People
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Dr. Rohan SoodAssistant Professor - Lab Director
Rohan Sood was born in Shimla, a small town in the cradle of the Himalayas. He graduated from Bishop Cotton School, Shimla in March 2004. Rohan pursued his dream and love for space exploration and graduated summa cum laude from the State University of New York at Buffalo with a Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering. Rohan participated in international programs at Chiang Mai University, Thailand, INSA/ENSAE/ENAC in Toulouse, France and interned at Ecole Nationale de l'Aviation Civile (ENAC).
Rohan moved to Purdue University in the fall of 2009 and joined Professor Kathleen C. Howell’s Multi-body Dynamics Research Group. Rohan received his Master of Science degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics in 2012. The following year, he continued his higher education and entered the doctoral program at Purdue University. In 2014, Rohan joined the GRAIL science team and collaborated with Professor Henry J. Melosh while continuing work in astrodynamics and space applications. Upon receiving his Ph.D. in December of 2016, he joined the faculty of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. Dr. Sood's research has emerged as a combination of two fields, applying engineering tools to study advanced concepts within multi-body dynamical systems and investigating scientific data to explore celestial bodies. Dr. Sood is also working with 3-D and Virtual Reality (VR) tools to enhance spacecraft trajectory design capabilities, understanding, and student classroom experience. |
Graduate Students
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Brennan Blumenthal
PhD Student
Brennan Blumenthal is a first-year Ph.D. student in the Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics department at The University of Alabama. Brennan received a Bachelors of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Delaware in 2012. In 2013, he began working at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia as part of the Configuration Aerodynamics Branch, where he conducted research in the fields of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), wind-tunnel testing and applied aerodynamics for aircraft. In 2016, he graduated from Penn State University with a Masters in Aerospace Engineering. After graduating, Brennan made the switch from the world of aerodynamics to astrodynamics and was offered a position in the Trajectory Operations and Analysis Branch at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. He currently works full-time performing various orbital trajectory and operations analyses for NASA’s Orion and Boeing’s Starliner programs, and is training to be a flight controller in mission control. Brennan is currently interested in space mission design, space systems and furthering the abilities of human space exploration.
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Jake ElkinsMS Student
Jake Elkins is a senior undergraduate student in Physics and Mathematics, and currently works as a data science and systems engineering intern at Lockheed Martin. He has dreamed of contributing to the field of spaceflight since he was little, when his parents bought him a telescope when he was five years old. He plans on becoming a M.S. student in Aerospace Engineering and an MBA candidate in Fall 2019 at The University of Alabama. He is currently researching the application and integration of artificial intelligence in spaceflight. His interests include machine learning, data science, thermodynamics, propulsion, systems engineering, and engineering management.
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Shriniwas KolpukePhD Student
Shriniwas Kolpuke is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics department at the University of Alabama. He completed his Bachelors of Engineering in Electronics Engineering from Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University Nanded, India in 2011, and Master of Science in VLSI and Embedded System Design from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Hyderabad, India in 2013. After working in the industry for a brief time, he joined the Master of Science program in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Kansas, Lawrence and graduated in early 2017. He is currently working with the Remote Sensing Center at the University of Alabama on passive electronic filters and microwave RADAR.
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William LedbetterPhD Student
William Ledbetter is in his second year of PhD study after receiving a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from The University of Alabama, summa cum laude. He has been interested in space for as long as he can remember, and learned how to code by reading the TI-83 Plus manual. He played tuba at the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities, and sang in St. Peter's Basilica for the first mass under Pope Francis. As an undergraduate, he participated in a senior design project in conjunction with NASA and Dynetics, performing mission architecture analysis for proposed missions to Mars. William is currently researching autonomous mission design for swarm exploration of asteroids, including landing and rendezvous.
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Ari RubinsztejnPhD Student
Ari Rubinsztejn is a first-year PhD student who received his undergraduate degree in aerospace engineering from the University at Buffalo (SUNY). While at Buffalo, he acted as the Science lead for GLADOS, a space debris detecting CubeSat set for handoff to the AFRL in 2019. He has interned at NASA and Draper Labs. During his undergrad, he was a member of the University at Buffalo Nanosatellite Lab and Controls Dynamics and Estimation Lab under Dr. Crassidis and Dr. Singh respectively. Some hobbies of his are high power rocketry, backpacking (Longest single trip 130 miles, 9 days), and photography. His research interests are deep space trajectories, nonlinear dynamics, and numerical methods.
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Jared Sikes
MS Student
Jared Sikes is a first year MS student (AMP) in Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics at the University of Alabama. He began working with Dr. Sood as a sophomore in multi-body dynamical systems. He is currently investigating resonant orbits and cost-effective transfer trajectories. His interests also include virtual reality and 3-D visualization.
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Russell SolomonMS Student
Russell Solomon is a Distance Learning M.S. student in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics at The University of Alabama. He graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Physics from Louisiana State University where he focused on Astrophysics. He worked as a Mechanical Engineer before enrolling in the M.S. program at The University of Alabama. Russell currently works in Systems Engineering and Integration for the ISS Program in Houston, Texas. His areas of interest include Orbital Mechanics, Trajectory Design and GN&C.
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Andrew SweetenMS Student
Andrew Sweeten is a first-year Distance Learning M.S. student in Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics at The University of Alabama. Andrew completed his Bachelors of Science in Aerospace Engineering from San Diego State University in 2017. He currently works full-time as an Orbital Analyst for Protected MILSATCOM at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, CO. He is beginning to pursue research in order to gain relevant knowledge both educationally and professionally. His tentative research interests include trajectory design, space systems, and relative motion of spacecraft.
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