Huntsville, Ala. (October 10, 2011) - The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAHuntsville) will host a propulsion research workshop on Friday, Oct. 14.

The workshop will be held at the university's Shelby Center for Science and Technology (room 301) from 8 a.m., to 5 p.m. Co-chairpersons for the workshop are Dr. Shankar Mahalingam, dean, of the College of Engineering, and Dr. Robert Frederick, Jr., interim director of the Propulsion Research Center. Mahalingam and Frederick also hold the rank of professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering.

The workshop stemmed from UAHuntsville's invitation to be on the planning team for the new NASA National Institute for Rocket Propulsion Systems (NIRPS). The university accepted the task to coordinate issue identification among the academic propulsion community across the nation and provide that information to the NASA planning team.

The propulsion workshop is the first step in the planning process. Select propulsion leaders from universities around the nation will gather to discuss: the state of industry, the state of the art in academia, and the future of the industry.

Workshop presenters include:

Dr. Robert Frederick, Jr. Int. Dir. Propulsion Research Center Professor MAE Robert.Frederick@uah.edu

Dr. Shankar Mahalingam Dean. College of Engineering Professor, MAE Shankar.Mahalingam@uah.edu

University		Workshop Participants
Auburn		Dr. Roy Hartsfield Walt and Virginia Woltosz Professor of Aerospace Engineering Auburn University rjh@eng.auburn.edu
Georgia Tech		Alan W. Wilhite Langley Professor of Aerospace Engineering Co-Director, The Center For Aerospace Systems Engineering, Modeling and Simulation Georgia Institute of Technology wilhite@nianet.org
Georgia Tech		Prof. Mitchell Walker Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology mitchell.walker@ae.gatech.edu
NASA Ames Research Center		Dr. V. N. Smelyanskiy Principal Research Scientist, Group Leader NASA Ames Research Center vadim.n.smelyanskiy@nasa.gov
Purdue University		Dr. William Anderson Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics Director of Global Engineering Program Purdue University wanderso@purdue.edu
University of Illinois		Dr. Mark Brandyberry Senior Research Scientist University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign mdbrandy@illinois.edu
University of Maryland		Dr. Kenneth Yu  Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering University of Maryland yu@umd.edu

For more information and workshop registration, please contact co-chairpersons Shankar.Mahalingam@uah.edu or 
Robert.Frederick@uah.edu