1988 Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering
Specialization in Computational Fluid Mechanics, Thermal and Fluid Science, Department of Thermo-physics and Thermal Engineering, Moscow Institute for Steel and Alloys (MISIS), Moscow, Russia

07/2003 To Present
Present Position: Associate Professor (with tenure)
University of Akron, Akron, OH, USA
Department of Mechanical Engineering

12/2001 To 06/2003
Associate Professor
Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Department of Mechanical Engineering (with Aerospace Program)

10/1997 To 11/2001
Senior Staff Scientist (03/1999 To 11/2001)
Staff Scientist (10/1997 To 03/1999)
ICASE at NASA Langley Research Center
Hampton, Virginia, USA

10/1991 To 09/1997
Lecturer (10/1994 To 09/1997)
Postdoctoral Fellow (10/1991 To 09/1994)
The Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
Faculty of Aerospace Engineering

Member of AIAA, American Physical Society (Division of Fluid Dynamics), SIAM

• AFOSR: Modeling of Flow about Pitching and Plunging Airfoil Using High-order Schemes, 2007
• AFOSR: Modeling of Interactions of Ablated Plumes, 2007
• AFOSR: Modeling of Interactions of Ablated Plumes at Various Altitude of Flight, 2008-2009
• AFRL/Ohio: DAGSI Student and Faculty Grant (with Ph.D. student N. Mullenix), PR-2006-4,
  Solution of multiscale problems involving ablation fronts, AFRL Propulsion Directorate, 2006-2009.
• AFRL/Ohio: DAGSI Student and Faculty Grant (with M.Sc. student T. Snyder), RB09-8,
  Drag Computation Using Vorticity Confinement, AFRL Air Vehicles Directorate, 2009-2010
• AFRL/ASEE Summer Faculty Fellowship, WPAFB, Dayton, OH, 2005, 2006, 2007
• AFRL (Air Vehicles Directorate) Summer Faculty Fellowship, WPAFB, Dayton, OH, 2008
• Firestone Award at the University of Akron, 2005, 2008

Summary of Expertise:
I am a "computational experimentalist" who develops and uses CFD high-performance software for in-depth analysis of fluid flow. My research is in the emerging areas of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) including parallel numerical algorithms, computational aeroacoustics, and fluid mechanics for nano-technology. In the area of parallel algorithms, I derived theoretical solutions for processor scheduling algorithms, stability of interfacial boundary conditions, and theoretical models for evaluation of parallelization efficiency for high-order compact implicit numerical schemes. In aeroacoustics, I investigated amplification and scattering of sound in non-uniform flows. In fluid mechanics of nano-technology, I proposed multi-scale models and algorithms for high-pressure carbon oxide (HiPco), laser ablation, and chemical vapor deposition methods for synthesis of carbon nanotubes. Our recent developments include (i) combination of boundary singularity method with molecular methods for Stokes flows in transitional molecular-to-continuum regime, (ii) numerical evaluation of laser irradiation shielding for multiple pulses in laser ablation, combined crater development, heat transfer and phase change, and effect of turbulence on plume dynamics in laser ablation, (iii) development of robust methods for ablation of thermal protecting shield of hypersonic aerospace vehicles, and (iv) modeling of unsteady aerodynamics of flapping airfoils of micro air vehicles using high-order compact schemes

