Professor
The William Palm Professor of Engineering
Education
Ph.D. Stanford University, 1975
M.S. University of Minnesota, 1969
B.S. Indian Institute of Technology, 1968
Biography
Prior to joining the faculty at Washington University in 2001, Professor Agarwal was the Chair of the Aerospace Engineering Department at Wichita State University from 1994 to 1996. From 1994 to 2001, he was the Bloomfield Distinguished Professor at Wichita State University.
From 1978 to 1994, Professor Agarwal worked in various scientific and managerial positions at McDonnell Douglas Research Laboratories in St. Louis. He became the Program Director and McDonnell Douglas Fellow in 1990. From 1976 to 1978, Professor Agarwal worked as a NRC Research Associate at NASA Ames Research Center and as a Principal Research Engineer at Rao and Associates in Palo Alto, California from 1975 to 1976.
Over a period of 30 years, Professor Agarwal has worked in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Computational Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) and Electromagnetics, Computational Aeroacoustics, Multidisciplinary Design and Optimization, Rarefied Gas Dynamics and Hypersonic Flows, Bio-Fluid Dynamics, and Flow and Flight Control. More recently, he has devoted some of his efforts in Nanotechnology and renewable energy systems – in particular wind, solar and biomass. He is the author and coauthor of over 300 publications and serves on the editorial board of eight journals. He has given many plenary, keynote and invited lectures at various national and international conferences worldwide. Professor Agarwal continues to serve on many professional, government, and industrial advisory committees.
Professor Agarwal is a Fellow of nine societies: American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS), American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), American Physical Society (APS), American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS), and World Innovation Foundation (WIF). He has received many honors and awards for his research contributions including the ASME 2001 Fluids Engineering Award and ASME 2006 Charles Russ Richards Memorial Award, AIAA 2002 Sustained Achievement Award, and Royal Aeronautical Society's 2007 Gold Award.
Professor Agarwal is the director of the Aerospace Research and Education Center (AeREC) and Aerospace Engineering Program at Washington University.
Research
Professor Agarwal's current research interests are in flow control, rarefied gas dynamics and hypersonic flows, bio-fluid dynamics, and energy from wind, solar, and biomass.