Nishikawa Chosen as AIAA HRS Engineer of the Year
Congratulations to Dr. Hiroaki “Hiro” Nishikawa of the National Institute of Aerospace (NIA) for his selection by the Hampton Roads Section of AIAA for the 2020 AIAA HRS Engineer of the Year Award. Dr. Nishikawa is an internationally acclaimed and accomplished researcher in the area of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), who has made numerous contributions to the CFD state-of-the-art. The citation for Dr. Nishikawa reads: “For innovative, seminal contributions to the theory, implementation, and verification of novel computational approaches to the solution of aerodynamics equations in practical CFD codes.”
The NASA CFD Vision 2030 study identified accurate, efficient, and robust discretization and solution strategies as keys for an autonomous and reliable CFD capability. CFD solvers must be suitable for high-fidelity simulations of complex separated flows and tolerant of localized poor mesh quality, while at the same time be capable of delivering high accuracy at low cost. Solution techniques must be scalable, efficient, and robust enough to deliver converged solutions under all reasonable conditions with minimal user intervention.
In recent years, Dr. Nishikawa has led multiple projects aimed at improving the accuracy, efficiency, and robustness of practical Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) codes developed and supported at NASA’s Langley Research Center and elsewhere. The new methodologies developed by Dr. Nishikawa include efficient, highly-accurate discretization and solution methods for unstructured-grid finite-volume CFD codes. These codes represent the ‘workhorses’ for practical aerodynamics simulations and revolutionary new solution technologies based on hyperbolic Navier-Stokes (HNS) formulations that apply to a broad range of CFD solvers. Dr. Nishikawa will be recognized in the spring of 2020 when he will present the annual Laurence D. Leavitt Lecture, hosted by AIAA HRS. The Hampton Roads Section of AIAA is also submitting Dr. Nishikawa for consideration as Engineer of the Year to AIAA Region I and the Peninsula Engineers Council (PEC).
Information above originally published in the AIAA “Aerospace News” – Hampton Roads Section, Blue Ridge Chapter, Oct. 2019
“Every time I see a difficult problem, that’s where I get creative.”
– Hiro Nishikawa
Learn more about Hiro Nishikawa, an NIA Associate Research Fellow, who develops algorithms for Computational Fluid Dynamics in order to design better aircraft.