Skip to main content
Headshot of Subith Vasu

Subith Vasu

Professor

Email: subith@ucf.edu
Phone: 407-823-3468
Office: ENG I, Room 407F

VASU Lab

Subith Vasu, a professor at UCF in Orlando, is an expert in spectroscopy and optical diagnostics. Before joining UCF in 2012 as an assistant professor, he was a postdoc at Sandia National Labs after obtaining his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 2010, and his B.Tech from the India Institute of Technology in Madras, India. His research group at UCF, which currently consists of 12 Ph.D. students, one graduate student, and three postdocs, have authored more than 70 journal articles, and more than 150 conference articles using diagnostic sensors for a variety of applications including power generation, propulsion, transportation, explosions and spacecraft air quality monitoring.

UCF’s shock tube and novel laser diagnostic techniques are used to investigate various problems relevant to advanced combustion systems under practical conditions. The strategy of using shock tubes provide an ideal device for acquiring ignition delay times, species concentration time-histories, and reaction rates while laser-based diagnostic studies are non-intrusive, provide in-situ measurements (e.g., concentration of individual species including trace species, and temperature), and have fast-time response (micro-second). In addition to providing crucial knowledge about the reacting systems, measurements will provide critical validation targets for computational fluid dynamic modelers.

Graduates from Vasu’s group hold key positions in academia, national labs and industry. He is a recipient of the following prestigious early career national awards: the 2018 DARPA Young Faculty Award, the 2016 DTRA Young Investigator Award, and the 2015 ACS Doctoral New Investigator Award. He has also received multiple international awards including the 2017 ASME Dilip Ballal Early Career Award (only one international award is given per year); and the 2018 SAE Ralph R Teetor Educational Award (an international award dating back to 1963). In addition, he has received much recognition from UCF including the 2017 Inaugural Luminary Award, the 2016 Reach for the Stars Award and the 2017 CECS Deans Advisory Board Award.

  • Optical diagnostics and sensors development
  • Shock tubes and shock waves
  • Supercritical CO2 powercycles
  • Chemical kinetics and applications in propulsion, space, and planetary science

. (UGUndergraduate Student Co-author; GGraduate Student Co-author; PPost-doc)

  • GB. Almansour; S. Gupta; Subith Vasu; “Reduction of Cyclic Variations by Using Advanced Ignition Systems in a Lean-Burn Stationary Natural Gas Engine Operating at 10 Bar BMEP and 1800 rpm”, SAE Int. J. of Engines, 2019, 12(1).
  • GS. Neupane, UGC.E. Bishop, R. Peale, S. Vasu, “FTIR absorption cross section measurements of several organo phosphorus compounds used as chemical weapon simulants”, J. Mol. Spec. 2019, 355, 59-65.
  • UGE. Wait; A. Masunov; S.S. Vasu; “Quantum Chemical and Master Equation Study of OH + CH2O → H2O + CHO Reaction Rates in Supercritical CO2 Environment”,Int. J. Chem. Kinet., 2019, 51, 1, 42-48, Selected as Cover Image.
  • GB. Almansour; GG. Kim; S. Vasu; “The effect of diluent gases on high pressure laminar burning velocity measurements of advanced biofuels”, SAE Int. J. of Fuels and Lubs., 2018, 11(4).
  • GS. Barak; GE. Ninnemann; GS. Neupane; PF. Barnes; J. Kapat; S.S. Vasu; “High pressure ignition delay times measurements and comparison of the performance of several oxy-syngas mechanisms under high CO2 dilution”, J. of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power-Transactions of the ASME, 2018; 141(2):021011.
  • Chong-Wen Zhou, Yang Li, Ultan Burke, Kieran P. Somers, Saadat Khan, Joshua W. Hargis, Travis Sikes, Eric L. Petersen, Mohammed AlAbbad, Aamir Farooq, Youshun Pan, Yingjia Zhang, Zuohua Huang, GJoseph Lopez, GZachary Loparo, Subith S. Vasu, Henry J. Curran, “An Experimental and Chemical Kinetic Modeling Study of 1,3-Butadiene Combustion: Ignition delay time and laminar flame speed measurements”, Combust. and Flame., 197, 2018, 423-438.
  • GS. Neupane, GS. Barak, GE. Ninnemann, GZ. Loparo, A.E. Masunov, S.S. Vasu, “Shock Tube/ Laser Absorption Experiments and Kinetic Modelling study of Tri-Ethyl Phosphate (TEP) Combustion”, J. Phys. Chem. A., 2018, 122 (15), 3829-3836.
  • PAnthony Terracciano; GKyle Thurmond; GMichael Villar; GJustin Urso; GErik Ninnemann; GAkshita Parupalli; GZachary Loparo; Nick Demidovich; Jayanta S. Kapat; William P. Partridge, Jr.; S. Vasu, “Hazardous das detection sensor using broadband LED based absorption spectroscopy for space applications”, New Space, 2018, 6 (1), 28-36. Cover Page Article.
  • Q. Ru, GZ. E. Loparo, X. Zhang, S. Crystal, S. Vasu, P. Schunemann, K. Vodopyanov, “Self-referenced octave-wide optical parametric oscillator based on GaP crystal centered at 3 µm and pumped by an Er-fiber laser”, Optics Letters., 2017, 42 (22), 4756-4759.
  • UErik Ninnemann, GBatikan Koroglu, GOwen Pryor, GSam Barak, GLeigh Nash, GZachary Loparo, J. Sosa, K. Ahmed, Subith Vasu, “New insights into the shock tube ignition of H2/O2 at low to moderate temperatures using high-speed endwall imaging”, Combustion and Flame, 2018, 187, 11-21.
  • 2018 DARPA Young Faculty Award: “Young Investigator Awards: Research projects that focus on exploratory aspects of a unique problem, a high-risk approach, or innovative research in subjects with potential for high impact to C-WMD science from individuals currently employed by a U.S. accredited degree-granting college or university who received a Ph.D. or equivalent degree within five (5) years of the date of the pre-application white paper submission.”
  • 2018 SAE Ralph R Teetor Award: This is a prestigious international award that dates back to 1965. “The current decade places greater expectations upon the colleges and universities of the world to educate individuals who must successfully meet the challenges that face society. The purpose of the Teetor Award is to recognize and honor those younger educators who are successfully preparing engineers for this task. Established in 1963, this award is administered by the Teetor Educational Award Committee and consists of a framed certificate, a trip to a major SAE meeting, and two years of SAE membership. The award is presented at either the SAE World Congress or at a major SAE aerospace event.”
  • 2017 ASME’s IGTI Dilip Ballal Early Career Award: This is an international award given each year to one person in the world. I am the second recipient in the U.S. and fourth in the world. “Early Career Awards are intended to honor individuals who have outstanding accomplishments during the beginning of their careers. Historically, there has been no such award to recognize early career engineers working in the area of turbomachinery. An early career award is intended for those starting a professional career, which is typically after a relevant terminal degree: BS, MS, or PhD. A criterion of seven-years-from-degree will be used to define the nominee’s eligibility. The nominee must receive the award prior to the completion of the seventh year beyond the terminal degree.”
  • 2015 Defense Threat Reduction Agency – Young Investigator Program: “Young Investigator Awards: Research projects that focus on exploratory aspects of a unique problem, a high-risk approach, or innovative research in subjects with potential for high impact to C-WMD science from individuals currently employed by a U.S. accredited degree-granting college or university who received a Ph.D. or equivalent degree within five (5) years of the date of the pre-application white paper submission.”
