2008 Undergraduate Research: Cooling the Joint Strike Fighter

Two engineering students are working on a research project with Dr. Abraham from the School of Engineering.  The problem involves cooling the Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter.  The plane is often described as a "flying supercomputer", and the students have been asked to cool the computer processors without using any fans or pumps.  It is a very challenging problem that involves engineers at Lockheed Martin and Sandia National Labs.  William Besser (shown below) is currently a mechanical engineering student  at St. Thomas.  He is working together with Kevin Krautbauer (graduated 2008, currently graduate student at the University of Minnesota.  Their activities are funded through a research grant from Lockheed Martin.

 

 

        William Besser