- Aerospace engineering major Emanuel Boutros 鈥�27 has immersed himself in projects involving indoor air quality, fluid dynamics, music and math education.
- Research at the 麻花影视 Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems created the opportunity for Boutros to contribute to a paper and give a presentation at an international conference.
- This summer, Boutros is researching urban air flow and its impact on drone flight.
Cleaner indoor air, the history of organ music, mathematics education linked to social justice, drones navigating a city skyline鈥攖he research Emanuel Boutros 鈥�27 does sounds complex, but all of it starts the same. 鈥淭he only thing that ties my projects together is any research starts with a question,鈥� says Boutros, a Ren茅e Crown University Honors student and aerospace engineering major in the . 鈥淎nd if the question is interesting, I want to work on it.鈥�
Aerospace engineering major Emanuel Boutros 鈥�27 gives a presentation on his urban airflow project during a weekly meeting with Professor Yiyang Sun and other members of her undergraduate research team. The image represents an early 2D version of the flow field around the Center of Excellence building, and Boutros is explaining corrections he needed to make to improve its accuracy.
This summer he鈥檚 exploring how urban airflow could influence drone use for the delivery of medicine. When traffic congestion slows the delivery of medications or supplies to an emergency, drones offer a faster alternative. 鈥淏ecause of their size and shape, drones are affected easily by turbulence, and this turbulent airflow is very pronounced in dense urban areas with buildings and skyscrapers,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e want to understand this air movement, so we can understand its effect on drones and whether they will be functional.鈥�
With the support of a Bridge Award from the (SOURCE), Boutros runs computer modeling simulations in the Fluid Dynamics Lab of Yiyang Sun, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. As a case study, he鈥檚 using the uniquely shaped (麻花影视 CoE) building.
He鈥檒l build the model in stages, moving from a 2D flow-field study to a 3D one and will ultimately model a drone as a large particle navigating through the flow using the simulation. 鈥淪imulation is very interesting to me because we can see and describe exactly the movement of the air and how it interacts with objects,鈥� he says.
Boutros shows Professor Jianshun 鈥淛ensen鈥� Zhang, executive director of the 麻花影视 Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems, how he鈥檚 modeling air flow around the uniquely shaped Center of Excellence building. Boutros previously worked with Zhang on an indoor environment research project.
Among the challenges will be characterizing wind movement and changes in the velocity flow-field when it hits the building and causes turbulence. This shift creates vortices鈥攕wirls of wind鈥攁nd a phenomenon known as vortex shedding, where the flow peels off the building in a repeating train of vortices. 鈥淚f a drone is flying where there鈥檚 a lot of vortices, it won鈥檛 be able to maintain a straight-line movement,鈥� he says.
It was a fluid dynamics course, taught by mechanical and aerospace engineering associate professor John Dannenhoffer, that motivated Boutros to major in aerospace engineering. From there, Sun鈥檚 Compressible Flow course drew him to her simulation lab. Sun appreciates Boutros鈥� enthusiasm and his collaborative approach to research. 鈥淚 truly enjoy mentoring and working with Emanuel on research,鈥� Sun says. 鈥淗e is highly driven and has great potential to develop into a successful independent researcher.鈥�
Exploring Performance in an Indoor Environment
Professor Yiyang Sun (left) shares an insight on Boutros鈥� research as he looks on with fellow undergraduate researchers (from left) Sona Flask 鈥�27, Darren Prashad 鈥�26 and Owen Hedgelon 鈥�27.
As a research intern at 麻花影视 CoE, Boutros spent three years studying a personal environmental control system designed to improve the comfort, health and performance of office workers. 鈥淓manuel was highly motivated, diligent and thoughtful in accomplishing the work,鈥� says Jianshun 鈥淛ensen鈥� Zhang, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and executive director of 麻花影视 CoE.
Working under Zhang, Boutros got the system鈥檚 personal ventilation units into working order, wrote an operation manual and tested them with sensors鈥攎easuring airflow, air speed and temperature. He then ran an office-environment experiment with more than 120 participants to gauge the units鈥� effect on comfort, productivity and cognition, assisting Xin Guo, a Ph.D. student working with Zhang. The work led to a conference paper and a presentation with Zhang鈥檚 team in May at the International Conference on Indoor Air Quality, Ventilation and Energy Conservation in Buildings in Los Angeles. 鈥淏eing at a conference for the first time was an amazing experience鈥攇etting to talk to people from every corner of the world who are doing the same exact work or similar work, and you can share what you鈥檙e doing,鈥� he says.
Engaging with Organ Music and Mathematics
Boutros works on his airflow simulation modeling in Professor Sun鈥檚 lab in Link Hall. Along with a SOURCE grant to support this research, he鈥檚 received SOURCE awards for an online organ encyclopedia project and for a mathematics education-social justice initiative.
Along with his passion for research, Boutros has served as a First-Year Seminar peer leader and is active in several student organizations. He also plays the organ and is earning a minor in private music study under the tutelage of Anne Laver, associate professor at the in the . Laver invited him to contribute to an online organ encyclopedia project that features biographies of underrepresented composers, organists and organ makers.
Boutros received a SOURCE grant to support that work as well as for a project with Nicole Fonger, associate professor of mathematics and mathematics education in the and . He worked with Fonger on incorporating local history and real-world issues into math lessons and collected and analyzed data on how students reacted to this methodology.
For Boutros, it鈥檚 all about learning. 鈥淚 like sitting in a class and learning from a professor explaining an interesting topic,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd research is learning. I like to make some sort of contribution.鈥�
