Oran, Elaine S.
Oral history interview with Elaine Oran, 2021 June 18.
Interview with Elaine Oran, Professor of Aerospace Engineering and ODonnell Foundation Chair at Texas A&M. Oran describes her core interest in fluid dynamics and why aerospace engineering provides an ideal home department for her research. She recounts her childhood in Philadelphia, her early interests in science, and her undergraduate experience at Bryn Mawr. She explains her decision to attend Yale for her graduate work in physics, where she focused on phase transitions, and she explains the opportunities that led to her work at the Naval Research Laboratory. Oran describes her research in laser-matter interactions and the value of the Laboratory for Computational Physics. She discusses her early interests in reactive flows and how this field became broadly applicable across the sciences. Oran describes being in Washington on 9/11 and her involvement in studying the explosions. She discusses her decision to join the faculty at the University of Maryland and her research in fire whirls and she explains her subsequent move to A&M where she was attracted by the interdisciplinary research opportunities. Oran describes her work in numerical simulations and the interplay between theory and experiment in her research. At the end of the interview, Oran emphasizes the importance of spontaneity and an openness to pursue science in unexpected directions.
Elaine Oran is Professor of Aerospace Engineering and ODonnell Foundation Chair at Texas A&M University. Oran completed her graduate work at Yale University and went on to the Naval Resesarch Laboratory, working in their Laboratory for Computational Physics. She was previously on faculty at the University of Maryland before joining Texas A&M.
Chang, Richard K. (Richard Kounai), 1940-
Khokhlov, A. R.
Oran, Elaine S.
Laboratory for Computational Physics (Naval Research Laboratory)
Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center
Naval Research Laboratory (U.S.)
Texas A&M University.
University of Maryland, College Park
Yale University
Computational science and engineering
Aerospace engineering
Computational fluid dynamics
Fluid dynamics
Microfluidics
Plasma physics.
Quantum computing.
September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001
Shock waves
Turbulence.
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Oral histories. aat
Transcripts. aat
Zierler, David, 1979- interviewer.
AIP-ICOS
American Institute of Physics. Niels Bohr Library & Archives. One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740, USA