Ph.D. Aerospace Engineering, Expected Graduation: August 2015

• SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program
• Research: "Lagrangian Flow Separation and Lagrangian Coherent Structures in Complex Geometries with Discontinuous-Galerkin Methods."
• Advisor: Dr. Gustaaf Jacobs (SDSU), Dr. Sutanu Sarkar (UCSD)

B.S. Aerospace Engineering, San Diego State University, May 2010

• GPA: 3.7 Major/3.6 Overall
• Graduated with distinction
• Emphasis in propulsion and flight mechanics

Graduate Teaching Associate - San Diego State University, San Diego, CA
8/2010 - Present

• Conducting research in turbulent particle-laden flow separation using spectral element methods.
• Improving and developing spectral element Navier-Stokes solver in Fortran.
• Advising students in senior projects class on projects in collaboration with the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab.
• Advising students competing in the 2010-2011 AIAA Space Transportation Design Competition, giving guidance related to spacecraft design and system design processes.

Aerodynamics Intern - Solar Turbines, San Diego, CA
6/2014 - 2/2015

• Designed anti-swirl vanes (ASV) to reduce front cavity labyrinth seal swirl and increase rotordynamic stability in gas compressors.
• Performed trade study on several ASV designs in ANSYS CFX fluid solver.
• Final ASV design leads to 70% reduction in swirl in front cavity.
• Developed theoretical framework for modeling rotordynamic forces, taking into account complex geometries.

Cabling Engineering Intern - NASA Jet Propulsion Lab, Pasadena, CA
7/2010 - 8/2010

• Edited and developed wire harness block diagrams for the Soil Moisture Active-Passive (SMAP) spacecraft and Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Vehicle System Test-Bed (VSTB).
• Coordinated packaging and shipping of the MSL VSTB harness manufacturing mock-up to a subcontractor for harness fabrication, and delivered mock-up on schedule.
• Evaluated Capital Harness Systems (CHS) electrical harness design software for use by the cabling engineering group and electrical systems engineering group.
• Documented harness design procedures for CHS for future reference.
• Produced fabrication drawings for Mighty Mouse series 801 electrical connector test specimens to be used in harness-connector strength tests.
• Documented drawing release procedure in lab-wide wiki.

Systems Engineering Intern - SpaceX Corporation, Hawthorne, CA
6/2009 - 8/2009

• Wrote assembly procedures for the communications units.
• Documented technical capabilities of the Falcon launch vehicles and Dragon spacecraft to be provided as a reference for NASA.
• Designed power harness in E3 electrical engineering software for the Dragon spacecraft.
• Updated connector database according to MIL DTL 38999 specifications.
• Developed and improved a hazard report traceability matrix for the Dragon.
• Performed post processing analysis on power telemetry from the Falcon 1 Flight 4.

Technical Intern - ManTech SRS Technologies, Solana Beach, CA
6/2008 - 2/2009

• Technical writer for environmental compliance documents according to National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulation.
• Streamlined quality assurance and formatting procedures by documenting procedures for use throughout the department.
• Developed automatic timesheet and project tracking sheets in Excel.

Engineering Intern - California Air Resources Board, Sacramento, CA
6/2006 - 7/2007

• Improved and streamlined accounting and mailing procedures, reducing the amount of time spent on these tasks.
• Wrote permit documentation, including equipment operating procedures and permit authorization letters.
• Trained new student assistants and educated them on portable equipment regulations.
• Reviewed and processed hundreds of portable equipment registration applications and renewals.

Project Leader - AIAA Space Transportation Design Competition
San Diego State University, 8/2009 - 6/2010

• Led the team to win 3rd place nationally for 2010.
• Served as Project Leader in 2008-2009 and 2006-2007 as well.
• Mission planning lead for 2009-2010 team. Developed orbital dynamics software in MATLAB to analyze mission trajectory.
• Aerodynamics lead for 2009-2010 team. Analyzed thermal loading on reentry vehicle.
• Developed specific system and subsystem requirements to meet design goals.
• Developed project schedule and determined critical path to ensure timely completion of proposal.

Structures Team Member - AIAA Design, Build and Fly Competition
San Diego State University, 8/2008 - 4/2009

• Performed loads analysis on wing in Excel for the 2008-2009 team.
• Determined bending, shear and torsion stresses in wing structure with multiple point loads along the wing.

