Laura Lynn Pauley is an American mechanical engineer specializing in

computational fluid dynamics Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical analysis and data structures to analyze and solve problems that involve fluid flows. Computers are used to perform the calculations required to simulate th ...

, including the simulation of

cavitation Cavitation is a phenomenon in which the static pressure of a liquid reduces to below the liquid's vapour pressure, leading to the formation of small vapor-filled cavities in the liquid. When subjected to higher pressure, these cavities, cal ...

flow separation In fluid dynamics, flow separation or boundary layer separation is the detachment of a boundary layer from a surface into a wake. A boundary layer exists whenever there is relative movement between a fluid and a solid surface with viscous fo ...

, and

large eddy simulation Large eddy simulation (LES) is a mathematical model for turbulence used in computational fluid dynamics. It was initially proposed in 1963 by Joseph Smagorinsky to simulate atmospheric air currents, and first explored by Deardorff (1970). LES is c ...

, with applications including the design of

airfoil An airfoil (American English) or aerofoil (British English) is the cross-sectional shape of an object whose motion through a gas is capable of generating significant lift, such as a wing, a sail, or the blades of propeller, rotor, or turbine. ...

s, boat propellors, and

centrifugal pump Centrifugal pumps are used to transport fluids by the conversion of rotational kinetic energy to the hydrodynamic energy of the fluid flow. The rotational energy typically comes from an engine or electric motor. They are a sub-class of dynamic ...

s. She is a professor of mechanical engineering in the

Penn State College of Engineering The Penn State College of Engineering is the engineering school of the Pennsylvania State University, headquartered at the University Park campus in University Park, Pennsylvania. It was established in 1896, under the leadership of George W. ...

, the former Arthur L. Glenn Professor of Engineering Education at Penn State, and the interim executive director of the Penn State faculty senate.

Education and career

Pauley is a 1984 graduate of the

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

, majoring in mechanical engineering. She went to

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

for graduate study with

Parviz Moin Parviz Moin ( fa, پرویز معین ''Parviz Mo'in'' born October 23, 1952, Valandan, Shahreza, Iran) is a fluid mechanics, fluid dynamicist. He is the Franklin P. and Caroline M. Johnson Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford Universit ...

; she earned a master's degree there in 1985 and completed her Ph.D. in 1988. At Penn State, she was Arthur L. Glenn Professor of Engineering Education from 2005 to 2010, and was appointed interim executive director of the faculty senate beginning in 2022.

Book

With Stephen R. Turns, Pauley is the coauthor of the textbook ''Thermodynamics: Concepts and Applications'' (Cambridge University Press, 2020).

Recognition

Pauley was named an

ASME Fellow The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is an American professional association that, in its own words, "promotes the art, science, and practice of multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences around the globe" via "continuing ...

in 2012.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pauley, Laura Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American mechanical engineers American women engineers Computational fluid dynamicists University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni Stanford University alumni Pennsylvania State University faculty Fellows of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers