Fasel has been a professor in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the UA since 1982, and heads the Computational Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in that department.

The newly created Presidential Chair is the first initiative to be funded by the 1885 Society, a UA donor group committed to providing annual cash gifts of $10,000 or more that enable Shelton to respond to UA’s changing needs.

“The generous gifts from members of the 1885 Society allow us to leverage our resources to reward faculty members during these challenging times,” Shelton said, and described Fasel as “precisely the type of faculty member who embodies The University of Arizona’s reputation as a world-class research institution.”

Deans submitted candidates for the chair through a competitive nomination process managed by President Shelton and Provost Meredith Hay. Emphasis was placed on the demonstrated abilities of the faculty member in the areas of research, teaching and leadership.

“Hermann is a valuable asset to the local aerospace industry and respected by colleagues internationally,” said Jeff Goldberg, interim dean of the College of Engineering.

“Hermann is an outstanding College of Engineering faculty member in all phases of the job -- teaching, research and service,” Goldberg said. “He works on problems that are important to society and he has a great ability to show how things are interrelated. He has high standards for himself and his colleagues, which is why he is so well respected around the world.”

New Research

As chair holder, Fasel will receive $40,000 annually. Fasel plans to use the unrestricted funding for exploratory research in alternative energy and biomedical fluid mechanics.

“I was totally surprised and I am deeply honored to be selected for this prestigious award,” Fasel said. “I see this as an investment in new ideas that I would like to pursue. I plan to apply my experience and knowledge in aeronautical engineering to research in solar tower power plants, wind turbines, and cardiovascular medicine.”

Since 2002, Fasel has secured more than two dozen research grants and currently has active grants totaling more than $6 million. Fasel leads a team of graduate and undergraduate students in research areas such as laminar-turbulent transition, flow control, aerodynamics and dynamically scaled flight-testing of aircraft.

At the fundamental level, Fasel’s research focuses on how fluid dynamics phenomena influence the efficiency and safety of vehicles in the air, on land, or under water.

The major tool of discovery in his research is computational fluid dynamics using massive computer simulations that are only possible with the nation’s most powerful supercomputers at the Department of Defense, NASA and Department of Energy. These agencies annually provide Fasel millions of hours of computing time to conduct his research.

Fasel validates the computer simulations with measurements obtained in the wind and water tunnels in his department’s Hydrodynamics Laboratory.

One of Fasel’s specialties is studying laminar-turbulent transition, which has a profound effect on the safety and performance of flight vehicles. For example, when the space shuttle re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere at about 17,000 miles per hour, laminar-turbulent transition causes very high temperatures.

“The high heating rates caused by transition have to be accurately predicted, so that an adequate thermal protection system can be implemented. Otherwise, the spacecraft will burn up at re-entry into the atmosphere,” said Fasel, whose research in this area is being funded by NASA and the U.S. Air Force.

High Flyer

In his free time, Fasel enjoys soaring with unpowered and powered gliders and flying single-engine airplanes. His hobby provides a direct connection to another area of his funded research, namely flow separation.

“Complete flow separation on wings of airplanes -- or stall -- is the main reason why take-off and landing are the most dangerous phases of air travel,” Fasel said.

Fasel’s research is helping to create airplanes that are safer, more fuel efficient and have less effect on the environment.

Fasel was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Kansas, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude with a master’s degree in mechanical engineering. He worked at the Midwest Research Institute in Kansas City on a research project related to the Apollo space program. He later returned to the University of Stuttgart, Germany, to earn his doctorate with Summa Cum Laude in mechanical engineering.

Before joining UA as associate professor in 1982, Fasel had a Heisenberg Professorship at the University of Stuttgart. He also served as a research associate at the California Institute of Technology and was a visiting fellow at Princeton University.