Patrick Koenig
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
pkoe651@mit.edu
Patrick Koenig is a first-year Master's student working with Prof. Steven Hall. His work focuses on control law development for electric short take-off and landing (eSTOL) aircraft. His research interests are optimal control and estimation, human-machine interaction and autonomous systems. Before coming to MIT, Patrick graduated from the United States Air Force Academy with a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering and a minor in Nuclear Weapons and Strategy. In his free time, Patrick enjoys skiing, rock climbing, camping, hiking and watching movies.
Mina Cezairli
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
cezairli@mit.edu
Mina is a master’s student advised by Professor Hansman. Her projects focus on evaluating the noise impacts of flight procedures and assessing operational fuel efficiency in the global air transportation network. Prior to MIT, Mina studied Mechanical Engineering at Yale University and worked as an economic consulting analyst for two years. She is interested in human systems and the intersection of aviation and data science. Mina has a private pilot’s license and enjoys flying, running, and reading in her free time.
Marek Homola
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
marekho@mit.edu
Julia Gaubatz
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
jgaubatz@mit.edu
Julia is a PhD student advised by Prof. Hansman. Her current research investigates the feasibility of using hydrogen aircraft to decarbonize aviation, with specific focus on risk mitigation and safety. Julia earned her bachelor's degree from MIT, where her experiences building and launching rockets as part of MIT's Rocket Team sparked her interest in flight vehicle engineering. Prior to her PhD, she earned her master's degree working on the design and flight testing of a small UAV's control system. Julia grew up in Colorado, and in her free time, enjoys sewing, cooking, and playing with her cats.
Cecilia Perez Gago
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
cecipg@mit.edu
Cecilia is an incoming graduate student from Buenos Aires, Argentina interested in Human Factors in aviation. She's currently working on an FAA project called Pilot Response to System Malfunction, and she hopes to continue studying human factor implications of crew relationships with automation in airplane systems. Cecilia is finishing her bachelors degree at MIT this May in AeroAstro, and will continue to work towards her Masters degree in the department. In her free time she likes to run, hike, plane-spot, and all things nature.
Sandro Salgueiro
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
sandrosr@mit.edu
Sandro is a Postdoctoral Associate at the MIT International Center for Air Transportation (ICAT), having completed his PhD at ICAT in 2024. Sandro's doctoral research focused on the study of opportunities to reevaluate legacy constraints of the air traffic system to offer greater operational flexibility to both current and future operations. As part of this work, he developed a framework for evaluating acceptable separation values between flight procedures in terminal airspace based on the collision risk experienced by aircraft under the effect of mitigations such as air traffic control intervention and detect-and-avoid capabilities. Sandro has also contributed to the design and implementation of several low-noise flight procedures at Boston Logan Airport that are being flown daily by commercial aircraft.
Juju Wang
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Juju is a PhD student working with Prof. Hansman. Her work focuses on aircraft noise and its impact on communities near major commercial airports. She uses various noise models combined with community data to assess people’s sensitivity to noise, financial impact of noise, and if there is equitable distribution of aircraft noise pollution. Before starting her PhD, she worked as an engineer at an airborne wind energy company, and did her masters in analyzing the financial viability of various alternative jet fuel production pathways. She is interested in data driven policy and a sustainable future for air transportation.
Estelle Martin
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
estellem@mit.edu
Estelle is a dual Master's student enrolled in both the Aeronautics & Astronautics Master's program and the Technology and Policy Program, working with Prof. Hansman on sustainable aviation fuels. She is developing a model to evaluate the global availability and accessibility of these fuels, as well as the potential impact of their utilization, particularly in terms of emissions reduction. Her work aims at informing stakeholders in the field for policy implications and decarbonization strategies. Prior to commencing her Master's journey, Estelle graduated with a dual Bachelor's degree in Mathematics and Physics from Ecole Polytechnique in France. Beyond academics, she is interested in fostering and taking part in developing sustainability within the aerospace sector and the energy sector, as well as engaging in policy formulation at the crossroads of sustainability and energy
Sandeep Badrinath
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
sandeepb@mit.edu
Sandeep Badrinath is a PhD candidate in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, advised by Prof. Hamsa Balakrishnan. Before joining MIT, he received a dual degree (B.Tech. + M.Tech.) in Aerospace Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. His research broadly focuses on system modeling, design of control and optimization algorithms, with applications to air traffic management.
Carson Bullock
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
cbullock@mit.edu
Carson Bullock is currently pursing a Master of Science (SM '21) in MIT's Technology and Policy Program, where they primarily study space sustainability and international space policy. They completed their undergraduate education in 2019 at The College of Wooster, in Wooster, OH, with a degree in Physics and Political Science, after finishing their thesis on normative contestation surrounding orbital debris mitigation. With ICAT, Carson is using geospatial analysis to study economic impacts of aviation noise as a part of ASCENT 003, which includes the first empirical assessment of benefits and disbenefits to businesses under flight paths.
