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Brent Rankin
"My undergraduate and graduate education in Purdue Engineering provided an outstanding foundation and contributed significantly to my career at the Air Force Research Laboratory. I especially value Purdue Engineering's emphasis on connecting fundamental knowledge with practical applications and on relating theory with experimentation to address important engineering grand challenge problems with global impact on local communities. The excellent faculty, staff, and students at Purdue foster an exceptional culture of continual learning through coursework, research, and outreach which I remember today with sincere appreciation. I will continue to rely upon lessons learned at Purdue throughout my career today, tomorrow, and beyond."
Brent Rankin | Mechanical Engineering
Senior Research Engineer and Lead, Combustion Research Complex, Air Force Research Laboratory
As a senior research engineer and lead for the Combustion Research Complex at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL),
Brent Rankin heads up a team who delivers present and future Air Force propulsion capabilities for long-range air
superiority, rapid global mobility, affordable precision engagement, high-speed strike, and long-endurance intelligence,
surveillance and reconnaissance. Rankin pioneered the application of optical diagnostic techniques to rotating
detonation engines (RDEs), which have the potential for higher thermodynamic efficiencies and increase range, speed, and
endurance in United States Air Force (USAF) systems propelled by gas turbine, ramjet, and rocket engines. He also
acquired the first-ever chemiluminescence and mid-infrared images of RDEs, providing critical experimental data useful
for validating models, improving fundamental understanding, and enhancing operation and performance of RDEs for
next-generation USAF propulsion systems.
Another career accomplishment involved serving as the special assistant to the USAF chief scientist at the Pentagon,
where he contributed to the science and technology strategy that provides a new vision, direction, and guiding
principles for 2030 and beyond.
Rankin has authored more than 110 publications in internationally recognized journals and conference proceedings and has
delivered many invited presentations. His publications have been cited more than 2,000 times, including five papers with
more than 100 citations each and an h-index of 20. He is the recipient of the National Research Council Fellowship Award
and the AFRL Early Career Award, and he is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and an associate
fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.