Dennis M. Bushnell, M.S.
Dennis M. Bushnell, M.S., FASME, FAIAA, FRAS
is
Chief Scientist, NASA Langley Research Center.
Dennis is responsible for technical oversight and advanced program
formulation with emphasis in the areas of atmospheric
sciences and structures,
materials, acoustics, flight electronics/control/software, instruments,
aerodynamics, aerothermodynamics,
hypersonic airbreathing propulsion, computational sciences, and systems
optimization for
aeronautics, spacecraft, exploration, and space access.
During his 43-year career, he has authored 247 publications/major
presentations and 280
invited lectures/seminars, and invented five patents. His technical
specialties include flow modeling
and control across the speed range, advanced configuration aeronautics,
aeronautical facilities and
hypersonic airbreathing propulsion. He is a member of the National
Academy of Engineering and
Fellow of ASME, AIAA, and the Royal Aeronautical Society. He holds
numerous awards and distinctions
from governmental agencies, professional societies and academia, and has
served numerous
national and international organizations as consultant or committee
member. He has served as reviewer
and editor for 40 journals and organizations.
Dennis developed the “riblet” approach to turbulent drag reduction,
high
speed “quiet tunnels” for
flight-applicable boundary layer transition research, advanced
computational approaches for laminar
flow control and advanced hypervelocity airbreathing and aeronautical
concepts with revolutionary
performance potential. He served the Gemini, Apollo, Viking, F-18E/F
(patent holder for the “fix” to
the wing drop problem) and Shuttle programs.
Dennis authored
Application frontiers of “designer fluid mechanics” — Visions
versus
reality or an attempt to answer the perennial question “why isn’t it
used?”,
SCALING: Wind Tunnel to Flight,
Hypersonic Flight Experimentation – Status and Shortfalls,
and
Civilian Aeronautical Futures — The Responsibly
Imaginable,
coauthored
Effect of compliant wall motion on turbulent boundary layers,
Separation control – Review,
Numerical computations of turbulence amplification in shock wave
interactions,
Facility opportunities and associated stream chemistry
considerations
for hypersonic air-breathing propulsion, and
Power-law Velocity-Profile-Exponent Variations with Reynolds Number,
Wall Cooling, and Mach Number in a Turbulent Boundary Layer,
and
coedited
Viscous Drag Reduction in Boundary Layers.
His patents include
Serrated trailing edges for improving lift and drag characteristics of
lifting surfaces,
Polymer/riblet combination for hydrodynamic skin friction reduction,
Channel-wing system for thrust deflection and force/moment
generation, and
Powder fed sheared dispersal particle generator.
Dennis earned a
BS with
Highest Honors in
mechanical
engineering from the
University of Connecticut in 1963 and an MS in mechanical engineering
from the
University of Virginia in 1967.
He won the Lawrence A. Sperry Award in 1975 and also has won
the AIAA Fluid and Plasma Dynamics
Award, the AIAA Dryden Lectureship, and is the
recipient of many NASA Medals for outstanding
Scientific Achievement and Leadership.
Listen to Dennis on a
C-Realm Podcast.
Read
Leading Thinkers and Scientists on Energy – Dennis M. Bushnell, NASA
Chief Scientist and
Interview with Dennis M. Bushnell.
Read his LinkedIn profile.
