Charbel Farhat

Charbel Farhat is the Vivian Church Hoff Professor of Aircraft Structures and Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University's School of Engineering. He chairs the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and has led significant initiatives such as the Stanford-King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology Center. His research focuses on computational methods for multiphysics problems in aerospace engineering, including fluid-structure interaction, digital twinning, and uncertainty quantification. Farhat has authored over 650 publications and holds prestigious awards like the Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship and multiple honorary doctorates.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, University of California, Berkeley (1987)
• MS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, UC Berkeley (1986)
• MS in Structural Engineering, UC Berkeley (1984)
• MS in Applied Mechanics, Université de Paris VI (1983)
• Engineering Diploma, Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures (1983)

Research Interests: Farhat's work emphasizes advanced computational algorithms for aerospace systems, including autonomous carrier landing dynamics, hypersonic trajectory analysis, and physics-based machine learning. His group develops high-performance software for digital twinning and model reduction techniques to address complex engineering challenges. Recent efforts include supersonic parachute dynamics modeling and probabilistic learning frameworks for uncertainty quantification.

Awards & Recognition:

• Member of National Academy of Engineering (U.S.), Royal Academy of Engineering (UK), and Lebanese Academy of Sciences
• Fellowships from AIAA, ASME, SIAM, and multiple computational mechanics societies
• Recipient of the Gordon Bell Prize, John von Neumann Medal, and Gauss-Newton Medal

Advising & Grants: Farhat supervises doctoral and master's students in advanced computational methods. His research is funded by NSF, AFOSR, ONR, NASA, and industry partners like Boeing and Lockheed-Martin. He advises on national boards and editorial roles for journals like the International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering.

Labs & Teams: Leads the Farhat Research Group (FRG) at Stanford, focusing on Simulation-Based Engineering Science. Collaborates internationally on projects like the Army High Performance Computing Research Center and the Stanford-King Abdulaziz Center.