Rufat Kulakhmetov is a PhD student working on an NSTRF funded project to study coke and soot deposition in fuel film cooled kerosene rocket engines. Rufat got his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Connecticut and his Masters in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from Purdue, before deciding to continue for PhD. In his free time, he enjoys biking, flying general aviation airplanes, and building remote control airplanes or helicopters.