Laxminarayan L. Raja

Laxminarayan L. Raja is Professor holding the Robert L. Parker Sr. Professorship in Engineering within the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at the Cockrell College of Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, and is affiliated with the Predictive Engineering and Computational Sciences research center.

His educational qualifications include:

• Ph.D in Mechanical Engineering
• M.S. in Nuclear Engineering
• B. Tech in Aerospace Engineering

Dr. Raja's research spans fundamental and applied plasma science with emphasis on computational modeling. Key focus areas include:

• Non-thermal and thermal plasma phenomena
• Chemically reactive flow dynamics
• Combustion physics with plasma-assisted ignition and flame stabilization
• Spacecraft electric propulsion systems (Micro-Cavity Discharge Thrusters)
• High-speed aerodynamic flow control for supersonic/hypersonic applications
• Materials processing techniques including atomic layer deposition

His group develops multidimensional plasma models and particle simulations using high-performance computing infrastructure.

Dr. Raja has received significant recognition including:

• National Science Foundation CAREER award (2001)
• Robert L. Parker Sr. Professorship in Engineering

His research program has secured continuous funding from major federal agencies including NSF, AFOSR, ARO, NRL, and DoE. With over 130 peer-reviewed journal publications and 200+ conference presentations, he actively mentors graduate students and collaborates with institutions like Stanford University and Colorado School of Mines. Dr. Raja leads the Plasma Research Laboratory and serves on the AIAA Plasma Dynamics and Lasers Technical Committee, having chaired major conferences including AIAA SciTech 2014 and the 65th Gaseous Electronics Conference.