Laufer Lecture

The keynote lecture for Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering is named after the late Janos Laufer, a renowned fluids authority who was the founding chair of the Department of Aerospace Engineering (before it merged with Mechanical Engineering).

Black-and-white portrait of a man with short dark hair, wearing glasses, a light-colored suit, and a patterned tie. He has a serious expression and is looking directly at the camera.

Past Speakers

2023
Howard Stone
Donald R. Dixon ’69 and Elizabeth W. Dixon Professor
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Princeton University
“Thin-Film Flows: From Similarity Solutions to New Insights in Molecular Biology”

Learn more >>

2019
Balakumar Balachandran
Department Chair and Minta Martin Professor of Mechanical Engineering
University of Maryland
“Nonlinear Dynamics with Noise”
Learn more >>

2018
Charles Meneveau
Louis M. Sardella Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Associate Director, Institute for Data Intensive Engineering and Science, Johns Hopkins University
“New analytical models for turbulence spectra and turbine wakes in wind farms”
Learn more >>

Portrait of a man with short curly hair, smiling and wearing a light-colored button-up shirt. He is facing forward against a light background.2017
Clarence W. Rowley
Professor
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University
“Structure, Stability, and Simplicity in Complex Fluid Flows”
Learn more >>

Portrait of a man with short dark hair and glasses, smiling and wearing a light-colored button-up shirt. The background features a design with circular patterns.2016
Morteza Gharib
Hans W. Liepmann Professor of Aeronautics, Professor of Bioinspired Engineering, Director of Graduate Aerospace Laboratories, Vice Provost, Division of Engineering and Applied Science, California Institute of Technology
“On the Generation of Toroidal Micro-Plasmas in the Flow Field of Impinging Water-Jets”
Learn more >>

Portrait of an older man with short brown hair, glasses, and a beard, smiling while wearing a suit and tie. The background appears to be a textured wall.2015
Harry L. Swinney
Sid Richardson Foundation Regents Chair
Department of Physics, College of Natural Sciences, University of Texas at Austin
“Internal Gravity Wave Energy in the Oceans”
Learn more >>

Portrait of a man with short dark hair, smiling and wearing a dark-colored shirt. The background appears to be indoors with soft lighting and structural beams visible.2014
John A. Rogers
Swanlund Chair Professor
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign
“A Stretchy, Curvy Future for Electronics: From Brain Interfaces to Fly’s Eye Cameras”
Learn more >>

Portrait of an older man with gray, slightly messy hair and glasses, smiling while wearing a gray sweater over a collared shirt. He is sitting in an office with shelves of books and framed documents in the background.2012
Patrick Huerre
Hydrodynamics Laboratory – LadHyx
CNRS – Ecole Polytechnique
“Amplifiers and Oscillators: A Hydronamic Stability Perspective”
Learn more >>

Portrait of a man with short dark hair, smiling slightly while wearing a casual shirt. The background appears to be outdoors, with a dark sky and mountains faintly visible.2011
John Bush
Professor of Applied Mathematics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
“Hydrodynamic Quantum Analogues: Droplets Walking on the Impossible Pilot Wave”
Learn more >>

Portrait of a man with glasses, a beard, and short dark hair, wearing a gray jacket over a collared shirt. He is standing in front of a bookshelf filled with books.2010
L. Mahadevan
Lola England de Valpine Professor of Applied Mathematics, Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
Harvard University
“On Growth and Form: Mathematics, Mechanics and Morphogenesis”
Learn more >>

2010
Dr. Stephen H. Davis
McCormick School Professor
Walter P. Murphy Professor of Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics
“Control and Suppression of Interfacial Instabilities by Shear”

Portrait of a woman with shoulder-length brown hair, smiling and wearing a purple jacket over a blouse, along with a beaded necklace. The background is a solid blue color.2009
Elaine Oran, PhD.
Senior Scientist for Reactive Flow Physics
Naval Research Laboratory
“The Laminar Flame to Turbulent Flame to Detonation Transition: Studies of Non-Kolmogorov Turbulence and Stochasticity”
Learn more >>

Portrait of an older man with short, thinning hair, wearing a dark suit, white shirt, and a patterned tie. The background appears to be a dark, neutral tone.2007
Anatol Roshko (inaugural lecture)
“Reflections of the Turbulence Problem”
Learn more >>

 
Published on March 29th, 2017Last updated on October 17th, 2024