American Physical Society - Member since 2012

American Society of Mechanical Engineers - Member since 2013

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics - Member since 2006

Sigma Gamma Tau Aerospace Engineering Honor Society - Member since 2009

Mortar Board Senior Honor Society - Member since 2009

Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society - Member since 2008

Phi Kappa Phi International Honor Society - Member since 2006

Solar Turbines CITER Scholarship
Awarded for 2014-2015

SDSU Student Research Symposium Dean's Award
Awarded in 2012 and 2014

SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program Graduate Assistantship
Awarded for 2010-2015

SDSU Aerospace Engineering Outstanding Graduate
Awarded for 2010

3rd Place, AIAA Space Transportation Design Competition
Awarded for 2010

AIAA San Diego Section Student Leadership Award
Awarded for 2010

Speer Aerospace Engineering Scholarship
Awarded for 2009-2010

AIAA Reuben H. Fleet Scholarship
Awarded for 2009-2010

CSUS Scholarship for Future Scholars
Awarded for 2003-2005

Dean's Honor List
8 Semesters

Design and Analysis Tools

Solidworks, FEMAP/NASTRAN, Fluent, MATLAB, Ansys Workbench, Xfoil, XFLR5, Zuken E3, Tecplot

Development and Programming

C/C++, FORTRAN, MATLAB, Unix, Linux, HTML, CSS

Other Software and Skills

MS Office, Project, Visio, technical writing

Peer Reviewed Publications

Nelson, D., G. Jacobs, and D. Kopriva, "Effects of Boundary Representation on Viscous Flow Solutions with Discontinuous-Galerkin Methods." Theoretical and Computational Fluid Dynamics, Submitted.

Nelson, D. and G. Jacobs, "DG-FTLE: Lagrangian Coherent Structures with High-Order Discontinuous-Galerkin Methods." Journal of Computational Physics (295) pp 65-86, 2015.

Nelson, D. and G. Jacobs, "Computation of Forward-Time Finite-Time Lyapunov Exponents Using Discontinuous-Galerkin Spectral Element Methods." Proceedings of the ASME 2013 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition. San Diego, CA. November 2013.

Conference Presentations

Nelson, D. and G. Jacobs, "DG-FTLE: Lagrangian Coherent Structures with High-Order Discontinuous-Galerkin Methods." Presented at the 9th Annual Southern California Symposium on Flow Physics. San Diego, CA. April 18, 2015.

Nelson, D., G. Jacobs, M. Sadek and P. Diamessis, "Lagrangian Coherent Structures in an Unstable Bottom Boundary Layer Under a Solitary Wave." Presented at the 8th Annual SDSU Student Research Symposium. San Diego, CA. March 6, 2014.

Nelson, D., G. Jacobs, M. Sadek and P. Diamessis, "Lagrangian Coherent Structures in an Unstable Bottom Boundary Layer Under a Solitary Wave." Presented at the 67th Annual Meeting of the APS. San Francisco, CA. November, 2014.

Nelson, D. and G. Jacobs, "High-order discontinuous-Galerkin simulations of flows over airfoils with curved boundaries." Presented at the 8th Annual Southern California Symposium on Flow Physics. Los Angeles, CA. April 12, 2014.

Nelson, D. and G. Jacobs, "Direct numerical simulation of an airfoil at low Reynolds number." Presented at the 7th Annual SDSU Student Research Symposium. San Diego, CA. March 8, 2014.

Nelson, D. and G. Jacobs, "High-order discontinuous-Galerkin simulations of flows over airfoils with curved boundaries." Presented at the 66th Annual Meeting of the APS. Pittsburg, PA. November, 2013.

Nelson, D. and G. Jacobs, "Computation of Forward-Time Finite-Time Lyapunov Exponents Using Discontinuous-Galerkin Spectral Element Methods." Presented at the ASME 2013 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition. San Diego, CA. November 2013.

Nelson, D. and G. Jacobs, "High fidelity numerical computation of finite-time Lyapunov exponents using spectral element methods." Presented at the 7th Annual Southern California Symposium on Flow Physics. Pasadena, CA. April 13, 2013.

Nelson, D. and G. Jacobs, "High fidelity numerical computation of finite-time Lyapunov exponents using spectral element methods." Presented at the 6th Annual SDSU Student Research Symposium. San Diego, CA. March 9, 2013.

Nelson, D. and G. Jacobs, "Langrangian Coherent Structure Visualizations in High-Resolution DNS." Presented at the 65th Annual Meeting of the APS. San Diego, CA. November, 2012.

Nelson, D. and G. Jacobs, "Langrangian Coherent Structure Visualizations in High-Resolution DNS." Presented at the 6th Annual Southern California Symposium on Flow Physics. Santa Barbara, CA. April 14, 2012.

Nelson, D. and G. Jacobs, "Langrangian Coherent Structures in Turbulent, Separated Flow." Presented at the 5th Annual SDSU Student Research Symposium. San Diego, CA. March 10, 2012.

Nelson, D., B. Pochop, S. Stoneman, "Aero-thermodynamic analysis of a high velocity reentry lifting body." Presented at the AIAA Region VI Student Conference. Tucson, AZ. March 26, 2010.