Hampton Roads

Michelle Lynde is a Research Aerospace Engineer in the Configuration Aerodynamics Branch at the NASA Langley Research Center. She received an Honors Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington and a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan. At NASA, her research has primarily focused on aircraft design methods to improve aerodynamic performance.

One of Michelle's significant contributions has been toward the computational development and experimental evaluation of a new laminar flow wing design method, referred to as Crossflow Attenuated Natural Laminar Flow (CATNLF). The CATNLF design method offers the potential to significantly reduce vehicle drag by maintaining large extents of laminar flow on highly swept wings of transport vehicles. Michelle served as the Principal Investigator for the Common Research Model with Natural Laminar Flow (CRM-NLF) wind tunnel test in the National Transonic Facility, the results of which were publicly released and used by the AIAA Transition Modeling Workshop to advance computational tools worldwide. She is currently the Principal Investigator of the CATNLF Flight Test, which is a multi-center project aimed at evaluating the laminar flow design method in a flight environment. Her contributions and leadership of the CATNLF development have led to recognition including the NASA Early Career Achievement Medal (2019) and the RAeS Nangia Young Persons Prize (2018). Michelle has held leadership roles in AIAA at both the local and national level, and has authored 14 technical articles on her research.

Ms. Lynde will be recognized at the 60^th AIAA HRS Awards Banquet in the spring of 2023 and will be the invited speaker for the AIAA HRS Young Professional Technical Excellence Lecture in November 2022. Our Section will also nominate Ms. Lynde to the AIAA Lawrence Sperry Award and the Peninsula Engineers Council (PEC) Doug Ensor Award for their consideration for young engineer of the year.