Marilyn J Smith
Marilyn Smith is the David S. Lewis Professor in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is director of Georgia Tech's Vertical Lift Research Center of Excellence (VLRCOE), where she leads a seven-university team of experts in vertical lift research for the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy and NASA. She has partnered with the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) to successfully win multiple research funding mechanisms for both organizations that total more than $200 million dollars. As the director of the AE School's Computational Nonlinear Computational Aeroelasticity Lab, Prof. Smith leads an internationally recognized and award-winning research team in the areas of unsteady aerodynamics and computational aeroelasticity using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) across rotary-wing, fixed wing and launch vehicles, as well as sustainable energy. As a member of the NASA FUN3D development team, Prof. Smith contributes to state-of-the-art unstructured algorithm development, in particular for overset, moving frames. As an affiliate of the Aerospace Systems Design Lab (ASDL), she helps to integrate high performance computing with the design process. Prof. Smith is the author or co-author of more than 200 technical publications, and her research products are in active use by the US Government and other organizations, including the Drone Racing League. She is active internationally on three NATO AVT Panels investigating nonlinear gusts behaviors on UAVs and collaboration of experimental/computational aerodynamics. She is on Board of Directors of the Vertical Lift Consortium (VLC) and the Vertical Flight Society (VFS). She is also the Deputy Technical Director for Aeromechanics for the VFS. Prof. Smith has demonstrated her leadership as ARO Dynamic Stall Workshop Chair (2019); 70th AHS Annual Forum Technical Chairperson (2014); 69th AHS Annual Forum Technical Deputy Chairperson (2013); and 2014 Overset Grid Symposium (OGS) Chairperson. She was a member on the first International Aeroelastic Prediction Workshop Organizing Committee and is a member of the OGS organizing committee. Prof. Smith has been a guest expert in aviation for National Geographic, PBS, and NPR, as well as local television and numerous publications.
Professor Smith’s teaching interests include foundational and advanced courses in aerospace engineering, with an emphasis on rotorcraft, unsteady aerodynamics, and aeroelasticity. She is dedicated to fostering student engagement through theoretical and practical approaches, supporting both undergraduate and graduate education. Her teaching aims to develop a strong understanding of engineering principles and their applications in aerospace systems.
Professor Smith’s research focuses on computational aeromechanics related to aerodynamics and aeroelasticity, in particular for complex systems such as rotorcraft. Her work addresses turbulent flows, flow control, and unsteady aerodynamics. She investigates fundamental fluid mechanics phenomena to advance computational capabilities across the spectrum of reduced-order models to wall-modeled large eddy simulations.
Lab/Collaborations:
- Nonlinear Computational Aeroelasticity Laboratory
- Vertical Lift Research Center of Excellence (VLRCOE)
- Aerospace Systems Design Laboratory (ASDL)
Disciplines:
- Aerodynamics & Fluid Mechanics
- Aeroelasticity & Structural Dynamics
AE Multidisciplinary Research Areas:
- Large-Scale Computations, Data, and Analytics
- Sustainable Transportation and Energy Systems
- Vertical Lift and Urban Air Mobility
- B.S., Aerospace Engineering, 1982, Georgia Institute of Technology
- M. S., Aerospace Engineering, 1985, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Ph.D., Aerospace Engineering, 1994, Georgia Institute of Technology
Prof. Smith is an AIAA Fellow and a Technical Fellow of the American Helicopter Society, and a member of the Royal Aeronautical Society. She has won numerous honors for her research, mentoring and service, including the 2022 AIAA Aerodynamics Award; two Best Paper Awards at the 2015 AHS Forum; 2014 and 2012 AHS Agusta-Westland International Fellowship Awards; 2007 NASA Group Achievement Award; 2009 AHS Membership Award; 2006 GIT Women in Engineering Faculty Mentoring Excellence Award; 2004 GIT Women in Engineering Outstanding Faculty Member Award; 1999 GIT Women's Leadership Conference Outstanding Faculty Member Award; and 70th AHS Annual Forum Technical Chairperson.
- P Sridhar, A Crawford, MJ Smith, Sensitivity of rotor aeroelastic predictions with two-equation turbulence models: P. Sridhar et al., CEAS Aeronautical Journal 16 (4), 1063-1087, 2025
- Kurban, E., Oates, B., Smith, M. J., and Rauleder, J., “Correlation of High- and Mid-Fidelity Ship Airwake Analysis to Experiment,” Journal of Aircraft, Vol. 62, No. 4, pp. 857–875, 2025, doi: 10.2514/1.C038087
- Grubb, A. and Smith, M. J., “Planform Mesh Requirements for Fixed and Rotating Wing with Separation,” Journal of Aircraft, Vol. 62, No. 1, pp. 132–145, 2025, doi: 10.2514/1.C037859
- Bonnet, C. and Smith, M. J., “Flowfield Analysis of Vortex Interactions during Large Sharp-Edged Gusts,” AIAA Journal, Vol. 62, No. 8, pp. 2885–2899, 2024, doi: 10.2514/1.J063901
- Bonnet, C., Kolpitcke, A.G., and Smith, M., “Computational Validation and Assessment of Large Amplitude Transverse Gust Physics,” Journal of American Helicopter Society, Vol. 69, p. 020011, January, 2024,
doi: 10.4050/JAHS.69.020011