Damiano Baccarella

Biography

2025-Present
Assistant Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department
University of Tennessee, Knoxville

2019-2025
Assistant Professor, Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering Department
University of Tennessee, Knoxville

2018-2019
Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Center for Exascale Simulation of Plasma-Coupled Combustion
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

2015-2018
Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

2013-2015
Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
University of Notre Dame

2006-2013
Research Engineer, Aerothermodynamics Laboratory, Alta SpA, Pisa, Italy

Education

• PhD, 2018, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• MS, 2006, University of Pisa

Research

• Hypersonic aerothermodynamics
• Atmospheric re-entry
• High-speed propulsion systems
• High-enthalpy wind tunnels
• Plasma flow control
• Plasma assisted combustion
• Laser diagnostics

Professional Service

• AIAA Associate Fellow
• ASME Member
• Member of the AIAA Ground Testing Technical Committee
• Reviewer for AIAA Jornal, Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Combustion and Flame, Journal of Thermophysics and Heat Transfer, etc.

Awards and Recognitions

• 2026 MAE “The Momentum” Award
• 2025 NASA Early Career Faculty (ECF) Award
• 2021 Louis and Ann Hoffman Endowed Excellence in Research Award
• 2020 AFOSR Young Investigator Program (YIP) Award 

Recent Publications

• Isaacs C., Samuels K., Baccarella D. (2026). Freestream Flow Reconstruction from Heat Flux and Pressure Measurements in a Mach 6 Arcjet Tunnel. ASME J. Fluids Eng., June 2026; 148(6): 061502.
• Samuels K., Baccarella, D. (2026). Nonequilibrium Analysis of Emission Spectra in the Plenum Chamber of an Arcjet Wind Tunnel. Aerospace Science and Technology, Volume 172, May 2026, pp. 111721.
• Isaacs C., Trotsky M., Samuels K., Dove D., Kihm K., Baccarella D. (2026). Aerothermal Testing in a Pulsed Arcjet Tunnel with Laser Preheating. Journal of Thermophysics and Heat Transfer, Published Online: 13 Jan 2026.
• Bryan A., Drewry S., Isaacs C., Trotsky M., Cladek B., Stewart N., Davis J., Young S., Baccarella D., Page K., Penumadu D. (2026). Multiscale structural evolution and permeability in a commercial carbon/carbon composite under arc-jet ablation. Carbon Trends, Volume 22, January 2026, pp. 100604.
• Samuels K., Isaacs C., Baccarella D. (2025). Emission Spectroscopy Through Converging–Diverging Nozzle of Hypersonic Arcjet Tunnel. AIAA Journal, Vol. 64, No. 2, pp. 744–758.
• Trotsky M., Baccarella D. (2025). Development and validation of an in-situ recession measurement technique for ablative materials. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 58(32), pp. 325305.
• Baccarella D., Samuels K. (2024). Characterization of University of Tennessee High-Enthalpy Tunnel with Nitrogen Flow. Journal of Thermophysics and Heat Transfer, 39(3), pp. 454–467.
• Trotsky M., Isaacs C., Samuels K., Baccarella D. (2024). HyperMATE: A Novel Aerothermal Testing Facility at the University of Tennessee. J. Thermal Sci. Eng. Appl., Oct 2024, 16(10): 101010.