UC aerospace professor named Rowe Endowed Chair

University of Cincinnati Professor Kelly Cohen was named the Brian H. Rowe Endowed Chair in aerospace engineering.

The honor is bestowed every five years upon a faculty member in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics and is awarded based on excellence in research, education and service.

Cohen has been a faculty member at UC's College of Engineering and Applied Science, or CEAS, for more than 10 years and currently serves as interim head of the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics.

His career is marked by achievement in the field of aerospace engineering and education, including the UC Dolly Cohen Award for Excellence in Teaching, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Outstanding Technical Contribution Application Award, the CEAS Distinguished Researcher Award and the Greater Cincinnati Consortium of Colleges and Universities Excellence in Teaching Award, among many others. What keeps Cohen going is his commitment to and support for those around him.

“I enjoy mentoring,” Cohen said. “The success of my students make me tick. And now as interim department head, that also includes the success of my faculty.”

Speaking to Cohen’s dedication to his students, former Rowe Endowed Chair Awatef Hamed, PhD, wrote that Cohen "nurtures his students, gets them all excited about research and brings the best out of them. ... He is constantly finding ways in which he can champion the cause of his students and succeeds a great deal to showcase their efforts.”

As a researcher, Cohen is a renowned expert in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles and fuzzy-logic-based artificial intelligence. His extensive teaching and research background ranges from collaborative drone control and task planning, multi-agent decisionmaking and disaster management to package delivery and control for feedback aerodynamic flow control.

As interim department head, Cohen recently introduced a lecture series for aerospace graduate students of the college. The series brings various industry professionals to campus to discuss topics spanning from the U.S. Air Force’s use of digital enterprise to reusable launch and flight systems.

“We use these seminars to energize our students and provide them with a wide spectrum of information that cannot be gained from textbooks alone,” Cohen said. “It is part of giving our graduate students a well-rounded education.”

The department just confirmed that Jim Hansen, author of the Neil Armstrong biography, First Man, that inspired the Hollywood blockbuster, will be speaking as part of the 50^th anniversary lunar landing celebration event, scheduled for Aug. 30, 2019.

Cohen’s career success in the field is reflected his numerous achievements and publications, but his dedication to his profession, the department and the college is never more obvious than in his mentoring of students.

“I’m very passionate about giving my students the best possible vehicle for success,” said Cohen. “My favorite part about working at UC is that feeling I get when I see my students succeed.”