Dr. Stephen Heister, the Raisbeck Engineering Distinguished Professor in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, has been named the Director of Maurice J. Zucrow Laboratories effective March 1, 2011.   Professor Heister was selected for this position through a search process and has agreed to provide leadership to the MJZ Labs in its quest for stronger recognition of its accomplishments around the campus as well as in the US.   He will have a joint appointment in the schools of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics and Astronautics Engineering.

Prof. Heister graduated with a B.S.E.  in Aerospace Engineering, from The University of Michigan in 1981.  He stayed at Michigan and obtained his M.S.E. degree in 1983.  Prof. Heister then went to the University of California at Los Angeles where he earned his Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering in 1988.  Prof. Heister joined Purdue in 1990 as an Assistant Professor with over eight years work experience at The Aerospace Corporation and Lockheed-Martin (formerly Lockheed California Company).  His research interests include rocket injector flows, atomization, combustion instability, and rocket design.  He maintains an active research program funded by government agencies such as the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Army Research Office, as well as private industry funding from companies such as Rolls-Royce, Aerojet, Allied Signal Aerospace, Cummins Engine Company, IBM, and Proctor and Gamble.

Professor Heister teaches courses in jet propulsion, rocket propulsion, and atomization modeling (stability of free surfaces).  He is a four-time winner of the Bruhn Teaching Award, and has received numerous nominations for other teaching honors.  In 2003 he was named a Purdue University Faculty Scholar and in 2005 he was the recipient of the C.T. Sun Research Award.  He is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and has served as a member of the Institute of Liquid Atomization and Spray Systems (ILASS).