  • 2015 American Chemical Society PRF Doctoral New Investigator Award: “The goals of the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund are: The Doctoral New Investigator grants program aims to promote the careers of young faculty by supporting research of high scientific caliber, and to enhance the career opportunities of their undergraduate/ graduate students, and postdoctoral associates through the research experience.
  • Graduate student Bader Almansour won the best student paper award at the Optical Society of America’s Third Annual Laser Ignition Conference in 2015: One award given to a graduate student who presenter his/her work at this international conference. 
  • 2015 Air Force Faculty Fellowship: This competitive program is sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the objectives of the U.S. Air Force Research Lab Summer Faculty Fellowship Program are to stimulate professional relationships among academic participants and the scientists and engineers at Air Force research facilities.
  • United Nations-affiliated Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons made a documentary about our DTRA research: The film premiered at the OPCW annual meeting in Hague in May 2016. The meeting was attended by representatives from 192 member nations. This is a significant honor for myself, the students and UCF. The UN is the most responsible agency for world peace and to be featured in a documentary sponsored by it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
  • Featured on the United States Army homepage: I was invited by the Army to visit its lab in Aberdeen and provide an overview of my research.
  • American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics 2018 Class of Associate Fellows: “The grade of Associate Fellow recognizes individuals “who have accomplished or been in charge of important engineering or scientific work, or who have done original work of outstanding merit, or who have otherwise made outstanding contributions to the arts, sciences, or technology of aeronautics or astronautics.”
  • International Energy Agency combustion task team member: “The Implementing Agreement for Energy Conservation and Emissions Reduction in Combustion was organized under the auspices of the International Energy Agency. The agreement calls for studying the combustion of primary fossil fuels, which provide more than 90 percent of the energy needed in industrial countries. Responding to market and regulatory conditions, manufacturers have developed price-competitive engines, furnaces, and boilers that are clean and reliable. However, the thermal efficiencies of existing combustion units are not optimum and a coordinated effort is needed.”
  • Cover Page journal articles: New Space, Volume 6, Issue 1, 2018; J. Chem. Kinetics, Volume 51, Issue 1, 2018; Flame, Volume 156, Issue 4, 2009
  • 2017 CECS Dean’s Advisory Board Fellowship Award: The intent of the award is to recognize and reward high performance in research at a national level, for assistant professors, and high performance in teaching, mentoring and service, for instructors and lecturers.
  • 2016 and 2017 UCF College of Engineering and Computer Science Research Excellence Award: This is given to one assistant professor in the college per year who excels in research. I received it in 2016 and 2017.
  • 2016 UCF Reach for the Stars Award: I earned this award in just four years — faster than most other faculty in UCF’s history. It is given to both assistant and associate professors early in their career. “The UCF Reach for the Stars Award honors and rewards highly successful research and creative activity accomplished by early-career university professionals. These annual awards are determined by the president and do not normally exceed five per year.To be eligible for a UCF Reach for the Stars Award, an applicant: Must hold the rank of either assistant professor or; associate professor since fall 2013 or later Must have achieved noteworthy research and/or creative activity of national impact.”
  • 2017 Inaugural UCF Luminary Award: This is one of the most prestigious awards given to faculty at UCF. “Due to your notable accomplishments in research, scholarship or creative activity, we are pleased to inform you that you have been selected as an inaugural “UCF Luminary.” Replacing UCF’s Millionaire’s Club, the new Luminary Award is designed to shine a light on exceptional faculty whose work is advancing their discipline and making a difference. Nominated by their chair, director or dean, awardees demonstrate a significant impact that can be clearly recognized nationally or internationally.”
  • American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics:
    • Associate Fellow
    • Member of Propellants and Combustion Technical Committee
    • Member of Gas Turbine Engines Technical Committee
  • American Chemical Society
  • Optical Society of America
  • American Society of Mechanical Engineers
    • Member of Coal, Biomass and Alternative Fuels IGTI Committee
    • Vice chair of Education IGTI Committee
    • Member of Combustion, Fuels and Emissions IGTI Committee
    • Member of Supercritical CO2 Power Cycles IGTI Committee
  • The Combustion Institute
  • Society of Automotive Engineers