August 18, 2025
Two new faculty members, Jesse Chan (left) and Luke Peterson (right), are joining the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics (ASE/EM) this fall.
Jesse Chan joins ASE/EM and the Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences as an associate professor. He earned his Ph.D. in computational science, engineering and mathematics (CSEM) from UT Austin, served as a Pfieffer postdoctoral instructor at Rice University from 2013-2015 and served as a faculty member in the Department of Computational Applied Mathematics and Operations Research at Rice University. His recent research has focused on the accurate and efficient numerical solution of time-dependent hyperbolic partial differential equations, in particular the construction, analysis, and efficient implementation of structure-preserving discretizations for fluid dynamics, such as high order discontinuous Galerkin methods and reduced order models.
Luke Peterson joins ASE/EM as an assistant professor this fall. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado Boulder in aerospace engineering sciences during which time he awarded a Department of Defense National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship. Peterson's research ranges from applied astrodynamics to celestial mechanics and computer-assisted proofs in dynamics. He is interested in taking challenging dynamical systems problems arising from astrodynamics applications and realistic solar system models, as well as implementing theoretical and computational techniques from applied math into space mission design practice.
Jesse Chan
Tell us about your research and why it's meaningful.
I work in simulations of high-speed fluid flows over complex geometries. These simulations are key steps in the evaluation and optimization of aerodynamic designs, such as aircraft and wind turbines. Similar computational models are used within computational weather and flood prediction models, as well as in the modeling and design of plasma and fusion.
What ties all of these applications together is that their state-of-the-art computational models face issues of robustness and reliability — they can produce nonphysical results or crash unexpectedly. Several of these issues stem from the fact that computational simulations can become inconsistent with the second law of thermodynamics; my work identifies ways this can occur in order to design more robust “entropy stable” models which address these inconsistencies.
Why did you decide to join ASE/EM?
I am very excited to join ASE/EM. The department is collegial and collaborative and the expertise in computational engineering is top-notch. In fact, several faculty from ASE/EM developed tools and theory that ended up forming the foundation of some of my recent work and I am excited to carry this torch further. Finally, Austin is near and dear to my heart — I love the city and culture and my wife and I actually first met here!
What do you enjoy most about your research?
What originally got me into research was the feeling of discovery when you make a breakthrough and different pieces of the research puzzle start to come together. I still love this feeling; however, the more time I’ve spent as a researcher, the more I appreciate the human side of research as well — the communities, collaborations, relationships and mentorships that form naturally among computational scientists, engineers, and mathematicians working on solving similar problems.
How do you spend your free time?
I am fairly low-key nowadays — my wife and I enjoy traveling, hiking, going on walks with our dog Sunny and cooking together. I also enjoy playing guitar and banjo with friends when I have time.
Luke Peterson
Tell us about your research and why it's meaningful.
My research interests lie in astrodynamics, celestial mechanics and dynamical systems. I study the motion of a satellite in so-called cislunar space, i.e., the region between the Earth and Moon. Many questions arise from this simply stated setting, both from a practical mission design perspective, as well as a chaotic dynamical systems standpoint.
One of my current major research projects is the development of local orbital elements in cislunar space. The motion of a satellite requires six pieces of information — three position and three velocity components. Near the Earth or Moon, we study the satellite’s motion with a two-body problem — a solvable system. In this system, we can replace the position/velocity information with orbital elements that provide insight into the orbit’s shape. In cislunar space — a chaotic system — I developed local versions of orbital elements around the Lagrange points. I will continue applying this work to support future missions to the Lunar Gateway, the next-generation space station, to enhance mission lifetimes, ultimately leading to more scientific discoveries to understand our place in the solar system and support life on Earth.
Why did you decide to join ASE/EM?
UT Austin is home to one of the premiere programs in astrodynamics in the world. I will be joining a complementary core of faculty in orbital mechanics, continuing the tradition of celestial mechanics research within this department, especially the work of the late Victor Szebehely. It was a no-brainer!
What do you enjoy most about your research?
My favorite part about my research is living in both the mathematics and engineering communities. On the one hand, I find gratification in identifying interesting celestial mechanics and dynamical systems questions based on engineering settings; on the other hand, applying the tools developed by applied mathematicians to solve present-day problems in astrodynamics pushes forward the capabilities of space mission designers. Ultimately, I just enjoy working on projects with friends and students from around the world.
How do you spend your free time?
I love to perform, compose and improvise music. I enjoy hosting friends for dinner (oftentimes homemade pizza). I like going to the movies as much as staying home to read. Though I regret not playing them as a kid, I play basketball and soccer as often as I can.
