Introduction

Aaron Larsen is a Ph.D. student in the Program of Applied Mathematics at the University of Arizona, where he is a research assistant in the Computational Hypersonics and Nonequilibrium Laboratory (CHANL) under the direction of Dr. Kyle Hanquist.

Aaron’s research focuses on modeling the thermochemical non-equilibrium behavior of gas particles at hypersonic speeds by simulating the population of each vibrational state to describe the energy transfer. His research works to make molecular reaction rate data from different energy surfaces self-consistent to allow for more complete simulations. Aaron is also working on simulating reflected shock tubes to further model vibrational state-to-state transitions.

Prior to attending the University of Arizona, Aaron studied Applied and Computational Mathematics with an emphasis in physics at Brigham Young University. Aaron received his M.S. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Arizona.

To learn more about CHANL and the work done there, visit chanl.arizona.edu.