Tucker Babcock, a doctoral student in aeronautical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has been awarded a NASA fellowship.

Babcock is a member of the lab run by Jason Hicken, an associate professor of mechanical, aerospace, and nuclear engineering at Rensselaer. Babcock’s research has the potential to reduce the environmental impact of the aerospace industry by enabling the development of electric and hybrid-electric aircraft. With the support of this fellowship, Babcock will design a novel tool that will allow engineers to better model and optimize electric engines.

More specifically, Babcock will develop an electro-thermal topology optimization framework for electric motors. This will allow engineers to accurately model the electro-thermal physics that are present in electric motors. The results of this research will be shared as an open-source software library, enabling broader study of electric-propulsion aircraft.

The Rensselaer team will work closely with a NASA technical adviser to conduct studies that will help support the design of high-lift engines on the X-57 aircraft.