Master of Science for Teachers Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Mostafa Hassanalian

Educational background:

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the director of the Autonomous Flight and Aquatic Systems Laboratory (AFASL) at New Mexico Tech. I earned my Ph.D. and Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from New Mexico State University in July 2018 and December 2016, respectively.

Career achievements and research highlights:

My main research interests are in the fields of unmanned aerial and aquatic systems, bioinspiration and biomimetics, swarm and formation flight, novel mechanisms for space exploration, heated boundary layer and drag reduction mechanisms. I serve as PI and Co-PI of ~$5M from NASA, NSF, NIOSH-CDC, and Alpha Foundation. During the past five years, I have authored over 160 peer-reviewed journal and conference publications. Some parts of my research have been featured by Science Magazine, Coalage, NBC, New Scientist, Forbes, Discover Magazine, WOWScience, etc. I am currently serving as the advisor of 15 graduate students and about 50 undergraduate students. I am the faculty advisor of the New Mexico Tech American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and Society of Allied Weight Engineers (SAWE) student chapters.

Why you teach for the MST program:

I would love to teach to different audiences, including MST teachers. I believe MST is a bridge that we as faculty can transfer our knowledge to K-12.

What courses you teach for the MST program:

I am currently teaching Intro to UAS for MST and plan to develop a new course (Engineered Biomimicry) for MST.

I am also running the NMT K-12 drone program. New Mexico Tech drone program would motivate and equip high school students to develop 21st-century skills and pursue careers in STEM disciplines. New Mexico Tech drone program (Team Drone New Mexico) will be a high-level STEM Engineering curriculum in which high school students in their junior and senior years will design and build different types of fixed-wing or multirotors Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs) for well-defined missions.

The program utilizes an array of activities to build the drone education capacity of New Mexico. The activities are coordinated by an advisory panel of Industry professionals and NMT/k-12 Educators, which are linked together to recruit, educate, and prepare future generations of students. The proposed project initially targets junior and senior high school students from the state of New Mexico to increase their exposure to in-depth STEM activities and encourage them to pursue a career in STEM fields. The program will essentially involve multiple disciplines of New Mexico Tech to build the institutional education capacity of drones.

The high school-level drone program at NMT provides these opportunities by connecting state students to challenges that encourage innovation, critical thinking, and problem-solving. The program activities include:

• In-depth, multi-layered learning experiences for high school students within rural, tribal, and other underserved communities in New Mexico(NM);

• Mentorship between NMT students and state high schools’ students and their teachers;

• Professional development workshops and classes for high school teachers and out-of-school time informal educators within underserved rural and tribal communities through NMT Master of Science for Teachers (MST) program;

We have established a drone cage along with virtual reality devices and flight simulators in Skeen Library (NMT) that is equipped with multiple tracking systems, sensors, cameras, wind generators, obstacles, drones, work-stations, etc. Besides the outreach activities, this setup is used by NMT students for flight training purposes and their relevant research.