The University of Kentucky is seeking two highly qualified candidates for a Ph.D. 
position to lead the computational efforts underway at the university as part of 
the Computational Thermophysics and Fluids Laboratory (CTFL). The candidate will 
be part of an inter-disciplinary engineering group comprising of eight graduate 
students and get an opportunity to collaborate with the Computational Mechanics 
and Methods group at the university. The candidate will be part of several 
publications, attend review and conference meetings, and interface with subject 
matter experts from various Federal agencies. 

Job Description
Two positions are available in the group. Both topics will focus on how ice 
particles interact with high-speed shocks. The first topic focuses on 
understanding melting and high-speed shear experienced by ice particles in high-
speed environments. The second topic focuses on numerical development to couple a 
meshfree solid mechanics technique with the direct simulation Monte Carlo method. 
Both positions are computational in nature, and a candidate is expected to have 
significant computational expertise with prior skills in developing codes written 
in C or Fortran or having worked with large-scale research codes that are 
developed in C or Fortran. 

This Ph.D. position is funded, which covers tuition, stipend, health, and fringe 
benefits. The lab provides a dynamic environment where you will work at the 
forefront of cutting-edge research. The research will provide opportunities to 
collaborate with partners at NASA, U.S. DoD, other national laboratories and 
research centers in U.S. and Europe. We will publish new research in top-tier 
journals in fluid and thermal sciences, attend annual conferences hosted by 
American Institute of Aerospace and Astronautics (AIAA), NASA and you may also 
have internship opportunities to develop a core peer and mentor network in your 
professional field. Personal growth is an important component of your academic 
training at CTFL, and the students spend 10% of research project time towards 
developing personal research ideas. 

Applications
Interested applicants should send a CV with a cover letter, names of at least 
three references, and a summary of recent work and interests. All applications 
should be submitted electronically as a single PDF document to:

Prof. Savio Poovathingal
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA 40506. 
saviopoovathingal@uky.edu 

For additional information about the research activities, visit
https://www.engr.uky.edu/directory/poovathingal-savio

Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is 
filled.