The Department of Mechanical Engineering is excited to welcome Dr. John Murray as an Assistant Professor this fall. Dr. Murray’s research is experimental and seeks to understand how gases behave in extreme conditions, such as very high temperatures behind shockwaves. His expertise will continue to expand the Aerospace program here at the U.
Dr. Murray was born and raised in Texas and has been interested in high-speed flight since he was a little boy. This interest led to the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Aerospace engineering, with most of his graduate school research focusing on high-temperature flows for hypersonic flight applications. After graduation, Dr. Murray worked for Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico where he studied hypersonics in their thermal and fluid sciences group, before returning to academia.
“Most of my current research is aimed at gaining a better understanding of what exactly happens to heat shields in hypersonic flight,” said Dr. Murray. “Hypersonic flight produces very powerful shockwaves that compress and heat the air around the vehicle to thousands of degrees Celsius. At such high temperatures, the N2 and O2 molecules in the air break down and become very reactive, creating this intensely hostile thermal and chemical environment for the vehicle. Heat shields protect the vehicle by sacrificing themselves in a controlled manner, but we currently have a very poor understanding of the physical mechanisms that dictate how this all plays out.”
By running experiments that recreate extreme environments in controlled experiments, Dr. Murray can use laser-based measurement techniques to study the behavior of gases in these situations. This allows for a better understanding of how gases behave when shocked or super-heated, like how collisions and interactions between the molecules in the gas drive energy exchange and reactions between them.
“I am really impressed with the outstanding quality of research that the faculty and students do here at the U, and am excited to find ways to tie my own research into this ecosystem. I also think the vision of establishing an aerospace hub being led by the Department and College of Engineering is an amazing opportunity to help define what the future of aerospace-related research looks like.”
In addition to his excitement for research at the U, Dr. Murray is also excited to be in Salt Lake City.
“My wife, Nancy, and I both love being outside with our pup, Cooper,” said Dr. Murray. “We’ve been so excited to move here, where the outdoors are right at our fingertips. If you see us out hiking, biking or skiing around the Wasatch range, come say hi!”