Ayaka Miyamoto
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
ayakam@mit.edu
Ayaka is a Ph.D. student advised by Prof. John Hansman. Her current research applies machine learning techniques on flight trajectory data to improve system safety. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, skiing, knitting, and video games.
Christopher Chin
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
chychin@mit.edu
Christopher Chin is a second-year graduate student with Prof. Hamsa Balakrishnan. Before coming to MIT, he studied transportation systems engineering at UC Berkeley and worked for one year at NASA Ames Research Center. His research interests include the efficiency and fairness of unmanned aircraft system traffic management (UTM) protocols and robust crew scheduling. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, kayaking, playing soccer, rooting for the Seahawks, and traveling.
Hongseok Cho
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
hscho85@mit.edu
Hongseok Cho is from South Korea. He received his BS in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Tech and came to MIT for graduate school. He received his Master's degree at MIT, focusing on topics in Human Factors. His thesis work involved a systems approach to develop a framework to define safe operating conditions for driving automation systems and to understand how human operators make automation use decisions and its implications on the overall system safety.
Chris Courtin
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
courtin@mit.edu
Chris Courtin is a PhD candidate at MIT, where his research focuses on how distributed electric propulsion enables the development of super-short takeoff and landing aircraft. His specific focus is on blown lift aerodynamics, flight control, and vehicle configuration. Before coming to MIT, he was a research engineer at Aurora Flight Sciences and is a 2010 graduate of Princeton University.
Annick Dewald
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
adewald@mit.edu
Annick Dewald grew up in Claremont, California and first came to New England to attend Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. After graduating, she spent a year working for Boeing Research and Technology in St. Louis on the Flight Vehicle Demonstrator Team. Annick came to MIT to start her graduate studies in 2019 and since has been involved in the FAA community noise project and the FAA environmental impact on runway sizing project. Currently Annick's main focus is the Dawn aircraft, a MIT/Harvard collaboration to design and build a HALE platform for in situ climate research. In her free time, she enjoys spending time outdoors hiking or biking and trying to impress her friends with her mediocre cooking skills.
Karthik Gopalakrishnan
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
karthikg@mit.edu
Karthik Gopalakrishnan is a PhD student in AeroAstro working with Prof. Hamsa Balakrishnan. His work involves using optimization methods, control theory, and machine learning to build a robust and efficient air transportation infrastructure. More recently, he is interested in traffic management for unmanned aircraft systems.
Ahmet Esat Hizir
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
aehizir@mit.edu
Esat is a PhD Candidate working with Prof. Cynthia Barnhart. Prior to joining MIT, he had been working in the crew scheduling department of Turkish Airlines for 10 years. In his research, he is trying to develop practical methods that combine machine learning tools and optimization methods to find quick and high quality solutions for airline recovery problems. He has BS and MS degrees in Industrial Engineering and an MS degree in Air Transport Management.
Madeline Jansson
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
janssonm@mit.edu
Madeleine Jansson is a second year Master’s student in ICAT. Her research interests include vehicle configuration, mechanism design, and aircraft noise modeling. Outside of academics, she enjoys playing piano and making elaborate PowerPoint diagrams.
Clement Li
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
clementl@mit.edu
Clement Li is a Ph.D. candidate under the supervision of Prof. John Hansman. His research focuses on automated situation assessment for air transportation, particularly the prediction of aircraft trajectories in uncontrolled settings. Other work includes analysis of noise impacts from terminal area procedures and decision support for cruise optimization.
Max Zhaoyu Li
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
maxli@mit.edu
Max Li is a PhD candidate advised by Professor Hamsa Balakrishnan. He did his undergraduate studies in electrical engineering and mathematics, as well as a master's degree in systems engineering, both at the University of Pennsylvania. Max’s current research interests include the analysis and control of networks and graph signal processing with applications to air transportation networks and other societal-scale systems, as well as geometric and topological data analysis. For more details, please visit his website.
Trevor Long
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
longt@mit.edu
Trevor is a PhD candidate whose current research focuses on low-speed aerodynamics, aircraft dynamics and control, and hydrodynamics; and encompasses work in both experimental work in wind tunnels and computational tools. In addition to his studies he also works as the operator in the Wright Brothers Wind Tunnel where he maintains the tunnel systems and assists groups both inside and outside MIT in conducting their experiments. His interest in aircraft and aerodynamics developed primarily out of his hobby of racing sailboats in high school and college. If not found in lab, he can often be found conducting “hands on experimental research” in a boat somewhere in the Greater Boston Area.
Yanbin Long
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
longy@mit.edu
Yanbin Long a first-year master student at ICAT. His research interest is primarily on airline revenue management. He is passionate about flying and visiting new places and aims to contribute to the aviation industry through his research.
