Darshan Yadav is a lecturer in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at UCF. He received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the Florida Institute of Technology in 2023. His doctoral research focused on improving mechanical characteristics of additively manufactured parts using ultrafast lasers for surface modifications. Prior to joining UCF, he also served as a faculty at Florida Institute of Technology where he taught undergraduate and graduate level classes in computer-aided design and engineering, mechanics of materials and structural dynamics.

 He is a PI of more than $17 million in research funding from various organizations including NASA, Aerojet Rocketdyne, GE and Siemens. He is leading prime research in detonations for hypersonics and power generation research for AFOSR and DOE, both of which are the first to be explored in the U.S.

He has authored over 100 scholarly articles and is an AIAA Associate Fellow. He also received multiple special awards, including the American Chemical Society — Doctoral New Investigator Award and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research Faculty Fellowship. His achievements in the area of propulsion related to aeronautics and astronautics resulted in his election to the AIAA 2019 Class of Associate Fellows.