Research Centers & Labs
Centers
Alfred Gessow Rotorcraft Center (AGRC)
Principal Investigator: Inderjit Chopra
Location: 3168 Glenn L. Martin Hall
Long-standing and important research is conducted in the Alfred Gessow Rotorcraft Center. One of only three such centers in the country, the center conducts leading-edge research in rotorcraft aerodynamics, dynamics, acoustics, structures and flight mechanics. The center includes unique experimental facilities such as two fully-instrumented rotor rigs, a hover tower and a 10-foot vacuum chamber are funded by the Army and by an industry consortium.
Glenn L. Martin Wind Tunnel
Principal Investigator: Jewel Barlow
Location: 2102 Martin Wind Tunnel
The Glenn L. Martin Wind Tunnel (GLMWT) is a state-of-the-art low speed wind tunnel that has been actively involved in aerodynamic research and development since 1949. Through more than 2200 tests, the GLMWT has helped collect data on a wide variety of aerodynamics challenges. From airplanes to automobiles and bobsleds to building structures, we have a wide-range of experience addressing diverse aerodynamic designs.
Maryland Robotics Center
The Maryland Robotics Center is an interdisciplinary research center housed in the Institute for Systems Research within the A. James Clark School of Engineering. The mission of the center is to advance robotic systems, underlying component technologies, and applications of robotics through research and educational programs that are interdisciplinary in nature and based on a systems approach. The center has over 26 labs and 47 participating faculty members from nine academic departments. Educational programs include the Master of Engineering and Graduate Certificate in Engineering programs in Robotics, offered in collaboration with Maryland Applied Graduate Engineering (MAGE), and the Robotics and Autonomous Systems undergraduate minor.
UAS Research and Operations Center (UROC)
Principal Investigator: John Slaughter
Location: 44181 Airport Road, California, MD 20619
The UAS Research and Operations Center (UROC) at the University of Maryland stands at the forefront of UAS rulemaking, commercialization, and national airspace integration. Formed in 2014, test site experts leverage their approximately 150 years of combined experience in military and civilian aviation, engineering, and project management to accelerate the safe, responsible application of UAS in public and private industries.
Labs
Advanced Propulsion Research Laboratory (APRL)
Principal Investigator: Kenneth H. Yu
Location: 0127 Engineering Lab Building
The Advanced Propulsion Research Lab (APRL) conducts fundamental and applied research in chemical propulsion and power, more specifically, to solve problems involving combustors, propellants, and fuel management system. Much of the lab's focus is on high-speed combustion and flow research for gas turbines, ramjets, scramjets, rockets, and detonation engines. The objectives are to enhance physical understanding, develop enabling technologies, and incorporate our results for improving future engine design and performance. The goal is to make advanced propulsion system more reliable, more affordable, and environmentally sustainable.
Collective Dynamics and Control Laboratory
Principal Investigator: Derek A. Paley
Location: 3150 Glenn L. Martin Hall
The Collective Dynamics and Control Laboratory (CDCL) conducts research in multi-vehicle control, autonomous vehicles, and bio-inspired collective behavior. Research topics include nonlinear control and dynamics, mobile sensor networks, and biocomplexity. Robotics is a major theme in CDCL research and we have an eighteen camera indoor motion-capture studio and a twelve-camera underwater motion-capture system to support mobile robotics research.
Composites Research Laboratory
Principal Investigator: Norman M. Wereley
Location: 3179 J Glenn L. Martin Hall
The Composites Research Laboratory (CORE) provides an environment for educational, research, and development of activities in composite materials and structures. The goals of the laboratory are to promote the understanding and the use of composite materials, to maintain up-to-date manufacturing and testing facilities in order to conduct basic research, and to provide an accessible knowledge and technology base.
Extended Reality Flight Simulation and Control Lab
Principal Investigator: Umberto Saetti
Location: E.A. Fernandez IDEA Factory
The Extended Reality Flight Simulation and Control Lab combines virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR), wearable devices such as full-body haptic feedback and biometry tracking suits, and motion-base systems to create immersive, Extended Reality (XR) piloted flight simulations. Research topics include human-machine interaction, innovative pilot cuing methods, and advanced flight control laws.