1. .A. Povitsky, K. Pathak, and D. Gaitonde, Dynamics of Plumes Generated by Local Injection of Ablated material, AIAA Journal, Vol. 47, No. 3, pp. 655-668, 2009.
2. H. Gopalan and A. Povitsky, Short Communication: Streamfunction-Potential Function Coordinates for Aeroacoustics and Unsteady Aerodynamics, Int. Journal of Computational Fluid Dynamics, accepted for publication in February 2009. 
3. T. Zheng, A. Povitsky, and G. Vatistas, Vortex-generated Sound in Flow about Spinning Cylinders, Journal of Computational Acoustics, Vol. 16, No. 4, 2008, pp. 577-599.
4. S. Zhao and A. Povitsky, Method of Submerged Stokeslets for Slip Flow about Ensembles of Particles, J. of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Vol. 8, No. 7, 2008, pp. 3790-3801.
5. K. Pathak and A. Povitsky, Multi-time Step Modeling of Plume Dynamics in Carbon Ablation, Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, vol. 8, No. 12, pp. 6075–6081, 2008.
6. K. Pathak and A. Povitsky, Plume Dynamics and Shielding Characteristics of Nano-second Scale Multiple Laser Pulse in Carbon Ablation, Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 104, Issue 11, pp. 113108-113108-10, 2008.
7. S. Zhao and A. Povitsky, Boundary Singularity Method for Partial Slip Flows, International  Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids,  accepted for publication in November 2008, Early view: DOI: 10.1002/fld.1955
8. T. Zheng, G. Vatistas and A. Povitsky, Sound Generation by Street of Vortices in a Non-uniform Flow, Physics of Fluids, Vol. 19, 037103, March 2007.
9. I. Zinovik and A. Povitsky, Modeling of vapor-droplet plumes ablated from multiple spots, Applied Surface Science Journal, Vol. 253, No. 15, 2007, pp. 6371-6377.
10. N. Mullenix and A. Povitsky, Exploration of Pulse Timing for Multiple Laser Hits within a Combined Heat Transfer, Phase Change, and Gas Dynamics Model for Laser Ablation, Applied Surface Science Journal, Vol. 253, No. 15, pp. 6366-6371.
11. K. Pathak and A. Povitsky, Modeling of plume dynamics with shielding in laser ablation of carbon, Applied Surface Science Journal, Vol. 253, No. 15, pp. 6359-6366, 2007.
12. I. Zinovik and A. Povitsky, Dynamics of multiple plumes in laser ablation: modeling of the shielding effect, Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 100, 024911 (2006) (13 pages)
13. T. Zheng, A. Povitsky, and G. Vatistas, Sound Generation by one-cell and two-cell vortices in a non-uniform flow, Journal of Computational Acoustics, Vol. 14, No. 3, 2006.
14. N. Mullenix and A. Povitsky, Comparison of 1D and 2D coupled models of gas dynamics and heat transfer for the laser ablation of carbon, Journal of Computational and Theoretical Nanoscience, Vol. 3, pp. 513–524, 2006.
15. K. Pathak and A. Povitsky, Inviscid, viscous and turbulent models of plume dynamics for laser ablation of carbon, Journal of Computational and Theoretical Nanoscience, 3, pp. 565–578, 2006.
16. K. Pathak, N. Mullenix and A. Povitsky, Combined Thermal and Gas Dynamics Numerical Model for Laser Ablation of Carbon, Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Vol. 6, No. 5, pp.1271-1280, 2006.
17. D. Lobao and A. Povitsky, Single and Multiple Plume Dynamics in Laser Ablation for Nanotube Synthesis, AIAA Journal, Vol. 43, No 3, 2005, pp. 595-608.
18. A. Povitsky,  Three-dimensional Flow in Cavity at Yaw, Journal of Nonlinear Analysis, Volume 63, Issues 5-7, 2005, pp. 1573-1584.
19. A. Povitsky, Fluid dynamics issues in synthesis of carbon nanotubes, International Journal of Nanoscience, Vol. 4, No 1, pp. 73-98, 2005.
20. Zheng TH, Vatistas GH, Povitsky A, Effects of non-linearity on sound generation and propagation in a non-uniform flow,  Transactions of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering, 29 (1): pp. 57-65, 2005.
21. A. Povitsky and M. Salas, Trajectory-based Approach to Jet Mixing and Optimization of the Reactor for Production of Carbon Nanotubes,   AIAA Journal, Vol. 41, No. 11, 2003, pp. 2130-2143.
22. A. Povitsky, T. Zheng, and G. Vatistas, Effect of Vortex Profile on Sound Generation in a Non-uniform Flow, Mathematics & Computers in Simulation,  Vol. 65, No. 4-5, pp 447-469, 2004.
23. D. Lobao and A. Povitsky, Furnace Geometry Effects on Plume Dynamics in Laser Ablation, Mathematics & Computers in Simulation, Vol. 65, N 4-5, pp 365-385, 2004.
24. C. Scott, A. Povitsky, C. Dateo, T. Gokcen, P. Willis and R.E. Smalley, Iron Catalyst Chemistry in Modeling a High Pressure Carbon Monoxide Nanotube Reactor, Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Vol. 3, No. 2, 2003, pp. 63-73.
25. A. Povitsky, Parallel ADI Solver Based on Processor Scheduling, Applied Mathematics and Computations, Vol. 133, No. 1, 2002, preliminary version: ICASE Report 98-45.
26. A. Povitsky, Numerical Study of Wave Propagation in a Compressible Non-uniform Flow, Physics of Fluids, Vol. 14, No 8, August 2002,  preliminary version: ICASE Report 2000-35.
27. A. Povitsky, Improving Jet Reactor Configuration for Production of Carbon Nanotubes, Computers and Fluids, Vol. 31, No. 8, April 2002, preliminary version: ICASE Report 2000-18.
28. A. Povitsky, Wave front cache-friendly algorithm for compact numerical schemes, Applied Mathematics Letters, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 449-454, 2001, preliminary version ICASE Report 99-40.
29. A. Povitsky and P. Morris, Parallel Compact Multi-Dimensional Numerical Algorithm with Application to Aeroacoustics, Journal of Computational Physics, Vol. 161, pp. 182-203, 2000, preliminary version ICASE Report 99-34.
30. A. Povitsky, On Aeroacoustics of a Stagnation Flow near a Rigid Wall, Physics of Fluids, Vol. 12, No 10, 2000, see also ICASE Report 99-48.
31. A. Chatterjee and A. Povitsky, Computational Study of Curved Shock-Vortex Interactions, International Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids, Vol. 30, pp. 257-277, 1999.
32. A. Povitsky and D. Ofengeim, Numerical Study of Interaction of a Vortical Density Inhomogeneity with Shock and Expansion Waves, International Journal of Computational Fluid Dynamics (IJCFD), Vol. 12, pp. 165-176, 1999, preliminary version ICASE Report 98-10.
33. A. Povitsky, Parallelization of Pipelined Algorithms for Sets of Linear Banded Systems, Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing, Vol. 59, pp 68-97, 1999.
34. A. Povitsky,  Efficient Parallelization  of a Parabolized Flow Solver, Computers and Fluids, Vol. 27, No. 8, pp. 985-1000, 1998.
35. A. Povitsky and M. Wolfshtein,  Parallelization Efficiency of CFD Problems on a  MIMD Computer, Computers and Fluids, Vol. 26, No. 4, pp. 359-371, 1997.
36. A. Povitsky and M. Wolfshtein, Multi-domain Implicit Numerical Scheme, International Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids,  Vol. 25, pp. 547-566, 1997.
37. A. Povitsky and Y. Goldman, Solid Fuel Gas Turbine and Ash Separation System, Fuel, Vol. 75, No. 5, pp. 551-559, 1996.

