Dr. Darren Hitt, associate professor in the School of Engineering within UVM's College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences (CEMS), has been selected from a very competitive pool of applicants to be a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Fluid Dynamics Technical Committee (FDTC). Dr. Peter Hartwich of The Boeing Company, current chair of the AIAA FDTC, informed Dr. Hitt of his selection on February 18th, which carries with it a nominal three-year appointment.

"It's both a pleasure and an honor to be selected to serve on this committee" says Dr. Hitt. "I look forward to the challenge of promoting research growth in the area microfluidics within a technical community with longstanding expertise and tradition in larger scale, high-speed aerodynamics."

The AIAA is the professional society for the field of aerospace engineering and a forum for innovation, excellence and global leadership. The FDTC focuses on the behavior of liquids and gases in motion, including momentum and energy transport phenomena and their influence on the behavior of fluids, the forces, and moments on objects involved therein, and the interaction with the surface materials of these objects.

"Dr. Hitt's contributions will help advance the state of aerospace science and engineering," says CEMS Dean Domenico Grasso. "I am delighted that he is being recognized nationally for his technological leadership. It is wonderful to have someone of his caliber on our faculty."