The named chair will enable the longtime AE professor and researcher to deepen the scope of his work.
Regents Professor and NAE member Vigor Yang
Prof. Vigor Yang
Ralph N. Read Chair

Professor Vigor Yang has been named the inaugural recipient of the Ralph N. Read Chair, a new resource recently made available to the Daniel Guggenheim School through a generous bequest from the estate of Jane B. Read.

Another provision from that estate established the Ralph N. Read Endowment, a discretionary fund set aside to further research in space exploration and travel.

“We are delighted to be able to honor Professor Vigor Yang as the inaugural chair holder, and we trust that the prestige and resources afforded by this appointment will expand the research and educational impact of our school,” said Mark F. Costello, the William R.T. Oakes Professor and Chair of the Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering.

"The Ralph N. Read Chair provides critical resources to enable the School to attract and retain the very best faculty in the world who are creating new technology that facilitates the exploration of the frontiers of space.”

In addition to supporting valuable research, endowed chairs enhance a school’s ability to attract and retain highly qualified faculty and students.

Yang has been with the Guggenheim School for more than a decade - first, as the School Chair (2009 to 2018), and, more recently, as a member of the faculty, where he was named a Regents' Professor last year. Yang's research interests include data-enabled design and data science; combustion dynamics in propulsion and power-generation systems; multi-fidelity modeling and simulations of fluid flows and combustion; combustion of energetic materials, high-pressure transport phenomena; thermodynamics, and combustion; and nanotechnologies for propulsion. Yang is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, and is a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the Royal Aeronautical Society.

“I am truly honored and humbled by the generosity and trust provided by the estate of Mary Jane B. Read,” Yang said. “The prestige and resources afforded by this appointment will allow me to further contribute to the research and educational impact of the AE School.”