Alberto Padovan is an Assistant Professor in the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department at New Jersey Institute of Technology. He received his Ph.D. from Princeton University in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in September 2022, and from 2022 to 2025 he was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Aerospace Engineering Department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he was also affiliated with the Center for Hypersonics and Entry Systems Studies. Alberto’s research interests lie at the intersection of fluid mechanics, applied dynamical systems theory, controls and data science.

Federico Cutolo is a Ph.D. student in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He earned his M.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from Politecnico di Milano, Italy in 2024 and worked as a Research Assistant at the Center for Hypersonics and Entry Systems Studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign from 2023 to 2025. His research explores uncertainty quantification, hypersonic flows, data science, and reduced-order modeling. Beyond research, Federico enjoys theater, music, and playing soccer.

Adi Jha is an undergraduate student studying Aerospace Engineering and Electrical Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He has conducted research in astrodynamics, including work on coupled gravity assist trajectories using Lambert’s problem. His current work focuses on specific impulse scaling, electromagnetic propulsion, and plasma dynamics in nonlinear and turbulent regimes. Outside of research, Adi enjoys piano, learning languages, and chess.