Recent Papers, Published in Refereed Conference Proceedings

1. H. Gopalan and A. Povitsky, Streamfunction-Potential function coordinates in computational aeroacoustics, the 37th AIAA Fluid Dynamics Conference, AIAA Paper 2007-4108, June 2007.
2. N. Mullenix, A. Povitsky, and D. Gaitonde, Modeling of Local Intense Ablation in Hypersonic Flight, the 15th AIAA International Space Planes and Hypersonic Systems and Technologies Conference, Dayton, OH, May 2008. AIAA Paper 2008-2555.
3. H. Gopalan and A. Povitsky, A Numerical Study of Gust Suppression by Flapping Airfoils, the 26th AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Conference, Honolulu, HW, August 2008. AIAA Paper 2008-6394.
4. A. Povitsky, K. Pathak and D. Gaitonde, Dynamics of Multiple Plumes Generated by Local Injection of Ablated Material, the 46th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit, Reno, January 2008, AIAA  Paper  2008-0577.
5. N. Mullenix and A. Povitsky, Comparison of Hertz-Knudsen and Ytrehus Carbon Ablation Rates Using a Reactive-Riemann Solver, the 46th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit, Reno, January 2008, AIAA Paper 2008-1222.
6. S. Zhao and A. Povitsky, Boundary singularity method for partial slip flows, the 37th AIAA Fluid Dynamics Conference, AIAA Paper 2007-3989, June 2007.
7. T. Zheng, G. Vatistas and A. Povitsky, Sound Generation by Street of Vortices in a Non-uniform Flow, AIAA Paper 2005-5160, the 35th  AIAA Fluid Dynamics Conference and Exhibit, Toronto, ON, Canada, June 2005.
8. T. Zheng, A. Povitsky and G. Vatistas,  Aeroacoustics and Unsteady Pressure Load on Multiple Lifting Bodies, AIAA Paper 2006-0214, Presented at the 44th Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Jan. 2006, Reno, NV.
9. K. Pathak and A. Povitsky, Millisecond-range CFD modeling of laser ablated plumes, in the Proceedings of the 3rd MIT Conference of Computational Solid and Fluid Mechanics, pp 797-801, June 2005.
10. K. Pathak and A. Povitsky,  Inviscid and Viscous CFD Modeling of Plume Dynamics in Laser Ablation, in Proceedings of the Conference on Analysis, Modeling and Computation of PDE and Multiphase Flow, and celebrating the 70th birthday of Professor James Glimm, SUNY Stony Brook, 2004.
11. A. Povitsky, T. Zheng, and G. Vatistas, Numerical Study of Propagation and Scattering of Sound by Two cylinders, in Proceedings of  the 4th Computational Aeroacoustics (CAA) Workshop on Benchmark Problems, NASA Glenn Research Center, October 2003.
12. A. Povitsky, T. Zheng, and G. Vatistas, Effect of Vortex Profile on Sound Generation in a Non-uniform Flow , in Proceedings of ICCSA-2003, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 2668, pp. 826-837, 2003.
13. D. Lobao and A. Povitsky, Single and Multiple Plume Dynamics in Laser Ablation for Nanotube Synthesis, AIAA Paper # 2003-3923, July 2003.
14. D. Lobao and A. Povitsky, Modeling of Plume Dynamics and Shock Waves in Laser Ablation with Application to nano-technology, in Proceedings of ICCSA-2003, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 2668, pp. 871-880, 2003.