Michael Brown Chief, Hypersonic Sciences Branch Air Force Research Laboratory

Dr. Michael S. Brown is the Principal Scientist for the High Speed Systems Division within the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Wright-Patterson AFB. He has 24 years of experience in propulsion, the last 14 of which have been in the hypersonic flight regime. In his present role he is responsible for the High Speed Systems Division’s foundational research portfolio in hypersonic aerodynamics, propulsion, and structures. He leads the AFRL Hypersonic Overall Integrated Product Team and works collaboratively with NASA, the JHTO, and OUSD-R&E. Previously he served as the Branch Chief for the Hypersonic Sciences Branch leading foundational research in modeling and experimentation across five ground test facilities. His early career was spent applying optical diagnostics to both low and high-speed reacting flows to identify relevant physical dynamics and obtain data for engineering needs. He successfully collected optical data in the scramjet engine on HIFiRE Research Flight 2 at Mach 8. He has authored over 120 papers and presentations. He received his PhD in physics at the University of Texas at Austin.