United States Air Force Academy

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Lieutenant Colonel Jason Christopher

Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Lt Col Christopher
Contact Information

(719) 333-0090

Email

LinkedIn

Education

08/2015–08/2018 Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering University of Colorado– Boulder Thesis: Approximate Bayesian Computation for Parameter Estimation in Complex Thermal-Fluid Systems Advisors: Peter Hamlington & Greg Rieker

08/2007–05/2009 M.Sc., Mechanical Engineering Rice University, Houston, Texas Thesis: Computational aerodynamics modeling of the reefed stages of ringsail parachutes Advisor: Tayfun Tezduyar

06/2003–05/2007 B.Sc., Mechanical Engineering United States Air Force Academy, Colorado

Professional Experience

05/2022–Current United States Air Force Academy Position: Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering

08/2018–05/2022 Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado Position: Division Chief, Military Satellite Communication Systems and Test Director Project: Responsible for operationally testing space systems. Lead diverse set of teams from 8-person teams testing the Space Fence Radar and Space Command and Control software system to 30 member division responsible for testing new U.S. Space Force military satellite communication systems valued at over $46 billion

08/2015–08/2018 University of Colorado Boulder Position: Ph.D. student and research assistant Research topic: Approximate Bayesian computation for parameter estimation in complex thermal-fluid systems. Focused on methods to combine experimental measurements (via laser spectroscopy) with computational fluid dynamics tools. Advisors: Peter E. Hamlington and Greg B. Rieker

05/2012–08/2015 United States Air Force Academy Position: Instructor and then Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and executive officer to the department head. Teaching areas: Taught 4 semesters of statics and mechanics of materials, as well as 2 semesters each of fluid dynamics and thermodynamics 05/2009–

05/2012 Vandenberg Air Force Base, California Position: Range engineer Project: Responsible for space launch and ballistic missile test range upgrades including telemetry and data handling systems.

08/2007–05/2009 Rice University Position: Master’s student and research assistant Research topic: Focused on computational approaches for modeling the opening procedure for NASA parachutes, as well as internal flow through patient-specific aneurysms. Advisor: Tayfun E. Tezduyar

Honors & Awards

Schooling – Full scholarship for tuition, stipend, fees, room, and board for Ph.D, M.Sc., and B.Sc.

Graduate Student – Graduate student of the month for mechanical engineering department at the University of Colorado-Boulder out of 223 students.

Annual Award – Field Grade Officer of the Year, Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center out of 115+ peers.

Teaching Award – Outstanding New Instructor 2012-2013 for the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Outstanding Contributor to the Department of Mechanical Engineering, United States Air Force Academy

Distinguished Graduate – Graduated as 9 of 971 cadets from the class of 2007 at the United States Air Force Academy (equivalent to summa cum laude) and the top mechanical engineering major.

Publications

Journal Publications

Takizawa, K., Christopher, J., Tezduyar, T. E., and Sathe, S. Space–time finite element computation of arterial fluid–structure interactions with patient-specific data. International Journal for Numerical Methods in Biomedical Engineering 26, 1 (2010), 101–116

Tezduyar, T. E., Sathe, S., Pausewang, J., Schwaab, M., Christopher, J., and Crabtree, J. Interface projection techniques for fluid–structure interaction modeling with moving-mesh methods. Computational Mechanics 43, 1 (2008), 39–49

Takizawa, K., Moorman, C., Wright, S., Christopher, J., and Tezduyar, T. E. Wall shear stress calculations in space–time finite element computation of arterial fluid–structure interactions. Computational Mechanics 46, 1 (2010), 31–41

Tezduyar, T. E., Sathe, S., Schwaab, M., Pausewang, J., Christopher, J., and Crabtree, J. Fluid–structure interaction modeling of ringsail parachutes. Computational Mechanics 43, 1 (2008), 133–142

Tezduyar, T. E., Takizawa, K., Moorman, C., Wright, S., and Christopher, J. Space–time finite element computation of complex fluid–structure interactions. International Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids 64, 10-12 (2010), 1201–1218

Tezduyar, T. E., Takizawa, K., Moorman, C., Wright, S., and Christopher, J. Multiscale sequentially-coupled arterial fsi technique. Computational Mechanics 46, 1 (2010), 17–29

Hayden, T. R., Wimer, N. T., LaPointe, C., Christopher, J. D., Nigam, S. P., Hamlington, P. E., and Rieker, G. B. Wavelength modulation spectroscopy of oh radical in an industrial flame. In Optics and Photonics for Energy and the Environment (2017), Optica Publishing Group, pp. ETh2A–4

Hayden, T., Petrykowski, D., Sanchez, A., Nigam, S., Lapointe, C., Christopher, J., Wimer, N., Upadhye, A., Strobel, M., Hamlington, P., et al. Characterization of oh, h2o, and temperature profiles in industrial flame treatment systems interacting with polymer films. Proceedings of the Combustion Institute 37, 2 (2019), 1571–1578

Christopher, J. D., Wimer, N. T., Lapointe, C., Hayden, T. R., Grooms, I., Rieker, G. B., and Hamlington, P. E. Parameter estimation for complex thermal-fluid flows using approximate bayesian computation. Physical Review Fluids 3, 10 (2018), 104602

Wimer, N. T., Lapointe, C., Christopher, J. D., Nigam, S. P., Hayden, T. R., Upadhye, A., Strobel, M., Rieker, G. B., and Hamlington, P. E. Scaling of the puffing strouhal number for buoyant jets and plumes. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 895 (2020)

Hayden, T. R., Wimer, N. T., Lapointe, C., Christopher, J. D., Nigam, S. P., Upadhye, A., Strobel, M., Hamlington, P. E., and Rieker, G. B. Characterization of the buoyant jet above a catalytic combustor using wavelength modulation spectroscopy. Combustion Science and Technology 192, 6 (2020), 997–1014

Hayden, T. R., Malarich, N., Petrykowski, D., Nigam, S. P., Christopher, J. D., Lapointe, C., Wimer, N. T., Hamlington, P. E., and Rieker, G. B. Oh radical measurements in combustion environments using wavelength modulation spectroscopy and dual-frequency comb spectroscopy near 1491 nm. Applied Physics B 125, 12 (2019), 1–14

Christopher, J. D., Doronina, O. A., Petrykowski, D., Hayden, T. R., Lapointe, C., Wimer, N. T., Grooms, I., Rieker, G. B., and Hamlington, P. E. Flow parameter estimation using laser absorption spectroscopy and approximate bayesian computation. Experiments in Fluids 62, 2 (2021), 1–20