Department of Engineering / News / Alumna Anya Jones Receives Presidential Early Career Award

Department of Engineering

Alumna Anya Jones Receives Presidential Early Career Award

Alumna Anya Jones Receives Presidential Early Career Award

Alumna Professor Anya Jones

President Barack Obama has named alumna Anya Jones a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honour bestowed by the U.S. government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers.

These early-career scientists are leading the way in our efforts to confront and understand challenges from climate change to our health and wellness,

President Obama

“These early-career scientists are leading the way in our efforts to confront and understand challenges from climate change to our health and wellness,” President Obama said in a White House press release. “We congratulate these accomplished individuals and encourage them to continue to serve as an example of the incredible promise and ingenuity of the American people.”

Anya, whose PECASE nomination was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense, has been a member of the Aerospace Engineering faculty at the University of Maryland since 2010. She earned her doctorate in experimental aerodynamics from the University of Cambridge, her Master of Science in aeronautics and astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a dual bachelor’s degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in aeronautical and mechanical engineering.

Speaking about Anya her supervisor here at the Department of Engineering Professor Holger Babinsky said "Anya first came to know of the Department when she was involved, as a Masters student at MIT, in the Silent Aircraft Initiative. She came to know us from the various team meetings and decided to pursue a PhD here.

"Anya worked on an experimental investigation into flapping wing aerodynamics. This research was part of a wider NATO effort to better understand how small birds and insects can produce the necessary force to keep flying. Anya designed and built a completely new experiment in our water tunnel which has since been copied by many other research groups around the world. One of her papers was at one point in the top three most cited articles in a major journal: ‘Experiments in Fluids’. Her PhD research was a stunning success, it led to a follow-on NATO research effort (which used Anya’s work as a starting point) and rather unusually she was hired straight into a tenure-track post at the University of Maryland despite having no post-doctoral experience. This is very rare, but their confidence was confirmed by her subsequent success in generating new grants and prizes.

"All of the above is even more remarkable when one considers that Anya is also a double blue. She first represented Cambridge in fencing and was part of the 2010 blue boat. In my experience it is exceptionally rare for anyone to be able to row at the standard needed to make the boat race and do a PhD in Engineering. If she hadn’t told me I would have never even noticed that she was in the squad - it never affected her work in any way."

Darryll J. Pines, Clark School Dean and Nariman Farvardin Professor of Engineering said “Dr. Jones’ unmistakable leadership in our field so early in her career gives me great hope for the future of engineering and our country.”

Anya is chair of a NATO Research Technology Organization task group on gust response and unsteady aerodynamics and an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). She also serves as a member of the AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Technical Committee, the University of Maryland Energy Research Center, and the Maryland Robotics Center, is a faculty advisor to the UMD Women in Aeronautics and Astronautics, and serves on the Raising Excitement for Science Engineering and Technology (RESET) board of directors.

Speaking about her time here at Cambridge Anya said, "My PhD studies at the Department of Engineering were an enjoyable and fulfilling experience throughout.  The research I began at the Department formed the foundation for much of my current work and for this recent award.  I am exceptionally grateful to the Department of Engineering, Holger, and all of my colleagues at Cambridge who were instrumental in setting me on a path to a successful scientific career, and look forward to continuing to work with them in the future."

President Barack Obama joins recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) for a group photo in the East Room of the White House, May 5, 2016. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

She received the National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program award for research to improve the safety, reliability, and efficiency of air vehicles by gaining a deeper understanding of the physics of the large flow field disturbances encountered in high winds and gusty flight environments.

Anya has developed unique experimental capabilities at the University of Maryland to allow for the exploration of the interaction between a wing and a large, well-characterized gust in a repeatable and controlled environment. By modeling this interaction both experimentally and analytically, her research offers a new approach to validating classical aerodynamic theories and a new framework for physics-based models of separated flow.

The PECASE awards, established by President Clinton in 1996, are coordinated by the Office of Science and Technology Policy within the Executive Office of the President. Awardees are selected for their pursuit of innovative research at the frontiers of science and technology and their commitment to community service as demonstrated through scientific leadership, public education, or community outreach.

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