Associate Professor Unnikrishnan Sasidharan Nair will be inducted as an AIAA Fellow for 2027. (Mark Wallheiser/FAMU-FSU College of Engineering)
Unnikrishnan Sasidharan Nair, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Florida State University and the joint FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, has been elected to the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Class of 2027 Associate Fellows.
Nair was selected for his research in simulation and analysis of complex fluid dynamics problems relevant to aerospace engineering. The award citation recognizes him for pioneering the development and application of methods that yield deep insights into scale-resolved transitional and turbulent flows.
What does Nair’s lab study?
Nair established the Computational Aero-Sciences Laboratory (CASL) at the college to explore fundamental problems in fluid mechanics. His team studies flow regimes from low speed to hypersonic and addresses open questions in boundary layer transition, aeroacoustics, aerodynamics and hypersonic aerothermodynamics, among other topics.
Next, Nair and his team plan to tackle the challenges of making air vehicles more efficient, faster, safer and quieter, contributing to a sustainable future in aviation technology. That work includes basic research toward feasible supersonic civilian transport and hypersonic technologies for national security and space applications.
What is an AIAA associate fellow?
With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries and 95 corporate members, AIAA is the world’s largest technical society dedicated to the global aerospace profession. Associate fellows are members who have made outstanding contributions to engineering or scientific work in the arts, sciences or technology of aeronautics or astronautics. Only 17% of AIAA members reach the rank.
Background and recognition
Nair earned his doctorate in aerospace engineering from Ohio State University in 2016 and joined the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering faculty in December 2019.
He will be recognized with the 2027 class at the AIAA Associate Fellows Induction Ceremony and Dinner on Jan. 13, 2027, in Orlando, Florida, during the 2027 AIAA SciTech Forum and Exposition.
Read the AIAA announcement.
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