BU Mechanical Engineering Welcomes New Faculty
The Mechanical Engineering Department at Boston University is thrilled to announce the addition of a new Assistant Professor to our esteemed faculty. We are committed to fostering a dynamic intellectual community by welcoming faculty who are innovators and experts in their field.
Shabnam Raayai’s research interests are in the general areas of flow control and passive drag reduction techniques, with a focus on riblet-covered surfaces as well as applications of formation flight and group motion. Professor Raayai got her master’s and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and did a short post-doc in Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT. Afterwards, she received the Rowland fellowship and joined the Rowland institute at Harvard where she started her research group in 2019. Her research has spanned across both fluid and solid mechanics, and fluid-solid interactions. Rayaai’s lab continues to focus on fluid-solid interactions, especially involving flows around and through complex geometric boundaries. In one area, she has been focused on understanding and improving flow control techniques for smaller air- and rotorcraft, especially those that can be operated without crew or autonomously. Most of her work has some inspiration from nature, and currently, she is interested in the fundamental aspects of different passive drag reduction techniques such as shark-inspired riblets and implementation of formation flight inspired by geese and pelicans and is looking forward to continuing her research here at BU.