Masha FolkView profile
Assistant Professor
Masha Folk is the Charles Stark Draper Career Development Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge and has extensive industry experience at Rolls-Royce as an Aerothermal Specialist and Turbine Aerodynamicist. Her research focuses on sustainable aerospace technologies, particularly gas turbine aerodynamics and sustainable propulsion systems, with a goal to accelerate carbon-neutral aviation. Education: Ph.D. in Energy, Fluids and Turbomachinery, University of Cambridge (2020) M.Res. in Energy, Fluids and Turbomachinery, University of Cambridge (2015) M.S. in Aerospace Engineering, Purdue University (2014) B.S. in Aerospace Engineering, Ohio State University (2010) Research Interests: Her work emphasizes gas turbine aerodynamics, sustainable propulsion systems, and technology transfer to real-world applications. Key topics include combustor turbulence effects on turbine performance, aerothermal design optimization, and climate change mitigation strategies for aviation. Publications: Her recent work explores multifidelity optimization of combustor turbulence, boundary layer dissipation, and turbine loss mechanisms. These studies highlight advancements in computational fluid dynamics and experimental validation of turbine systems. Awards: 2021 ASME Gas Turbine Award for Most Outstanding Technical Paper 2019 ASME/IGTI Turbomachinery Committee Best Paper (GT2019-90307) 2015 Zonta International Amelia Earhart Fellowship Lab Affiliation: Gas Turbine Lab at MIT, focusing on experimental and computational studies of turbine aerodynamics and sustainable propulsion systems.