Tim (Yuxuan) Lu
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
lutim@mit.edu
Tim (Yuxuan) Lu is a Ph.D. candidate advised by Dr. Peter Belobaba with a primary research focus on airline revenue management. He has been contributing to various research projects under the Passenger Origin Destination SImularor (PODS) consortium. In 2019, he completed his Master's thesis, Impacts of Ancillary Services on Airline Revenue Management, introduced the recent trends of airline ancillary services and studies their impacts on airline revenue management. Currently, his research focus is on airline passenger willingness-to-pay estimations. His secondary research focus is on airline operations research, where he is conducting research, assisting teaching an MIT course, and tabulates MIT's Airline Data Project.
Ara Mahseredjian
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
aramahs@mit.edu
Ara Mahseredjian is an S.M. candidate at MIT’s International Center for Air Transportation, where he studies the noise impact of delayed-deceleration approaches under Professor John Hansman. He graduated from the University of Southern California in May 2020 with a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering and a minor in Economics. At USC, Ara was an active member of the AeroDesign Team, serving as Performance Lead from 2018-2019 and Program Manager from 2019-2020. He interned twice at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, working on 777X Flight Deck Displays and Crew Alerting in 2018 and Competitive Analysis and Product Evaluation in 2019. Ara was the recipient of the AIAA Daedalus 88 Scholarship in 2019. He is an instrument-rated pilot.
Kelly Mathesius
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
kjmath@mit.edu
Kelly is a fourth year PhD student doing research in solid rocket propulsion and additive manufacturing. She is currently developing and characterizing the propulsion system for the kilogram-scale, transonic "Firefly" flight vehicle. In her free time she enjoys baking, hiking, and relaxing with friends.
Rachel Price
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
rprice@mit.edu
Rachel first came to MIT in 2014 as an undergraduate. She graduated with an S.B. in Aerospace Engineering in 2018 and an S.M. in Aeronautics and Astronautics in 2020. Her research interests include autonomy and human factors in aerospace systems. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, cooking, and watching baseball.
Peter Sharpe
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
pds@mit.edu
Peter Sharpe is a fifth-year graduate student researching applications of scientific machine learning (SciML) methods to the design optimization of aircraft and other complex engineered systems. Peter develops AeroSandbox, an open-source Python package that enables engineers to use advanced optimization techniques for rapid design space exploration, feasibility analysis, and conceptual sizing. Through this research, Peter has contributed to the development and flight of several aircraft at MIT AeroAstro. Prior to joining ICAT, Peter received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis. When he’s not in the lab, Peter enjoys sailing on the Charles River, making music, and flying RC airplanes.
Bazyli Szymanski
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
bazyli@mit.edu
Bazyli comes from Warsaw, Poland. His Ph.D. research in ICAT focuses on dynamic pricing and optimization in the context of airline revenue management. He is advised by Dr. Peter Belobaba, and sponsored by the PODS consortium. Prior to joining MIT in 2019, Bazyli completed his BS+MS in mathematics at the University of his hometown, specializing in topology, and spent two years working for Star Alliance and LOT Polish Airlines. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time in different means and modes of transportation: while doing so, Bazyli visited more than 77 countries.
Marek Trávník
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
travnik@mit.edu
Marek was born in Moravia, Czech Republic. He received his BSc in Aerospace Engineering from TU Delft in the Netherlands, with a minor in Artificial Intelligence and Data Mining from NTU Singapore. In his PhD work, he studies aircraft trajectories with the goal of uncovering operational fuel inefficiency patterns. Previously, his master's thesis focused on predicting braking conditions on runways using weather and runway surface information. He is a calisthenics and hand-balancing enthusiast and an avid soccer fan.
Guilherme Venturelli Cavalheiro
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
guivenca@mit.edu
Guilherme is pursuing a PhD under the guidance of Professor John Hansman. He is hoping to combine his experiences in robotics and aeronautics to help pave the way for advanced air mobility. Some topics of interest include machine learning, unconventional aircraft design, autonomous navigation and urban air mobility.
Kevin Wang
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
kevini@mit.edu
Prior to coming to MIT from Germany, Kevin studied Physics at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and received his MEng and BA in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Cambridge in 2018. At MIT, he represent graduate students on the Committee for Student Life and the Task Force 2021 and Beyond. Kevin also serve as TA for 16.781 Planning & Design of Airport Systems and as officer for the MIT Curling Club
Kevin Zimmer
MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
bowserjr@mit.edu
Kevin Zimmer is a student conducting research in the International Center for Air Transportation (ICAT) under the supervision of Professor John Hansman. Throughout his life, Kevin has been fascinated with airports and the many interrelated systems which all come together to make each airport function. When he was just 15 years old, Kevin began working at DFW Airport, and later, he learned how to fly and earned a pilot license. Kevin is very happy to be a part of this group and is thrilled to be doing research in the area of air transportation systems.