Department of Aerospace Engineering

Aerospace Engineering
MS 1959 and PhD 1964

Professor and Vice President for Research, University of Texas, Arlington

Dale Anderson began his career as an assistant professor of aerospace engineering at Iowa State (ISU) in 1964 and was promoted to full professor in 1975.

While at ISU, he did pioneering research in computational fluid dynamics (CFD), educated and brought forth some of the most prominent CFD researchers in the country, and co-authored the first comprehensive textbook in CFD with John Tannehill and Dick Pletcher that educated a generation around the world.

In 1984, he moved to The University of Texas at Arlington, where he was professor and held several administrative positions, including Vice President for Research and Dean of Graduate Studies. Dale has received a number of awards for his outstanding teaching and research.

Aerospace Engineering
BS 1964, MS 1967, and PhD 1970

Director, Aerophysics Directorate
NASA AMES
 
After receiving his PhD from Iowa State in 1970, Ron joined the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Branch at NASA Ames where he did pioneering research in CFD for transonic flows and aircraft wing design. 

Later, as founder of NASA’s Numerical Aerodynamics Simulation and High Performance and Communication Programs, he was responsible for the significant advances made in high performance computing (HPC) for aerospace and other critical fields. 

After his retirement from NASA Ames as Director of Aerophysics, he continued to advance HPC in critical management positions at Raytheon E-Systems and as CEO of a computer networking start-up.  Ron is also a graduate of the von Karman Institute in Brussels and is a Fellow of AIAA.

Aerospace Engineering
BS 1965, MS 1967, and PhD 1969

Deputy Director, Information Sciences and Technology
NASA Ames

Paul Kutler graduated from Iowa State in 1965 and continued with his graduate studies there participating in a NASA Ames/Iowa State work-study program his final year. After being hired by NASA, he performed pioneering research in the discipline of computational fluid dynamics resulting in over 60 publications, numerous invitations to lecture around the world and several awards.

He received a master of science in management from Stanford University in 1985. He held key management positions at NASA Ames including Chief of the Fluid Dynamics Division, Director of the Consolidated Supercomputing Management Office, and Deputy Director of the Information Sciences and Technology Directorate. He was an active participant in the AIAA holding various positions on the Board of Directors. He is a Fellow of AIAA.

Aerospace Engineering
MS 1967 and PhD 1969

Professor, University of California, Davis 

Joe Steger began his career as an NRC Fellow at NASA Ames in 1969, became an aeronautical engineer in 1970, and promoted to Senior Scientist in 1978.

From 1980 to 1983, he was an associate professor at Stanford. In 1983, Joe returned to NASA Ames as a senior staff scientist, and in 1989, joined the Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering Department at The University of California at Davis as a full professor.

Joe did pioneering research in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and is internationally recognized for his ground breaking work on grid generation, overlapping Chimera grids, and flow solvers for problems with highly complicated geometrics. He has received numerous awards from NASA for his significant contributions to the foundation of CFD.

Aerospace Engineering
BS 1965, MS 1967, and PhD 1969

Professor of Aerospace Engineering, Iowa State University

John Tannehill, a native of Salem, Illinois, began his career as an assistant professor of aerospace engineering at Iowa State in 1969 and was promoted to full professor in 1979.

He is recognized as a pioneer in the field of computational fluid dynamics (CFD). He helped design and implement the first CFD courses at Iowa State in 1972 and co-authored the first comprehensive CFD textbook which is used by over 100 institutions around the world.

Professor Tannehill is internationally recognized for his research in computing high-speed flows using either the complete or parabolized Navier-Stokes equations.

He has been actively involved with NASA in developing CFD computer codes for many projects including the Space Shuttle, the National Aerospace Plane (X-30), the High-Speed Civil Transport, and the Hyper-X Research Vehicle (X-43A). Professor Tannehill has been the Manager of the CFD Center since its establishment in 1984.

He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and has received the Iowa General Assembly Excellence in Teaching Award and the Boylan Eminent Faculty Award for Research.  Professor Tannehill retired in 2005 and is currently an Emeritus Professor.