Alexander J Smits Appointed Editor in Chief of AIAA Journal Written 12 January 2015

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CONTACT: DUANE HYLAND
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duaneh@aiaa.org (AIAA Communications, 2008-2017)

Alexander J. Smits Appointed Editor-in-Chief of AIAA Journal

January 12, 2015 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has selected Alexander J. Smits, an AIAA Fellow and the Eugene Higgins Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, and a Monash Professorial Fellow at Monash University, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, as its new editor-in-chief for the AIAA Journal. He succeeds Peretz Friedmann of the University of Michigan.

“I am honored and proud to welcome Prof. Lex Smits as the new editor-in-chief of the AIAA Journal,” said Vigor Yang, AIAA vice president of publications. “Lex is eminently qualified for this position with his wisdom and experience in aerospace and an excellent publications record of his own. I couldn't think of a better person to keep the AIAA Journal on an upward momentum. He is a man of integrity in all he does and I very much look forward to working with him.”

Smits, who chaired Princeton’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from 2007 to 2014, has a diverse area of research interests, including fundamental research in turbulence and fluid mechanics; the behavior of low and high Reynolds number turbulent boundary layers at subsonic, supersonic and hypersonic speeds; shockwave/turbulent boundary layer interactions; effects of roughness; flow control; Taylor-Couette flows; biomimetic flows; sports ball aerodynamics, wind turbine aerodynamics, and the development of new and improved measurement techniques.

Smits brings extensive publishing experience to his new role having served as an editorial board member of the Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part P; an associate editor of the Journal of Turbulence; and as a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science. He is also one of the chief editors of fluids.com, a web portal for researchers in the field of fluid dynamics. He also served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science, and as an associate editor of the Journal of Fluid Mechanics.

Smits’ past honors include the 2014 AIAA Fluid Dynamics Award, the 2007 AIAA Pendray Aerospace Literature Award and the 2004 AIAA Fluid Dynamics Award. Smits is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, as well as a fellow of the Australasian Fluid Mechanics Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the American Physical Society.

Smits has been a member of AIAA’s Institute Development Committee and the Fluid Dynamics Technical Committee.

The AIAA Journal is devoted to the advancement of the science and technology of astronautics and aeronautics through the dissemination of original archival research papers disclosing new theoretical developments and/or experimental results. The topics include aeroacoustics, aerodynamics, combustion, fundamentals of propulsion, fluid mechanics and reacting flows, fundamental aspects of the aerospace environment, hydrodynamics, lasers and associated phenomena, plasmas, research instrumentation and facilities, structural mechanics and materials, optimization, and thermomechanics and thermochemistry.

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