Tao Xing

I received my Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering (M.E.) from Purdue University in West Lafayette in 2002. My scientific accomplishment as a graduate student was to conduct the first Direct Numerical Simulations for 2D and 3D Cavitating jets. My career in M.E. at the University of Idaho (U.I.) began in August 2011 as an assistant professor. At U.I., I was promoted to associate professor with tenure in July 2016 and promoted to full professor in July 2022. My normal responsibilities are 40% on Scholarship and Creative Activities, 55% on Teaching and Advising, and 5% on University Service and Leadership. My research interests focus on both fundamental and applied computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and fluid-structure interactions (FSI) in interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary research areas. Fundamental research includes estimating errors and uncertainties in CFD/FSI using the quantitative solution verification and validation (V&V) method and entropy generation in bypass transitional boundary layers. For V&V, I was the lead author of “factor of safety method” (cited 444 times) for solution verification which was evaluated as one of the two most accurate uncertainty estimates for monotonically converged numerical solutions. In 2015, I developed a general framework for V&V for large eddy simulations (LES) and my team developed five-equation and robust three-equation methods for solution verification for LES in 2018. Applied research covers a broad range of disciplines where CFD and/or in-vitro studies can be used to improve understanding of flow physics and optimize designs: pulmonary ventilation including fluid-structure interaction (NSF Award 1, National Institutes of Health, Murdock Charitable Trust, Percussionaire Corp.), onshore and offshore wind turbine designs (NSF Award 2), Intrathecal drug delivery (Biogen), vehicle aerodynamics (Department of Transportation), ship hydrodynamics (U.S. Office of Naval Research), Salmon Redd hydraulics (California Water Board), desalination (Vorsana Inc.), Cellulosic 3D Printing of Modular Building Assemblies (Idaho Global Entrepreneurial Mission), high-performance computation (NSF Award 3), and high-performance building using aerogel insulation (Avista Corp.). My research interests also include 3D Imaging and Printing. I have developed and used in-house code (DNS for cavitating jet, finite difference method for CFDShip-Iowa) and used commercial CFD software (ANSYS Multiphysics) with user-defined functions in my research and run simulations up to 350 Million grid points on supercomputers (Office of Naval Research and Idaho National Laboratory). Recently, I extended my research to sparse identification of nonlinear dynamics to derive governing equations from CFD and/or experimental data and physics-informed machine learning.

My teaching interests focus on enhancing student self-regulated learning skills to improve undergraduate STEM education. As the team leader, I have been working with a faculty team to implement AFILM and we have significantly improved M.E. students’ pass rate in Fundamentals of Engineering Examinations from 63% in 2017 Fall to above 80% after 2019 Fall. 19 students achieved a 100% pass rate in Fall 2020. My teaching interest also includes the integration of simulation technology into engineering courses and laboratories (NSF Award 4), the development of effective formative and summative evaluation methods, and the development of effective online courses toward achieving ABET learning outcomes. I am also active in instructing capstone design teams. I have been teaching undergraduate and graduate courses on Fluid Mechanics, Fundamentals and Advanced CFD, Turbomachinery, Fundamentals of Engineering Exam Review, Turbulence Modeling, Principles of Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning, Thermal Energy Systems Design, Advanced Engineering Mathematics, and Mechanical Systems Design I & II. I advised graduate students who worked on projects that I either led as the principal investigator (PI) or served as a Co-PI. I have served as a graduate committee member and qualifying exam committee member for graduate students in M.E., Biological Engineering, and Nuclear Engineering Departments. I have been the academic advisor for 22-30 M.E. students per semester by helping them plan their courses and answer their questions.