Dora Elia Musielak is an

aerospace engineer Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...

, historian of mathematics, and book author. She is an expert on high-speed

airbreathing jet engine An airbreathing jet engine (or ''ducted jet engine'') is a jet engine that ejects a propelling (reaction) jet of hot exhaust gases after first taking in atmospheric air, followed by compression, heating and expansion back to atmospheric pressure ...

s, and an adjunct professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the

University of Texas at Arlington The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA or UT Arlington) is a public research university in Arlington, Texas. The university was founded in 1895 and was in the Texas A&M University System for several decades until joining the University of Te ...

Education and career

Musielak earned a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering from the Instituto Politécnico Nacional in Mexico in 1978, the first woman to earn a degree in this field there. She continued with a master's degree at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

in 1980, and a Ph.D. at the

University of Alabama in Huntsville The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) is a public research university in Huntsville, Alabama. The university is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and comprises nine colleges: arts, humanities & social science ...

in 1994. Her employers have included

Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense technology company. With 90,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $30 billion, it is one of the world's largest weapons manufacturers and military techn ...

, MSE Technology Applications, and ATK Allied Techsystems. She chaired the High Speed Air Breathing Propulsion Technical Committee of the

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA is the U.S. representative on the International Astronautical Federation and the International Council of ...

from 2014 to 2016.

Books

Musielak's 2004 self-published

historical novel Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...

''Sophie's Diary: A Mathematical Novel'', based on the life of mathematician Sophie Germain, was republished in a second edition in 2012 by the

Mathematical Association of America The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) is a professional society that focuses on mathematics accessible at the undergraduate level. Members include university, college, and high school teachers; graduate and undergraduate students; pure a ...

. Musielak also wrote a biography of Germain, ''Prime Mystery: The Life and Mathematics of Sophie Germain'' (2015), also republished in an expanded second edition as ''Sophie Germain: Revolutionary Mathematician'' by Springer in 2020. Her other books include ''Kuxan Suum: Path to the Center of the Universe'' (2010) and ''Euler Celestial Analysis: Introduction to Spacecraft Orbit Mechanics'' (2018). These remain self-published, through

AuthorHouse AuthorHouse, formerly known as 1stBooks, is a self-publishing company based in the United States. AuthorHouse uses print-on-demand business model and technology. History Originally called 1stBooks, the company was founded in Bloomington, Indian ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Musielak, Dora 21st-century American engineers 21st-century American women engineers Mexican women engineers Women aerospace engineers American aerospace engineers American historians of mathematics University of Texas at Arlington faculty University of Tennessee alumni University of Alabama in Huntsville alumni Instituto Politécnico Nacional alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Living people