BARC successfully hosted the 2025 Boeing-UW Annual Research Review on Wednesday, May 28, 2025, at the Boeing Field in Seattle. The event brought together faculty, student researchers, and industry leaders to showcase collaborative advancements in aerospace engineering, manufacturing, and systems optimization.
The review was attended by UW and Boeing leadership with Jihui Yang, Vice Dean of the UW College of Engineering, and Steve Chisholm, Boeing Vice President of Mechanical and Structural Engineering present; highlighting the ongoing impact and strategic importance of the UW-Boeing partnership.
Research Presentation Highlights
- AI and Data-Driven Engineering – Prof. Steven Brunton and Boeing Lead Agnes Blom-Schieber
- Technical sessions with advancements in AI/ML for data-driven engineering.
- Aerodynamics and Coating Erosion – Prof. Antonino Ferrante and Prof. Owen Williams
- Coating rain erosion modeling, detailed stall dynamics and sensitivities on the high-lift CRM model.
- Systems and Optimization – Prof. Christina Mastrangelo and Prof. Aniruddh Vashisth
- Projects focused on production efficiency included production system network analysis and treatment line schedule optimization.
- Advanced Manufacturing – Prof. Dwayne Arola, Prof. Richard Wiebe, Prof. Lucas Meza, and Prof. Krithika Manohar
- Several projects highlighting innovations in manufacturing, including Ti6Al4V powder bed fusion, additively manufactured polymer structures, predictive assembly FEM, and large adaptive tooling.
- Emerging Technologies & Robotics – Prof. Sara Mouradian, Prof. Santosh Devasia, and Prof. Xu Chen
- New technologies and robotics application areas including the ion trapping test bed, robotic laser ablation, and non-destructive inspection methods.
Visiting Professor Program
We also introduced the 2025’s Boeing Visiting Professor Program (VPP) awardees from UW: Luna Huang, Chiwoo Park, and Ji-Eun Kim.
BARC Awards
We are excited to announce the recipients of the newly established BARC Awards. These awards recognize the outstanding contributions of our faculty, industry partners, and student researchers who drive forward the mission of BARC. Congratulations to the following awardees for their dedication to research excellence, mentorship, and impactful collaboration.
Outstanding Boeing PI Award
This award recognizes Boeing Principal Investigators who demonstrate exceptional commitment to student development and project success.
2025 Recipients:
- Agnes Blom-Schieber
- Nominated by PhD student Richard Lu and MS student Chinmay Ratnaparkhe.
- Recognized for her exceptional mentorship and dedication to the wrinkle detection and modeling project.
- Karen Schultz
- Nominated by PhD student Ankush Nandi.
- Recognized for her transformative mentorship and guidance to the paint adhesion enhancement for thermoplastics project.
BARC Research Excellence Award
This award celebrates projects that exemplify high intellectual merit and significantly advance technology adoption within Boeing.
2025 Winning Projects & Teams:
1. Large Adaptive Tooling
- UW Researchers: Mohamed Safwat, Anand Krishnan, Kaleb Yohannes, Henry Chang, and Yudong Lin.
- PIs & Advisors: Krithika Manohar (UW), Santosh Devasia (UW), Monica Tatar (Boeing), Branko Lakic (Boeing), Gary Buckus (Boeing), and Ricardo Herrera (Boeing).
- Nominated by Prof. Krithika Manohar.
- Project Impact: The technology transition is expected to impact multiple moderate- to large-scale assemblies at Boeing. The team is currently working on two publications focusing on optimal actuator placement and the convergence of the shape control algorithm. The students involved are leading at the cutting edge of data-driven design and control for aerospace manufacturing, setting a high standard for future AI-integrated engineering research.
2. Surface Treatment of Carbon Fiber-PEKK Composites (TP Adhesion)
- UW Researchers: Ankush Nandi, Agni Biswal, Eric Behling, Lily Nordyke, Alex Nguyen.
- PIs & Advisors: Aniruddh Vashisth (UW), Karen Schultz (Boeing), Sam Pedigo (UW), Prerana Panchumarti (Boeing), Nahti Keo (Boeing).
- Nominated by Prof. Aniruddh Vashisth.
- Project Impact: This research revealed how plasma treatment improves surface functionality, wettability, and adhesion without degrading bulk mechanical properties, notably outperforming traditional flame and chemical treatments. This work supports Boeing’s strategic goals regarding efficient and scalable surface preparation techniques for advanced composite structures and resulted in a 2024 publication in Applied Surface Science.
Outstanding Junior Student Researcher Award
This award highlights the hard work and growth of our junior researchers who have made significant contributions to their respective teams.
2025 Recipients:
- Chinmay Ratnaparkhe, Mechanical Engineering
- Nominated by Prof. Krithika Manohar.
- Chinmay is a 1st-year MS student, recognized for their excellent work in the wrinkle modeling and detection project.
- Koray Mentesoglu, Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Nominated by Prof. Sara Mouradian.
- Koray is a 1st-year PhD student, recognized for their major contributions to building scalable systems for trapped-ion quantum technologies
Thanks to all those involved for making this year’s research showcase a great success! Boeing and the University of Washington have a rich history of collaborative research. We are always grateful to be able to hear from and showcase our talented researchers and the incredible advancements made over the past year.