Fearless Flight Facility (F3)
The Fearless Flight Facility is the only university outdoor flight laboratory for testing unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia region. The 100-foot wide, 300-foot long, and 50-foot high facility serves as a critical nexus between the Clark School of Engineering’s College Park labs and UMD’s UAS Test Site in Maryland’s St. Mary’s County.
Film Cooling Research Laboratory
Principal Investigator: Christopher Cadou, Arnaud Trouvé
Location: 3176 Glenn L. Martin Hall
The Film Cooling Research Laboratory implements an experimental and numerical approach to improve the understanding of film cooling physics as well as to develop and validate accurate Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) codes to aid in the design of future film cooling systems.
High-Speed Aerodynamics and Propulsion Laboratory
Principal Investigator: Stuart J. Laurence
Location: 3184 Glenn L. Martin Hall
The High-Speed Aerodynamics and Propulsion Laboratory (HAPL) at the University of Maryland, led by Assistant Professor Stuart Laurence, specializes in investigations of a wide variety of high-speed flow problems, including hypersonic boundary-layer transition, aerodynamic interactions between free-flying bodies, shock-wave/boundary-layer interactions, fluid-structure interactions, scramjet unstart, and diagnostic development. HAPL aims to make significant contributions to our fundamental understanding of high-speed flow problems, whilst providing students with access to world-class experimental facilities for research and education.
Machine Learning for Dynamical Systems Lab
Principal Investigator: John Martin
The Machine Learning for Dynamical Systems Lab investigates the intersection of artificial intelligence and astrodynamics research. By designing state-of-the-art machine learning models, we enable next-generation spacecraft autonomy in complex dynamical environments, and open-source our findings to expedite the rate of adoption within the community.
Motion and Teaming Lab
Principal Investigator: Michael Otte
The Motion and Teaming Lab conducts research on the design and analysis of algorithms, methods, and behaviors for autonomous robots and multi-agent systems, combining elements of robotics, multi-agent systems, autonomy, artificial intelligence, planning, control, distributed systems, collective intelligence, emergent behavior, graph theory, information theory, machine learning, Gaussian processes, stochastic processes, and computational geometry.
Planetary Surfaces and Spacecraft Lab
Principal Investigator: Christine M. Hartzell
Location: 3178 Glenn L. Martin Hall
The Planetary Surfaces and Spacecraft Lab is a computational and experimental lab interested in the intersection of planetary science, plasma physics, granular mechanics and spacecraft design. Dynamics and orbital mechanics are foundation upon which we explore the universe. We are interested in improving our understanding of the fundamental physics of phenomena and then using that knowledge to make predictions and designs.
Separated and Transient Aerodynamics Laboratory
Principal Investigator:
Location: 3154 Glenn L. Martin Hall
The Separated and Transient Aerodynamics Laboratory is an experimental laboratory in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Maryland. Our research focuses on unsteady, separated, and three-dimensional flows on flapping wings, rotorcraft, and wind/water turbines. We perform experiments in water tanks and wind tunnels to better understand the flow physics and vortex dynamics of these flows.
Space Power and Propulsion Lab
Principal Investigator: Ray Sedwick
Location: 3146 Glenn L. Martin Hall
The UMD Space Power and Propulsion Lab (SPPL), is dedicated to the research and development of power generation, conversion and propulsion technologies applicable to the exploration of space. Research topics within these areas are broad in scope, encompassing experimental, analytic and computational approaches, and technology readiness levels range from fundamental research to flight hardware development.
Space Systems Lab
Principal Investigator: David Akin
Location: 2100D Neutral Buoyancy Research Facility
A leader in the area of astronautics, the Space Systems Laboratory is centered around a 50-foot diameter, 25-foot deep water tank that is used to simulate the micro-gravity environment of space. The only facility of its size housed on a university campus, Maryland's neutral buoyancy tank is available for undergraduate and graduate research opportunities. Research in Space Systems emphasizes space robotics, human factors, applications of artificial intelligence and the underlying fundamentals of space simulation.
Strategic Space Sensing Lab
Principal Investigator: Tam Nguyen
The Strategic Space Sensing Lab at Maryland develops advanced sensing methodologies to discover, track, and characterize space objects across a wide range of applications, including space situational awareness, planetary defense, and planetary science & exploration.