Dr. Chudoba is Associate Professor in the Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Department and Director of the Aerospace Vehicle Design (AVD) Laboratory at UTA. He earned his Dipl.-Ing. in Aeronautical Engineering from The University of Applied Sciences FH, Aachen, Germany, the MS and PhD in Aerospace Vehicle Design from Cranfield University in the United Kingdom. Before joining UTA in the Fall of 2005, he was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering starting in Fall 2002, The University of Oklahoma. His professional engagement from 1989 to today is summarized below. His current research contract titled ‘Hypersonic, Commercial Transportation Feasibility Study’ is funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Research Interests
Professor Chudoba has over 30 years of experience in the areas of subsonic to hypersonic aircraft, reusable & expendable space launch vehicles, space tourist vehicles, in-space elements, and space architecture planning at the strategic conceptual & preliminary design levels. For the last three decades, he is systematically building an understanding of the multi-disciplinary complexity inherent in conventional & unconventional aerospace vehicle applications. The development of this aerospace synthesis mindset and capability has been triggered while working with the future project departments of EADS Airbus GmbH, Airbus UK (British Aerospace), Airbus France (Aérospatiale Aéronautique), Airbus Industrie, and Fairchild Dornier, where he was responsible for conceptual/preliminary multi-disciplinary design processes (applications: A3XX/A380, Concorde successor ESCT, 328-, 728-, 928 regional transports).
In the USA, aircraft project investigations with Boeing, Wyle Laboratories, Mitsubishi, NASA Langley, Erik Lindbergh & Nova Hall, AFRL, UTSI, AAC, and hypersonic vehicle project investigations with Rocketplane, Boeing, ESA, NASA, NIA, USAF and DARPA have been providing first-hand insights into past, present and future air & space systems development and Systems Engineering (SE) integration challenges. This exposure illuminates the current aerospace simulation tool limitations & potential in the context of systems forecasting and optimization at the strategic conceptual and preliminary design levels. As a consequence, the Aerospace Vehicle Design (AVD) Laboratory is since 2002 systematically developing an industry and research environment endorsed next-generation human intelligence (HI) and artificial intelligence (AI) systems & technology forecasting conceptual/preliminary design decision-making support system and capability.
Teaching Interests
It is essential to synergistically couple state-of-the-art research with quality education. The teaching interests & goals reflect my research interests with the strategic focus to educate the 21st Century Design Engineer & System Decision-Maker. My teaching interests address subsonic to hypersonic and space launch vehicle design, configuration geometry, configuration aerodynamics, configuration aerothermodynamics, configuration control, configuration rocket & airbreathing propulsion & integration, reduced scale & virtual flight testing, data & knowledge engineering, technology forecasting, aerospace systems engineering and project management.
Aerospace is arguably the most consistently dynamic and for me the most exciting of all technical fields some 117 years after the Wright brothers accomplished their first controlled powered flight. Design proficiency is key to evolutionary & revolutionary advancements; see the current evolution & revolution in fields like electric UAV, supersonic corporate transportation, and reusable space launch vehicles. The degree to which the Nation’s current and future national security and industry needs can be satisfied will depend on at least two factors: advances in technology and the availability of highly trained and qualified engineers. Government and industry leaders are concerned that the shortage of talented scientists and engineers in the U.S. aerospace and defense complex is getting worse. Clearly, the U.S. aerospace industry is mobilizing to regain the global innovation-lead with view to national security (e.g. defensible space) and in key markets (e.g. hypersonic flight and reusable space launch).
The quality of undergraduate and graduate design engineering education directly affects the U.S. economy. Few engineering graduates are prepared for today’s industrial design environments. Clearly, there is a disconnect between higher education and the workplace. What engineers do, however, depends on what they know. This statement reflects the responsibility of the academic institution and the individual educator. The proper implementation of aerospace design education has been widely debated throughout the last decades. Industry in general, government sources, and design educators have begun to emphasize engineering education beyond the normal concentration on disciplinary engineering sciences. Clearly, my primary teaching motivation is to provide industry-relevant multi-disciplinary aerospace vehicle design education combined with applied disciplinary focus areas, overall resulting in design proficiency on par with or exceeding national and international educational quality standards.