Current Members of the Center of Excellence

Director of the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium (NMSGC) Director of NASA’s Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) Chair of International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Space (ISPCS) FAA Center of Excellence for Commercial Space Transportation- NMSU

Professor Alonso’s work is focused on research and development of new high-fidelity, multidisciplinary methods and techniques for the analysis and design of complex aerospace systems. He is interested in the development of these methods and their use in realistic test cases

Professor Alvi’s area of research is in experimental fluid dynamics where he studies fundamental fluid flow problems, many of which have direct practical applications. Some areas of interest include: turbulent shear flows, separating flows, high-speed jets and the associated problems of compressible mixing and jet noise and the development optical diagnostics for fluid flows.

Professor Fitz-Coy gives lectures relating to the areas of aircraft dynamics and control, spacecraft attitude dynamics and control, control theory, and orbit mechanics. His research interests are in the areas of space robotics and autonomous satellite capture, multi-objective optimization using differential game theory, and modeling and simulation of multi-body dynamical systems. Dr. Fitz-Coy twice received the Bisplinghoff Award in recognition for his teaching and service to undergraduate education.

Professor Durrance’s research interests include: human space exploration, planetary science, the origin and evolution of life, Earth science, remote sensing, and Earth resource management.

Professor Kapat’s research interests include: advanced turbines, energy and environment, miniature engineering systems, micro and nano-scale fluid mechanics and heat transfer, and flow and transport in different materials processing techniques.

Professor Klaus has established a new engineering curriculum with emphasis on human space flight termed Bioastronautics. He has developed or modified a number of courses to more formally integrate this multidisciplinary subject matter into the study of aerospace engineering. His research interests range from spacecraft and spacesuit design to gravitational biology.

Dr. Vanderploeg has been active in several projects to develop medical criteria for commercial space tourists and crew members. He currently is the Chief Medical Officer and chairs the medical advisory panel for Virgin Galactic.

Professor Westpfahl’s areas of research include development of instrumentation at the Magdalena Research Observatory (MRO) to track vertical launches at Spaceport America. Dr. Westpfahl is the Dean of Graduate studies & chief scientist for the MRO.

Professor Sutton is the founding director of the Center for Space Medicine and has research interests in smart medical systems and innovative technologies that mitigate biomedical risks to astronauts and enhance health on Earth. He is chairman of the board of the Translational Research Institute for Space Health.