People Category: Tuesday Aviation Sessions

Reynaldo Gomez started work at the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) in May of 1985 after completing a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Rice University. He has worked on a wide range of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) applications over the last 34 years, ranging from simulations of wind loads on the Shuttle prior to launch through hypersonic reentry flowfields. In addition to reviewing all integrated aerodynamics products for the Space Shuttle Program, he lead the development of wind tunnel tests, CFD simulations, and inflight Shuttle debris transport assessments through the end of the program. He currently works in the JSC Engineering Directorate and serves as the Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) Aerodynamics Technical Authority, is the co-lead for Space Launch System aerodynamics and is the space applications representative on NASA’s Aerosciences Testing Advisory Board.

Dr. Sharma received his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi in India and his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the Birmingham University in Birmingham UK.

He joined Pratt & Whitney, East Hartford Connecticut in 1977 in Turbine Technology Group. In 1992 he was transferred to the Fans and Compressor Group as Chief of Aerodynamics. In 1998 he joined United Technologies Research Center as the Director of Modeling Simulation Analysis and Computational (MASC) initiative to enhance product development efforts in various divisions of the United Technology Corporation. He went back to Pratt & Whitney in 2000 to set up Center of Excellence in Aerodynamics to support the development of advanced commercial and military engines. Since 2007, he has been at the United Technologies Research Center as the Senior Technical Fellow in Aerodynamics and Gas Turbines.

He has made significant contributions to enhance the design processes used in axial flow turbines by utilizing a combination of physical and numerical experiments. He pioneered the use 3-D airfoils, clocking of airfoil rows, clocking of combustor generated hot-streaks to turbine first vanes to enhance the performance, and durability as well as structural integrity of turbines. He led the introduction of CFD based multi-stage codes to improve the performance and operability in fans and compressors including active stall avoidance demonstration in an operational gas turbine engine. In addition to providing assistance in solving tough technical problems, his current focus is on providing leadership in developing new design concepts to improve gas turbine engines by utilizing advanced high fidelity numerical simulations and controlled experiments.

Honors & awards:
-2019 R. Tom Sawyer Award “for contributions at the forefront of turbomachinery technology development in advanced engines for military and commercial applications through career efforts that have championed and harnessed the best available physics based analysis methods to pioneer step changes in turbomachinery capability”,
– International Gas Turbine Institute Scholar Award (2011),
– International Gas Turbine Institute Aircraft Engine Technology Award (2007),
– Distinguished Alumni Award from Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India (1999), presented by the Board of Governors of Indian Institute of Technology New Delhi in recognition of outstanding technical achievements in developing high performance propulsion systems for aircrafts and rockets,
– United Technologies Corporation’s George Mead Medal (1995) presented to Dr. Sharma and a co-worker for outstanding technical achievement in developing and demonstrating compressor stability management and control system in gas turbine engines,
– Pratt & Whitney Special Award (1989) presented for outstanding contribution to the advancement of Science and Technology in developing low pressure turbine airfoil design criteria that allowed 1% improvement in Low Pressure Turbine efficiencies operating at altitude cruise conditions.

Micah Howard is a Principal Member of Technical Staff in the Aerosciences Department at Sandia National Laboratories, where he has focused on computational science and engineering for aerodynamics and aerothermodynamics. He completed his PhD in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder and joined Sandia in 2010. He is leading the SPARC project at Sandia, which is a part of the U.S. Exascale Computing Project and the DOE/NNSA Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) program. The SPARC project is focused on research, development and delivery of a credible, Exascale-capable hypersonic reentry aerothermodynamics modeling and simulation code that is designed to provide both performance on and portability across next-generation HPC platforms. Additionally, he has provided technical leadership and subject matter expertise for aerodynamic and thermal protection system design and analysis for multiple U.S. hypersonics projects. He serves on several national level engagements on the topics of hypersonic CFD and ablation modeling and is an active member of AIAA.

Steve is currently the Director of Flight Sciences for Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

Prior to leading Flight Sciences, Steve served on two Commercial Derivative Aircraft programs. Steve joined the KC-46 team as Deputy Chief Project Engineer, Validation & Verification in April of 2014, and assumed the role of KC-46 Chief Project Engineer in July. In this capacity, he led the recovery of the program through first flight, FAA certification, military certification, and delivery of the first KC-46 to the United States Air Force in January of 2019. After the first delivery, he served as Chief Project Engineer for the P-8 program through January, 2020.

In November of 2013, Steve was named the 787 Regional Fleet Director. In this role he serves as an extension of the 787 Fleet Chief to provide dedicated executive communication and focus for the customers in his region. He is responsible to lead fleet reliability improvement efforts and to support new customer introductions. He is responsible for supporting customers in for Africa, the Middle East, and India.

In July of 2012, Steve assumed the role of 767 Chief Project Engineer. In this position, he was responsible for design approval, certification strategy, product integrity, and safety for the 767 commercial models. In addition to these assignment, he worked closely with the KC-46 program to maintain alignment with the commercial models.

Steve’s previous assignment was Senior Manager for Configuration Aerodynamics. Named to this position in June of 2010, he had functional and process responsibility for aerodynamic lines development, lift and drag prediction, aerodynamic database development, and aerodynamics support for manufacturing and in-service operations.

Prior to this, Steve worked in Boeing Test & Evaluation (BT&E) in the Flight Test organization. He joined the flight test team in 2008 as Supervisor for the Performance Aerodynamics Analysis group, and was promoted to 787 Deputy Test Program Manager in June 2010.

Before moving to Flight Test, Steve served as the 787 Configuration Aerodynamics Supervisor joining the High Lift Configurations group in March of 2005 and later leading the combined High Lift and High Speed Configuration Aerodynamics groups through 787 derivative studies.

In 2002, Steve became High Lift Lead Engineer in the Enabling Research and Technology organization. Here he led teams in the development of automated Navier-Stokes computational fluid dynamics techniques for high lift and led investigations for the advancement of high-lift, cryogenic, flight-Reynolds-number test techniques.