Oleg Goushcha, PhD
- ogoushcha@technoirva.com
- Dec 1, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Feb 3
SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTISE
Unsteady Aerodynamics
Wind-Tunnel Testing
Experimental Methods in Fluid Mechanics
Fluid-Structure Interaction
Micro Wind Energy Harvesting
Vortical and Turbulent Flows
LANGUAGE FLUENCY
English, Ukrainian
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS, LICENSES, AND SKILLS
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)
American Physical Society (APS)
CURRICULUM VITAE
Aerospace research engineer with over 20 years of experience in applied fluid mechanics research, mainly focused on wind-tunnel testing, and over 12 years of teaching undergraduate and graduate university level engineering courses.
Currently working at NASA Langley Research Center to predict unsteady aerodynamic environments through wind-tunnel testing and analysis flight data. Prior to joining NASA, was a tenure-track assistant professor at Manhattan University teaching engineering courses and conducting research. Presently teaching a course as an adjunct.
Has 10 reviewed journal articles, delivered over 30 conference presentations, and over 170 total citations. As a subject matter expert, gave television interviews and public talks about NASA’s Artemis program.
Received a PhD from The City College of New York, and MS and BS degrees from The University of California, Irvine.
EDUCATION
The City College of New York (New York City, NY) - Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering
University of California, Irvine (Irvine, CA) - Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering
University of California, Irvine (Irvine, CA) - Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering
COMPUTER LANGUAGE & PROGRAMS
MATLAB
Python
VBA
FORTRAN
AWARDS
NASA Honor Award – Mars Ascent Vehicle Wind-tunnel Test, May 2024
NASA Group Achievement Award – Artemis I Aerodynamics Environments Launch Team, March 2024
NASA NESC Group Achievement Award – Aerodynamic Buffet Flight Test Assessment Team, May 2022
The City College of New York Arthur Goldstein Teaching Award, May 2014
BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Oleg Goushcha was first introduced to wind-tunnel-based experimental fluid mechanics research during his undergraduate career at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). After receiving Bachelor of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering he continued his research at UCI wind-tunnel laboratory as a master’s student studying fundamental turbulence and passive scalar mixing. He published a master’s thesis investigating the effects of initial integral scale on the mixing of passive scalar in grid-generated turbulence.
Following his undergraduate and graduate studies, Dr. Goushcha worked in the industry as a design engineer. His primary roles included designing, overseeing manufacturing, and assembling high pressure fluidic mixer used in an orthodontic medical device. He was part of a team that developed a device used in clinical trials and regulatory approval process.
Dr. Goushcha returned to research and wind-tunnel testing as a doctorate candidate at The City College of New York in New York City. His research focused on micro-energy harvesting from a turbulent and vortical flows. After receiving his Doctorate degree, he formed a startup company to investigate the commercialization potential of the energy-harvesting technology that was developed based on his research.
After doctorate studies and an entrepreneurial venture, Dr. Goushcha was teaching as a tenure-track Assistant Professor at Manhattan University (MU) in Bronx, NY. Over five years at MU, he taught 17 different courses mainly focused on fluid dynamics and aerospace topics with enrollment ranging from three to about 80 students in each course. He performed externally funded research on topics, which included development of a rim-driven thruster, reconstruction of pressure field from particle image velocimetry data, wind patterns in urban environments, and pulsatile flows.
Currently, Dr. Goushcha is an aerospace research engineer at NASA Langley Research Center. He is developing methods to predict unsteady aerodynamic environments of launch vehicles based on pressure measurements obtained from wind-tunnel tests and flight data. He supported over five large scale wind-tunnel tests of the ascent vehicle models such as multiple configurations of Artemis Space Launch System (SLS) and Mars Ascent Vehicle. Dr. Goushcha is also responsible for monitoring the health of Artemis SLS Developmental Flight Instrumentation (DFI) aerodynamic data and delivering data to stakeholders. As part of this effort, he was responsible for DFI aerodynamic data collection and processing during Artemis I pre-launch activities including green run and hot fire tests, wet dress rehearsal, tanking test, two launch attempts and an inaugural launch.
