Kenneth G. Powell
Arthur F. Thurnau Professor
Location
3052 François-Xavier Bagnoud Aerospace Building
1320 Beal Avenue Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2140
Additional Title(s)
Graduate Program Chair, Scientific Computing
Undergraduate Program Advisor, Aerospace Engineering
Primary Website
Education
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
ScD Aerospace Engineering ’87
SM Aerospace Engineering ’84
SB Aerospace Engineering and Mathematics ’82
Teaching
AERO 325 – Aerodynamics
AERO 225 – Fluid Dynamics
AERO 481 – Aircraft Design
AERO 524 – Aerodynamics II
Research Interests
Computational Fluid Dynamics, Compressible Flow, Aerodynamics, Numerical Methods for Plasmas, Computational Space Physics
Professional Service
Associate Fellow of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics American Geophysical Union
Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
Sigma Xi
Tau Beta Pi
Biography
Professor Powell is a member and past director of the W. M. Keck Foundation Computational Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, and a co-founder and co-director of the Center for Space Environment Modeling and the the Center for Radiative Shock Hydrodynamics. At the undergraduate level, he teaches freshman computing, compressible flow, aerodynamics and aircraft design; at the graduate level, he teaches aerodynamics and computational fluid dynamics. His research interests include: algorithm development for fluid dynamics, aerodynamics and plasmadynamics; and the application of computational methods to problems in aerodynamics, aeroelasticity, fluid dynamics and space environment/space weather. His articles appear in Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Journal of Computational Physics, and Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, among others. He is also a co-author of Multi-Media Fluid Mechanics. He has received a number of awards for his research, including a National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award, and a number of awards for his teaching, including the Arthur F. Thurnau Professorship. He is married to Susanne Maria Krummel; they have three children: Jasmine, Ryan and Nicole.
Awards
- Tau Beta Pi Teaching Award (1988, 1999, 2005)
- College of Engineering Team Research Excellence Award (1999, 2014)
- College of Engineering Teaching Excellence Award (1992)
- College of Engineering 1938 E Award
- Sigma Gamma Tau Teaching Award (1989, 1995)
- NSF Presidential Young Investigator (1988)
- NASA Special Achievement Award (1989)
- College of Engineering MLK Spirit Award (2020)
Related Links
Related News Stories
After years of service, Powell steps down and Duraisamy becomes the new program director.
The Aerospace Department congratulates Ken Powell, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Aerospace as one of the faculty recipients of the 2021 North Campus Dean’s MLK Spirit Award.
The Aerospace Department congratulates our recipients of the Aerospace Engineering and College of Engineering awards.
