Dr. Chang-kwon Kang

Associate Professor, MAE

Contact

5000 Technology Drive NW
Olin B. King Technology Hall
Room N266
Huntsville, AL 35899
Campus Map

256.824.6612
chang-kwon.kang@uah.edu

Biography

Dr. Chang-kwon Kang is an Associate Professor at the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering of The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). He has co-authored a book and around 70 journal and conference papers on unsteady aerodynamics, bioinspired aerial and Mars vehicles, insect flight, and fluid-structure interaction. He received his bachelor's and master's degree in Aerospace Engineering from the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and PhD in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan in 2011. He was also a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan before joining UAH in 2013.

Curriculum Vitae

Personal Website

Education

  • Ph.D., Aerospace Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA, 2011
  • M.Sc., Aerospace Engineering, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, 2005
  • B.Sc., Aerospace Engineering, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, 2002

Honors & Awards

  • University of Alabama in Huntsville, Outstanding Junior Faculty of the College of Engineering, 2019
  • 2019 AIAA Atmospheric Flight Mechanics Best Student Paper (Madhu Sridhar): AIAA 2019-0566
  • NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts Fellow, 2018
  • University of Alabama in Huntsville Individual Investigator Distinguished Research Award, 2014

Affiliations

  • Associate Fellow - AIAA

Expertise

  • Bioinspired and unsteady fluid dynamics
  • Bioinspired aerospace vehicles for terrestrial and Mars flight
  • Fluid-structure-dynamic interaction
  • Computational fluid dynamics

Recent Publications

  • Vechalapu, T. R., Kang, C., and Kanistras, K.  “Experimental Investigation of Effects of Spanwise Segmented Blowing on a Circulation Control Wing with a Dual-Radius Flap,” Experiments in Fluids, Accepted for publication, 2025

  • Hill, J., Fahimi, F., Kang, C., and Aono, H.  “Adaptive Discrete Time Sliding Mode Pitch Controller for a Flapping Wing Micro Air Vehicle,” Journal of Bionic Engineering, Vol. 22, 2025, pp. 585–595

  • Pohly, J., Kang, C., and Aono, H.  “Deciphering the Flapping Frequency Allometry: Unveiling the Role of Sustained Body Attitude in the Aerodynamic Scaling of Normal Hovering Animals,” Biology Open, Vol. 14, Issue 3, 2025

  • Kang, C., Twigg, R., Aono, H., Lee, T., Sridhar, M.K.  “Power Benefits of High-Altitude Flapping Wing Flight at Monarch Butterfly Scale,”  Biomimetics (2023 impact factor: 3.4), Vol. 8, Nr. 4, 2023, pp. 352

  • Shimura, K., Aono, H., Kang, C.  “An Experimental Study on Response and Control of a Flapping-wing Aerial Robot under Wind Gusts,” Journal of Bionic Engineering (2023 impact factor: 4.9), Vol. 21, 2023, pp. 209–223

  • Tsuchiya, S., Aono, H., Asai, K., Nonomura, T., Ozawa, Y., Anyoji, M., Ando, N., Kang, C., and Pohly, J.,  “First lift-off and flight performance of a tailless flapping-wing aerial robot in high-altitude environments,” Scientific Reports, Vol. 13, 2023, pp. 8995

  • Miyasaka, S., Aono, H., Kang, C.,  “Experimental Analyses of Aerodynamic Force Generation and Wing Motion Associated with a Single-motor-driven Butterfly-inspired Flapping-wing Robot,” Sensors and Materials, Vol. 35, Nr. 9,  2023, pp. 3097-3108

  • Sridhar, M.K., Kang, C., Landrum, D.B., Aono, H., Mathis, S.H., Lee, T., “Unconventionally high lift coefficients in Monarch butterflies at high-altitude conditions”, Bioinspiration & Biomimetics (2019 impact factor: 3.062), Vol. 16, 2021, 034002

  • K. C., Tejaswi, Sridhar, M.K., Kang, C., and Lee, T, “Effects of Abdomen Undulation in Energy Consumption and Stability for the Flights of Monarch Butterfly,” Bioinspiration & Biomimetics (2019 impact factor: 3.062), in press

  • Hefner, C, Kang, C., Qiu, H., and Shyy, W. "Distinct Aerodynamics of Insect Flight," Cambridge Elements, in press