People
Faculty
Joanna M. Austin
Professor of Aerospace
Joanna Austin's research is focused on fundamental problems in reactive, compressible flows across a broad range of applications, including hypervelocity flight and planetary entry, supersonic combustion and detonation, bubble dynamics, and explosive geological events.
Staff
Research Staff
Postdocs
Joel M. Lawson
Postdoc
Joel Lawson is a postdoc who joined the Caltech Hypersonics Group in 2016 as a Ph.D. student. He obtained a B.Eng. in mechanical engineering, and a B.Sc. in chemistry, both from the University of Auckland, New Zealand in 2015. He also has an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in aeronautics from Caltech, completed in 2016 and 2021 respectively. His thesis research was about an optical diagnostic, focused laser differential interferometry, and its applications to hypersonic ground-testing facilities. He enjoys taking the opportunity to travel and explore in the USA and beyond, and especially likes finding new places to eat in LA with his wife Angela.
Graduate Students
Alex Acosta
Graduate Student
Alex Acosta is a Ph.D. student who joined the Caltech Hypersonics Group in 2021. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Rice University in 2020. Outside of lab, you can find Alex going on runs in the nearby neighborhoods, hiking the San Gabriel mountains, and longboarding throughout Pasadena.
Ying Luo
Graduate Student
Ying joined the Caltech Hypersonics Group in 2020 as a Ph.D. candidate. Ying received her Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) in Aerospace Engineering and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Sydney in 2019. She also has an MS in Aeronautics from Caltech in 2020. During her free time, she enjoys travelling (and eating her way through those countries), puzzles, and spending time with her cat named Bernie.
Mallory C. Neet
Graduate Student
Mallory Neet is a Ph.D. candidate in the Caltech Hypersonics Group with a research focus on high speed fluid structure interactions. Mallory earned a B.S.E in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering and a minor in mathematics from Purdue University in 2015 and a MS in Aeronautics from Caltech in 2016. In her free time Mallory enjoys swimming and competes as a member of the Caltech masters swim team.
Michael Stramenga
Graduate Student
Michael is a Ph.D. student who joined the Caltech Hypersonics Group in 2021. He earned a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering & Management from McMaster University in 2020 and a MS in Space Engineering from Caltech in 2021.During his free time, Michael enjoys playing guitar, scuba diving, and exploring SoCal.
Wesley M. Yu
Graduate Student
Wesley Yu is a PhD candidate whose high enthalpy flow characterization work in the T5 Reflected Shock Tunnel and the Hypervelocity Expansion Tube informs scramjet design and atmospheric entry applications. His current work focuses on designing optical techniques to study the thermochemistry in hypervelocity shockwave-boundary layer interactions. Wesley received his BS in Aerospace Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin in 2017 and an MS in Aeronautics from Caltech in 2018. During his free time, he enjoys playing the violin and piano, swimming, and horseback riding.