Dr. Philip Varghese

Biography

Philip Varghese is a Professor and the Stanley P. Finch Centennial Professorship holder at the University of Texas at Austin's Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, part of the Cockrell School of Engineering. He has an international reputation in the area of combustion diagnostics and non-equilibrium flows. He is a member of the National Technical Committee on Aerodynamic Measurement Technology of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and was awarded a Fulbright Grant in 1993 to apply laser diagnostics in hypersonic wind tunnels in France. His research primarily focuses on understanding basic molecular processes that occur in high-speed, high-temperature flows, which is an interdisciplinary field combining physics, chemistry, and traditional engineering disciplines such as fluid mechanics, heat transfer, and thermodynamics. His work applies to the study of combustion, rail-gun thermal plasmas, and hypersonic flow. Varghese established a laser diagnostics laboratory for experimental studies in combustion and has had his research publications extensively referenced, with recent citations showing over 100 citations of his work in notable archival journals such as 'Applied Optics', 'Nature', and 'Physical Review'. He joined the University of Texas at Austin in 1983 and has been a principal investigator or co-principal investigator on externally funded research grants totaling $2,500,000.

Research Interests