Department Business
Location
3000 François-Xavier Bagnoud Aerospace Building
1320 Beal Avenue Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2140
Phone
Primary Website
Biography
Additional Title(s)
- Clarence L. (Kelly) Johnson Collegiate Professor
- Professor and Director, Active Aeroelasticity and Structures Research Laboratory
Carlos Cesnik is the Clarence L. (Kelly) Johnson Professor of Aerospace Engineering and the founding Director of the Active Aeroelasticity and Structures Research Laboratory at the University of Michigan. He currently directs the Airbus-Michigan Center for Aero-Servo-Elasticity of Very Flexible Aircraft (CASE-VFA). His research interests have focused on computational and experimental aeroelasticity of very flexible aircraft; coupled nonlinear aeroelasticity and flight dynamic response in high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) aircraft and advanced jet transport aircraft; aerothermoelastic modeling, analysis and simulation of hypersonic vehicles; active vibration and noise reductions in helicopters. His research also spans the field of structural health monitoring for damage detection in metallic and composite structures, and metamaterials: guided-wave modeling, transducer design, and signal processing.
Professor Cesnik is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. He serves as AIAA’s Director for the Aerospace Design and Structures Group and is an elected member of AIAA’s Council of Directors. He has over 350 publications as archival journal and conference papers, and several invited lectures in the areas of aeroelasticity, smart structures, structural mechanics, and structural health monitoring.
Prior to his appointment as a tenured associate professor at the University of Michigan in 2001, Prof. Cesnik was the Boeing Assistant Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and then Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has also worked as a research engineer at Embraer S.A. Professor Cesnik has been an active private pilot since 1981.
Education
- Georgia Institute of Technology
Ph.D., Aerospace Engineering, 1994 - M.S., Aerospace Engineering, 1991
Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica, Brazil - M.S., Aeronautical Engineering, 1989
Engineering Degree, Aeronautical Engineering, 1987
Research Interests
Multi-physics modeling, analysis and simulation. Computational and experimental aeroelasticity/aeromechanics: coupled nonlinear aeroelasticity and flight dynamic response in high-altitude long-endurance (HALE) aircraft and advanced jet transport aircraft; aerothermoelastic modeling, analysis and simulation of hypersonic vehicles; active vibration and noise reductions in helicopters. Structural health management: damage detection in metallic and composite structures, and metamaterials; guided-wave modeling, transducer design, and signal processing.
Professional Service
- American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (Fellow)
- Royal Aeronautical Society (Fellow)
- American Helicopter Society (Lifetime member)
Awards
- 2019 ASME-Boeing Structures & Materials Award
- Monroe-Brown Foundation Research Excellence Award, College of Engineering, Univ of Michigan, 2018
- EMBRAER—Guido Pessotti Chair Professor of Engineering, Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (ITA), Brazil, 2015-2017
- Visiting Research Fellow, Boeing Research and Technology, Huntington Beach, 2015
- Benjamin Meaker Visiting Professor of Aerospace Engineering, University of Bristol, 2014
- Fellow, Royal Aeronautical Society, 2014
- Fellow, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2012
- 2011 Scientific Achievement Award – NATO Research and Technology Organization
- 2011 ASME-Boeing Structures & Materials Award
- Aerospace Engineering Department Award for Outstanding Accomplishment, 2010, 2013
- Industrial Associates Program Award, Northrop Grumman Co., 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010
- Visiting Professor, Aeronautics Program, University of Sheffield, UK (2003-2010)
- 2002 ASME-Boeing Structures & Materials Award
- 2002 Georgia Tech Council of Outstanding Young Engineering Alumni Award
- Visiting Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, MIT (2001—2003)
- Associate Fellow, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2001
- Best Dynamics Paper Award, American Helicopter Annual Forum, 2001
- Boeing Career Development Professorship, 1996
- Sigma Xi Doctoral Thesis Award 1995 (Georgia Tech)
- Top Graduate Student from the College of Engineering 1994 (Georgia Tech)
- Neiva Award (“Prêmio Neiva”). 1988
- Magna Cum Laude Award (ITA), 1987
- Member, Phi Kappa Phi
Positions Held At Michigan
- Clarence L. (Kelly) Johnson Collegiate Professor of Aerospace Engineering, 2019-present
- Director, Airbus-Michigan Center for Aero-Servo-Elasticity of Very Flexible Aircraft (CASE-VFA)
- Professor, 2008-present
- Chair of the Aerospace Engineering Graduate Program, 2008-2012
- Associate Professor, 2001-2008
- Founding Director, Active Aeroelasticity and Structures Research Laboratory, 2001-present
Related News Stories
The first Podcast for the Michigan Initiative for Sustainable Aviation
Cesnik to lead Aerospace Engineering at U-M
Michigan Vertical Flight Technology, a student team centered around building VTOL aircraft, took first place in the Vertical Flight Society’s first annual Design-Build-Vertical Flight Competition.
U-M Aerospace congratulates Professor Cesnik on being selected to work for NASA’s University Leadership Initiative.
At the June 2017 Paris Airshow, Airbus entered into a five-year agreement with the University of Michigan Aerospace Engineering department to establish and fund, to the tune of $8.25 million, a new research center. Called the Airbus-University of Michigan Center for Aero-Servo-Elasticity of Very Flexible Aircraft, its purpose is to engage in fundamental research, focusing on advanced methodologies for designing and evaluating future aircraft. We recently caught up with the Center’s director, Dr. Carlos Cesnik, and asked him about the work being done there, the aircraft of the future, and the impact of the recent COVID-19 crisis on the aerospace industry.