Benjamin Diaz Villa received his bachelor’s degree in 2021 in mechanical engineering at the University of Houston, then headed to The University of Texas at Austin, where he earned his master’s degree in 2022 and is a current PhD student in aerospace engineering. His research centers on hypersonic aeroelasticity — designing and building a flexible model and conducting fluid-structural interaction measurements in a Mach 5 wind tunnel. In the future, he will apply this work to hypersonic air-breathing propulsion, planetary re-entry, space travel, and hypersonic end-game scenarios. Deeply committed to mentorship and outreach in underserved areas, he wrote a grant proposal and received more than $4,000 in seed money, which he used to conduct a STEM camp that was attended by over 40 high school students — with more than 40 percent of them being from migrant communities. As an undergraduate, he procured a $5,000 grant to create and direct an aviation camp for underrepresented children. In addition, Villa developed a writing workshop to help aerospace graduate students apply for external fellowships and formulated a crash course on using computational fluid dynamics software. He founded the Young Latino Scholarship Fund, which is endowed through funds raised at an annual music recital in which he serves as organizer/host and piano player. As a professor, he vows to engage students through empowerment, collaboration, self-assessment, and inclusivity.

Research Interests

Hypersonic Aerothermoelasticity, Hypersonic Fluid-Structure Interaction