Eric J. Jumper, the Roth-Gibson Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, has been selected to receive the 2016 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Plasmadynamics and Lasers Award. He is being honored for “major contributions in the fields of aero-optics, chemical lasers, and laser supported detonation, and for the mentoring of young engineers and scientists.” Bestowed annually for outstanding contributions to the understanding of the physical properties and dynamical behavior of matter in the plasma state and lasers as it relates to aeronautics and astronautics, the award will be presented at the AIAA Aviation and Aeronautics Forum and Exposition in Washington, D.C., in June 2016.
An international leader in the study of the distortion of laser light in turbulent air and the ways in which to mitigate that distortion, Jumper has made many important contributions over the years. In addition to his investigations of laser directed energy and free-space communication, much of which occurs in flight at speeds near the speed of sound in Notre Dame’s one-of-a-kind flying research laboratory, he has also worked on reentry heating of the Space Shuttle and foundational research in the development of chemical lasers.
Jumper, who joined the Notre Dame faculty in 1989, is a committed scholar and public servant. He was commissioned by the U.S. Air Force upon graduation from the University of New Mexico. Since that time, he has dedicated his life in assistance of his nation and his neighbors, serving as research engineer and scientist in the Air Force, a faculty member at both the Air Force Academy and Air Force Institute of Technology, and Chief of the Laser Devices Division of the Air Force Weapons Laboratory in New Mexico, and faculty researcher and mentor at the University.
A Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Directed Energy Professional Society, as well as a member of the American Society for Engineering Education, Jumper has received numerous research awards, including the General Bernard Schriever Award for Research, the Air Force University Commander’s Award for Faculty Achievement, and two Air Force Meritorious Service Medals. He has also been honored by the University with teaching awards for his excellence in the instruction and mentoring of students.
For more information about Jumper and his research, visit aero-optics.nd.edu
Originally published by at conductorshare.nd.edu on February 23, 2016.