Kelly Stephani

For More Information

• Center for Hypersonics and Entry Systems Studies
• Academic Genealogy (since 15th century!)

Education

• Ph.D. Aerospace Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 2012
• M.S. Aerospace Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 2006
• B.S. Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, 2005

Academic Positions

• Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, 2023-date
• Associate Director, Center for Hypersonics and Entry Systems Studies, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2023-date
• Kritzer Faculty Fellow, Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2021-date
• Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2021-date
• Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2014-2021
• Faculty Affiliate, Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2016-date

Research Interests

• Hypersonics and high-temperature aerothermodynamics
• Surface chemistry and plasma-surface interactions
• Kinetic methods for non-equilibrium reacting flows
• Kinetic theory and transport processes
• Fluid mechanics & thermal sciences

Chapters in Books

• "Response of the Meteoroid/Meteorite to Aerodynamic Forces and Ablation," G. Duffa, J. Beck, and K. Stephani, IoP series on Plasma Physics: Hypersonic Meteoroid Entry Physics (2019).

Selected Articles in Journals

• Konnik, M. T, F. Panerai, and K. A. Stephani (2022), "The role of impurities and degradation on the thermal conductivity of carbon fiber and amorphous carbon," Carbon Trends, 100151.
• Gopalan, K.S., A. Borner, J. C. Ferguson, F. Panerai, N. N. Mansour, and K. A. Stephani (2022), "Gas–surface interactions in lightweight fibrous carbon materials," Computational Materials Science 205, 111190.
• Kondur, C. and K. A. Stephani (2022), "Rate constants and molecular recombination pathways of oxygen from quasi-classical trajectory simulations of the O3 system," Chemical Physics 552, 111357 (featured on cover)
• Subramaniam, S. and K. A. Stephani (2021), "Navier–Stokes equations with rovibrational state-resolved transport flux closure," Physics of Fluids 33 (6), 067117.
• Pan, T.-J. and K. A. Stephani (2021), "Rovibrationally state-specific collision model for the O2(3Σg-) + O(3P) system in DSMC," J. Chem. Phys. 154 (10), 104306.
• Subramaniam, S., R.L. Jaffe and K. A. Stephani (2020), "State-resolved transport collision integrals for the O+O2 system," Phys. Rev. Fluids 5 (11), 113402.
• Swaminathan-Gopalan, K. and K. A. Stephani (2019), "Construction of Finite Rate Surface Chemistry Models from Pulsed Hyperthermal Beam Experimental Data," AIP Advances 9, 035246.
• Pan, T.-J., T. Wilson, and K. A. Stephani (2019), “Vibrational state-specific model for dissociation and recombination of the O2(3Σg-) + O(3P) system in DSMC,” J. Chem. Phys. 150, 074305.
• Subramaniam, S. and K. A. Stephani (2018), "Assessment of continuum breakdown for chemically reacting wake flows," Phys. Rev. Fluids 3, 123401.
• Swaminathan-Gopalan, K., A. Borner, V. J. Murray, S. Poovathingal, T. K. Minton, N. N. Mansour, and K. A. Stephani (2018), "Development and validation of a finite-rate model for carbon oxidation by atomic oxygen," Carbon, 137, 313-332.
• Zhu, T., K. Swaminathan-Gopalan, K. A. Stephani, and E. Ertekin (2018), "Thermoelectric phonon glass electron crystal via ion beam patterning of silicon," Phys. Rev. B 87, 174201.
• Zhu, T., K. Swaminathan-Gopalan, K. J. Cruse, K. Stephani, E. Ertekin (2018), "Vibrational energy transport in hybrid ordered/disordered nanocomposites: hybridization and avoided crossings of localized and delocalized modes," Adv. Funct. Mater., 1706268.
• Swaminathan-Gopalan, K., T. Zhu, E. Ertekin and K. A. Stephani (2017), "Structural and thermal effects of ion-irradiation induced defect configurations in silicon," Phys. Rev. B 95, 184109.
• Swaminathan-Gopalan, K., S. Subramaniam, and K. A. Stephani (2016), "Generalized Chapman-Enskog continuum breakdown parameters for chemically reacting flows," Phys. Rev. Fluids 1, 083402, doi:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.1.083402.
• Stephani, K. A. and I. D. Boyd, (2016), "Spacecraft plume interactions with the magnetosphere plasma environment in geostationary Earth orbit," J. Geophys. Res. Space Physics, 121, 1402-1412, doi:10.1002/2015JA021158.
• Swaminathan-Gopalan, K. and K. A. Stephani, (2016), "Recommended DSMC collision model parameters for modeling ionized air transport processes," Phys. Fluids 28 027171; doi: 10.1063/1.4939719.
• Stephani, K. A. and I. D. Boyd, (2015), "Molecular dynamics modeling of defect formation in many-layer hexagonal boron nitride," Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B, 365, 235-239.
• Stephani, K. A., I. D. Boyd, R. L. Balthazor, M. G. McHarg, B. A. Mueller, and R. J. Adams (2014), "Analysis and observation of spacecraft plume/ionosphere interactions during maneuvers of the space shuttle," J. Geophys. Res. Space Physics, 119, 7636–7648, doi:10.1002/2013JA019476.
• Stephani, K. A. and I. D. Boyd, (2014), "Detailed modeling and analysis of spacecraft plume/ionosphere interactions in low Earth orbit," J. Geophys. Res. Space Physics, 119, 2101–2116, doi:10.1002/2013JA019222.
• Stephani, K. A., D. B. Goldstein, and P.L. Varghese, (2013), "A non-equilibrium surface reservoir approach for hybrid DSMC/Navier–Stokes particle generation," J. Comp. Phys., Volume 232, Issue 1, Pages 468-481, doi: 10.1016/j.jcp.2012.08.017.
• Stephani, K. A., D. B. Goldstein, and P. L. Varghese, (2012), "Consistent treatment of transport properties for five-species air direct simulation Monte Carlo/Navier-Stokes applications," Phys. Fluids 24, 077101; doi: 10.1063/1.4729610.
• Stephani, K. A. and D. B. Goldstein, (2010), "An Examination of Trapped Bubbles for Viscous Drag Reduction on Submerged Surfaces," J. Fluids Eng. 132(4), 041303 (9 pages); doi:10.1115/1.4001273.

Professional Societies

• Region III Associate Fellow Regional Representative, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (2021-2022)
• Member, American Physical Society
• Associate Fellow, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Service on College Committees

• Center for Hypersonics and Entry Systems Studies, leadership (2019-present)

Service to Federal and State Government

• University Consortium for Applied Hypersonics, Co-director (2020-present)

Teaching Honors

• List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students, Spring 2019
• List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students, Fall 2017

Research Honors

• Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) Award (2019)
• AFOSR Young Investigator Research Program (YIP) Award (2017)
• NASA Early Career Faculty (ECF) Award (2015)
• AFOSR Summer Faculty Fellow - AFRL/RQ Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (2015)
• Stanford CTR Summer Program Fellowship (2010)
• Caltech Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) (2005)