MAE Distinguished Speaker Series: Flying at the Edge of Space and Beyond - The Challenges and Opportunities of Hypersonic Flight

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Bio: Kevin G. Bowcutt is a principal senior technical fellow and chief scientist of hypersonics for Boeing with 40 years of experience. He is a fellow of the AIAA and Royal Aeronautical Society, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. In 2021 he was selected by Texas A&M to be a fellow of the Hagler Institute of Advanced Studies. He holds bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in aerospace engineering from the University of Maryland. Bowcutt is an internationally recognized expert in hypersonic aerodynamics, propulsion integration and vehicle design and optimization. Notable accomplishments include developing the viscous-optimized hypersonic waverider, flight testing scramjets by launching them from a light gas gun (technically supporting the NASA X-43A scramjet flight test program), originating and optimizing the design of the X-51A scramjet-powered demo vehicle, helping the Space Shuttle Columbia accident investigation by simulating wing aero-thermal-structural failure, leading Boeing’s contributions to the HIFiRE international hypersonic flight experiment program, and leading Boeing’s reusable hypersonic airplane design investigation. In the spring semester of 2007, Bowcutt was a visiting professor at Princeton University’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering where he taught a course in hypersonic airplane design. He taught the same course at Texas A&M University in the spring of 2022. Bowcutt leads Boeing’s advanced design and technology development efforts for hypersonic missiles, airplanes and space planes.