The Student Advisory Committee (SAC) is a group of students who work to foster student engagement in the IGTI community and improve the Turbo Expo conference every year. Towards this goal, the SAC organizes various sessions and events during the conference, provides opportunities for students to work behind the scenes with leaders in their technical area, and awards travel funds to eligible degree seeking individuals.
Meet the 2021-2022 Student Advisory Committee (SAC) Leadership Team!
Chair: Mavroudis Kavvalos, Mälardalen University, Sweden
Born in Greece, Mavroudis is research-oriented mechanical engineer, holding a first-class honours MSc in Gas Turbine Technology from Cranfield University in 2018, UK and a Dipl.-Ing. in Mechanical Engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece in 2017. Mavroudis is active in the areas of modelling and simulation, electrified propulsion, gas turbine performance, turbomachinery design, open-rotor aero-dynamics and probabilistic analysis.
Mavroudis' doctoral research focuses on aero-engine conceptual design under uncertainty for innovative aircraft architectures, including advanced fan/compressor transient performance modelling. His work lies within the purview of two EU-funded collaborative research projects; namely Turbo Electric Aircraft Design Environment (TRADE) and Hybrid Electric Small Commuter Aircraft Conceptual Design (HECARRUS), where he is in charge of the propulsion system architecture and whole systems integration.
He has been involved in several propulsion-related projects; among others, propeller-airframe interaction aerodynamics, rotorcraft performance and gas turbine diagnostics. Mavroudis serves also as a teaching assistant for the gas turbine and turbomachinery design course within the Energy and Environmental Engi-neering postgraduate scheme at Mälardalen University since 2018.
Mavroudis has been elected as Chair of the IGTI Student Advisory Committee (SAC) for the upcoming ASME Turbo Expo 2022, while having served as Vice-Chair for the past digital Turbo Expo 2021. He is a recipient of five scholarships, including two SAC travel awards by ASME IGTI in 2019 and 2020. He serves as reviewer and member of the Aircraft Engines and Cycle Innovations IGTI Committees for over two years.
Vice Chair: Dimitra Eirini Diamantidou, Mälardalen University, Sweden
Dimitra is a Doctoral student at the Mälardalen University (MDH). She holds a Dipl.-Ing. from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki with a specialization in Aeronautics and Engines. She is active in the areas of propulsion systems integration, gas turbine performance modeling and simulation, electrified propulsion, and aerodynamics.
Dimitra is currently working for two EU-funded collaborative research projects: the Turbo electRic Aircraft Design Environment (TRADE) and the Hybrid ElectriC smAll commuteR aiRcraft conceptUal deSign (HECARRUS). Her research focuses on the conceptual design and optimization of hybrid-electric propulsion systems and specifically on the boundary layer ingestion concept while employing high fidelity simulations.
Secretary: Vamsi Krishna Undavalli, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
Mr. Vamsi Krishna is a Doctoral student at The University of Alabama. Prior to this Mr. Vamsi graduated from Moscow Aviation Institute (National Research University) in the field of Aircraft Propulsion. He also held positions such as Technical and Business consultant for various firms and start-ups. His research focuses on low emission gas turbine technology compromising combustion systems, alternative fuels, fuel-elastomer compatibility, and combustion processes. He also investigates novel combustion methods such as premix, pre-vapourised, micro mix and bubble combustion.
He has been an active member of ASME community since 2015 and he recently awarded ASME Turbo expo SAC travel award for Turbo expo 2021.
SRI Chair: Manas Payyappalli, von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics
Manas Payyappalli is a postdoctoral researcher at the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics, Belgium. He earned his doctoral degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay for his research on aerodynamics of contra-rotating fans. He continues to carry out his research on turbomachines and fluid dynamics. Manas has been an active participant in Turbo Expo for the past several years and has been actively involved with the activities of the Student Advisory Committee (SAC). He also held the position of Secretary of SAC during the year 2020-2021. Manas is a recipient of the ASME IGTI Young Engineer Travel Award 2019, ASME IGTI Student Advisory Committee Travel Award 2020, and IMechE Donald Julius Groen Prize 2021. Apart from his research interests, Manas is enthusiastic about football, music, and arts.
Past Chair: Deepanshu Singh, University of Oxford, UK
I am a second-year doctoral student in the Department of Engineering Science at University of Oxford. I am working with Rolls-Royce to improve the efficiency of gas turbine aircraft engines. My research focuses on experimental and computational investigation of Over-Tip Leakage flow in a shroudless high pressure gas turbine. Using thin-film based instrumentation, I have been studying turbine blade tip and casing heat transfer for a variety of tip designs in the OTRF (Oxford Turbine Research Facility), a high-speed rotating facility at engine representative conditions.
Before starting my DPhil at Oxford, I completed my undergrad in Mechanical Engineering at IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) Delhi. My Bachelor's thesis was focused on Optimisation of the performance of Vertical Axis Wind Turbine through radial overlap between twin rotor. During my undergrad, I completed two research internships at University of Oxford, both focused on instrumentation projects. My findings were published at ASME Turbo-Expo 2016 (Seoul, South Korea) and 2017 (Charlotte, USA), both of which I was able to present upon securing ASME Student Advisory Committee Travel Award. I also undertook an internship at National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan during which I worked on ducted fan design for electrically powered aircraft engines.
In my spare time, I enjoy playing tennis. At Oxford, I have represented the men's team in numerous league matches. In addition, I am presently serving as the President of Oxford University Scientific Society, oldest student run science society in the world with the goal of disseminating scientific knowledge through weekly talks delivered by eminent speakers invited across the globe.