile Wing Integration (AWI) program. Pia is a Chartered Engineer and committee member of the IMechE Aerospace Materials and Structures Technical Activity Committee (AMSTAC) and Aerospace Industry Steering Committee on Structural Health Monitoring and Management (AISC-SHM).

Chris Howcroft

‌

Dr Chris Howcroft: Research Assistant

Chris Howcroft studied for a Masters in Engineering Mathematics at the University of Bristol and graduated in 2009, receiving the IMA prize for outstanding performance as the top scoring graduate. He went on to complete a PhD at Bristol working on an Airbus funded Industrial Case Award applying nonlinear dynamical systems methods to the study of landing gear shimmy. Following on from this he spent three months working with the future projects group at AirbusUK looking at the application of nonlinear techniques to the modelling of flexible wings.

He went on to take a research post at Bristol University, joining the aeroelastic research group; current work undertaken as part of the agile wing integration (AWI) project is focused on the reduced order modelling of highly flexible aircraft. His research interests are in the fields of applied nonlinear dynamics and aeroelastic modelling.

Dario Calderon Photo

‌

Dr Dario Calderon Robayo: Research Assistant

Dario Calderon graduated with an MMath in Pure and Applied Mathematics from the University of Bath in 2007 and an MSc in Aerospace Engineering in 2008. He was awarded his PhD in 2013 from the University of Bath entitled “Plunging Low Aspect Ratio Wings in Low Reynolds Number Flows”. Between 2012 and 2013 he was also a research assistant, studying oscillating flexible foil structures, on a grant issued by the Office of Naval Research. During his time at the University of Bath he developed expertise in various flow measurement techniques including volumetric velocimetry, used predominantly to analyse three-dimensional vortex structures. In 2014 he became a research assistant at the University of Bristol working on a folding wing-tip project funded by the UK Aerodynamic Centre. He was then involved in a Clean Sky project entitled the ‘Gust Load Alleviation techniques assessment on wind tUnnel MOdel of advanced Regional aircraft’ (GLAMOUR). In 2015 he joined the AWI group to develop aeroelastic modeling techniques for highly flexible wings.

Olivia Stodieck photo

‌

Dr Olivia Stodieck: Research Assistant

Olivia Stodieck is originally from Hamburg in Germany, but she lived in Paris for 8 years before moving to the UK in 2003 to study Aeronautical Engineering at Imperial College London. After graduating with a First Class Masters degree in 2007, Olivia joined the Airbus graduate scheme in the UK as a structures engineer. At the end of the scheme, she joined the nonlinear FEM group, working on methods development as well as providing structural analysis support to the A400M, A350 and A380 projects. After a few years of solid industrial experience, she decided to do a PhD to research ways of improving the current aircraft design process, in particular by more closely integrating the structural and aerodynamic disciplines right from the start. Luckily, Prof. Jonathan Cooper was looking for a student at the time and so she moved to the University of Bristol at end of 2012. Her PhD on the use of tow-steered composite materials for aeroelastic tailoring is a CASE award, sponsored by the EPSRC and Airbus. She is joining the AWI project in July 2015 as a research assistant.

Andrew Eaton: PhD Researcher

Andrew Eaton graduated from the University of Bristol in 2012 with an MEng in Engineering Design. After graduating, he undertook an industry role at WS Atkins as part of their aerospace business and worked on a variety of Airbus projects. He joined the AWI in July 2015 as a PhD student working on the project ‘nonlinear dynamics of highly-flexible wings’.

Daniel Francis: PhD Researcher

Daniel Francis studied Aeronautical Engineering at the University Of Bristol, UK and received an M.Eng. in 2014.

Daniel had his first industrial experience working for 12 months with Airbus Defence & Space, Stevenage. He worked as part of the structures group developing new software for rapid concept design optimisation for early mechanical design trade-off's. Selected to be a member of the Airbus Juniors Programme.

He started a PhD project in June 2015 and is currently researching ‘Multi-fidelity structural optimisation’ in collaboration with Airbus, Filton on the AWI project. He is also a senior resident at Manor Hall helping to look after undergraduate students in university accommodation.

Luca Hawkes: PhD Researcher

Luca obtained a first class Bachelor’s degree in Aviation Engineering at Brunel University London in 2014. She continued her studies at Brunel during 2015 to attain an MSc in Aerospace Engineering.

Luca spent 15 months during 2012-2013 on industrial placement in the Structures Test department at Airbus Filton. Here she worked with the experimental mechanics team and gained experience using various data acquisition systems.

In October 2015, Luca started her PhD project at the University of Bristol, researching “Hybrid testing of large scale aircraft structures and components”. She also has a Private Pilot’s Licence, and enjoys flying light aircraft in her spare time.

Will Hewson: PhD Researcher

Will studied Aerospace Engineering at Queen Mary University of London, obtaining an MEng in 2015.
In 2013 Will undertook a year placement working in the fuel test department at Airbus, Filton. His placement coincided with the flight test phase of the A350 campaign, with his focus directed on the type certification of the A350 fuel inerting system.
Will started his PhD in October 2015, his research is based on the aerodynamics of high aspect ratio wings, with an interest in reduced order modelling of dynamic stall.

Teresa Reis: PhD Researcher

Teresa graduated from Aerospace Engineering from Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon, Portugal. She then proceeded with her MSc degree in IST specializing in the field of Avionics. She spent the first seven months as an exchange student in Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, in Spain.

As a part of her MSc thesis, Teresa did an internship at NAV Portugal, the Portuguese Air Traffic Control Centre. She developed a tool to study incoming traffic to the terminal area of an airport. It is assisting the airspace designers, airspace planners, controllers and the AMAN development team in Portugal in the process of creating a more efficient, flexible and dynamic airspace structure.

Chris Szczyglowski: PhD Researcher

Chris studied Aeronautical Engineering at the University Of Bristol, UK and received an M.Eng. in 2015. He was also the recipient of the Weirtheimer Memorial Prize; a prize awarded to the final year student who is considered to have made the best contribution to the life of the Faculty and of their fellow students.

He started a PhD project in September 2015 and is currently researching ‘Nonlinear Loads Control’ in collaboration with Airbus, Filton on the Agile Wing Integration project. Chris' hobbies include keeping fit and playing the drums.