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April 2013, Falls

April 2013 Member Spotlight: Jaye Falls


  Meet Our April Member of the Month
 

Jaye Falls, Ph.D.

Employer and Position:

United States Naval Academy
Assistant Professor, Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering
Engineering and Weapons Division

Education:
B.S. Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, Webb Institute, 1995
S.M. Ocean Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1997
Ph.D.
Aerospace Engineering, University of Maryland, 2010

Section:
Chesapeake

SNAME Position:
Chairman, Chesapeake Sailing Yacht Symposium
      


Jaye Falls, Ph.D.

Jaye Falls joined SNAME while still at Webb Institute, in part for textbooks that still hold pride of place in her office. Her career has been focused on structural analysis and design, starting with advanced double hull concepts and extending to other commercial and naval vessels, sailing yachts, and helicopters.

After some years working as a naval architect and developing expertise in finite element analysis at NSWCCD and Proteus Engineering, Dr. Falls worked with an America's Cup syndicate as part of a large design team.  The high level of technical achievement and tight integration between the hydrodynamic and structural teams inspired her to seek her Ph.D. in fluid-structure interaction.  The subsequent work concentrated on helicopter dynamics (aerodynamics, aeroelastic response, and vibration control), and built on her previous experience with FEA.  Her current position at the United States Naval Academy includes teaching structural analysis, material science and fabrication to midshipmen.  Current research projects involve the resistance and seakeeping of an innovative trimaran hullform, and the modeling and simulation of a helicopter-towed sonar body system.

Dr. Falls has served with the Chesapeake Sailing Yacht Symposium since 2005, filling a variety of roles, most recently as chair of the 21st symposium.  She volunteers with ASNE, through the Flagship section, the Annapolis student section, and the scholarship committee.  Through the STEM program at USNA, she was featured in an episode of the PBS program "Sci-Girls", and enjoys volunteering for STEM outreach programs in the Annapolis area.