On Large Language Models (AI) and Aerospace Education

Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing all aspects of our lives, much like the internet did when it became widely available to consumers in the mid-1990s. There are many discussions about how the AI revolution has affected different areas, including the workplace, art, culture, writing, and academics. Recently, the “ChatGPT: Optimizing Language Models for Dialogue” has …

Codex Arundel

While reading Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex Arundel last evening, I noticed that the Codex had less scholars examining it relative to others. The fluid dynamics of da Vinci have been extensively studied, with entire dissertations dedicated to the subject. I came across a curious drawing that exhibited turbulent flow. The text is written backward in …

Additional Thoughts on Pressure

I am obsessed with pressure, particularly the internal pressure of fluids. Unlike viscosity, it is absent of frictional forces, and it is a key driving force in both human behavior and aerospace flows. Pressure is an essential component of a perfect fluid and appears on the right-hand side of the Navier-Stokes equations. Without pressure, fluid …

A simplified semi-empirical model for long-range low-frequency noise propagation in the turbulent atmosphere

My student, Dr. Tianshu Zhang, and myself recently published a modified long range acoustic propagation model that handles turbulence in the atmosphere. The abstract is We present a semi-empirical long-range low-frequency acoustic propagation model, which accounts for atmospheric turbulence. Ostashev and Wilson’s scattering model is combined with a ray-theory based refraction model to account for …

A Note on Critical Thinking

Miller, S. A. E., “Note on Critical Thinking,” NASA Alumni Association Magazine, Dec., 2022. pp 5. (one-page) One might visit any leading university campus in the United States and ask the graduate faculty training future researchers one question, “what is the purpose of educating students?” One of the most frequent answers is to create critical …