People

Augustin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) and a member of the Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP). His research focuses on improving urban fire safety through the development of integrated experiments and simulations. His expertise spans fundamentals of combustion in low gravity, fire-structure interaction for heritage conservation, large-scale fire modeling for urban planning,  urban air quality monitoring, and land management strategies for wildfire resilience. 

Augustin  also serves as an Honorary Lecturer at University College London in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geomatic Engineering.

Yutao combines fundamental research and practical innovation to address fire safety challenges in hydrogen infrastructure and spacecraft, focusing on risk management in highly-constrained environments. 

"I find it exciting to explore how fire safety principles can address vastly different challenges, from hydrogen infrastructure to solid combustion in spacecraft, uniting these fields through a shared goal of managing risks in extreme conditions."

Charudatta develops low-carbon, fire-resilient geopolymer and ceramic-based composites for additive manufacturing and sustainable infrastructure, with a focus on material performance under extreme environments. 

"I am fascinated by how we can engineer sustainable materials that not only reduce environmental impact but also withstand fire, heat, and other extreme conditions, helping create safer and more resilient infrastructure on Earth and beyond."

Wulan develops fire-structure models to improve the resilience of heritage timber structures, integrating complex fluid and structural numerical analysis tools.

"I believe the most interesting part of my work is investigating the underlying mechanisms of both fire propagation and structural failure. It is amazing to see our fundamental understanding at the micro-scale extend to the analysis of structures as large as medieval cathedrals!"

Axelle develops physics-based models to predict flame spread and extinction in reduced-gravity environments, combining modeling and experiments to characterize how gravity, pressure and oxygen concentration govern the underlying fire dynamics. 

"Space exploration has always fascinated me, and I hope to make future long-duration human missions safer by understanding and predicting fire behavior in space-relevant environments to help prevent fires aboard spacecraft. My ultimate dream is to one day conduct combustion experiments directly on the surface of the Moon!"

Josh analyzes and monitors urban air quality, integrating networks of pollution sensors, data-driven analysis, and advanced numerical techniques to gain deeper insights into complex urban pollution patterns and devise effective mitigation strategies. 

"I consider air quality profoundly important—it is vital for life yet often overlooked, even though viruses and pollutants directly affect individual health and, on a broader scale, the global population. This is especially critical in urban environments, where intricate building canyons and dense vertical populations create unique challenges that demand comprehensive study."