Kirti And Urmila Ghia: Rewarding Three Decades Of Excellence

In the lives of Kirti and Urmila Ghia, you would be hard-pressed to define firm boundary lines of commitment that divide marriage, family, teaching, research and the University of Cincinnati. Their typical level of commitment to anything they do is total, making for lifestyles where all interests tend to overlap and compete for priority.

It's not an easy existence, but it has secured the Drs. Ghia status as pillars of excellence amongst UC's College of Engineering faculty for three decades. This year, they are receiving special recognition, as they have each earned one of the university's most coveted faculty awards.

In Urmila's case, that would be the George Rieveschl Jr. Award for Distinguished Scientific Research. Her husband, Kirti (or Karman, as he is called by his colleagues), has added the Mrs. A.B. "Dolly" Cohen Award for Excellence in Teaching, making him the first UC faculty member to earn all three major UC faculty awards in his career - he previously won the Rieveschl award in 1994 and the George B. Barbour Award for Superior Student-Faculty Relations in 2000.

Both Ghias work in the field of fluid dynamics and are based in the College of Engineering. Urmila is a professor of mechanical engineering, while Karman is in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics and was named Herman Schneider Professor of Engineering in 1995.

They almost never leave their work behind. Even after 30 years (technically, 35 for Karman and 32 for Urmila), the Ghias can often be found at the College of Engineering into the evening hours, and on weekends and holidays. "In some sense, we drive each other," says Karman. "Sometimes it will be 2 a.m., and she'll get up to work on something she feels she has to do. I understand, even though I might try and discourage her. It is very difficult."

They love their work, they embrace their students like family, and they have obviously instilled their passion for the pursuit of excellence in their most prized achievements, the couple's two daughters. Kiran, a final-year student at Yale Law School, has already accepted a position with a law firm in New Haven, Conn., and Tina, a first-year resident in internal medicine at Harvard's Beth Israel Hospital, is planning a fellowship in cardiology.

The Ghias share a passion for the pursuit of excellence, both in research and in teaching. They believe in going to extraordinary lengths to help willing students to learn, and expect no less than a total commitment back from their students.

"There's a joy you see in students' eyes and faces when they grasp something they did not know," Karman says. "When a student asks a question that requires critical thinking of the material you've taught, that's a great moment and that's when you start to learn back from the students. More than anything else, I feel this approach produces a very healthy learning environment and is bound to bring recognition to everyone involved - the students, the faculty, the college and the university."

Urmila's Rieveschl recognition this year comes from her many contributions to the field of theoretical and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). She has made pioneering contributions in grid generation, including unsteady-flow-adaptive grids, and in development of multi-grid methods that allow the modeling of large-scale computational problems. Grid generation is among the first steps in CFD, and often constitutes a show-stopping technology step.

Researchers from around the globe offer endorsement of Urmila's contribution to the field. "Dr Urmila Ghia is a world-class researcher recognized for her pioneering work in Computational Fluid Dynamics in general, and for her contribution to the development of the field of grid generation, in particular," says Professor Peter Eiseman, formerly of Columbia University and now president of Program Development Company, a leading developer of commercial grid-generation software. Professor Andrea Dadone of Politecnico di Bari, Italy adds, "For turbo machinery flows she has advanced the state-of-the-art of representing these complex flow configurations using multi-block, multi-topology structured grids, and developed a composite solution procedure for computation of these flows without exposing the block interfaces, thereby avoiding the usual need for inter-block communication strategies."

Ismet Gursul, a former UC colleague and now head of the aerospace group at the University of Bath in Great Britain, praises Urmila's ability to capture computationally the features observed experimentally in vortices. "In my own area of research, which is vortex-dominated flows in unsteady aerodynamics, she has made very important contributions in the understanding of dynamic stall phenomena," a contribution of obvious importance to anyone who flies.

"What we do is develop new methodologies and techniques for analyzing fluid flow," says Urmila. A current application for this kind of exploratory work is in the field of high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) aircraft.

Ron Huston, Urmila's colleague at UC, says that "her current research in fluid-structure interaction in the analysis of HALE (high-altitude, long-endurance) aircraft and the higher-order accurate simulation of turbomachinery flows is, once again, testimony of the relevance of her work."

Larry Huttsell, team leader of the aeroelasticity group in the Structures Division of the Air Vehicles Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, says the work is revolutionary for the military, as these vehicles must be able to fly at up to 80,000 feet for up to seven days at a time. Urmila's "nonlinear structural analysis procedure will pursue a first-principle approach, and will enable a first-ever assessment of flow separation on aeroelastic response," he says.

Working with scientists from many fields, Urmila is dealing with flow issues of tremendous variety and complexity. Her work requirements are constantly changing. "One of the ways the work has changed is that the problems have grown in complexity," says Urmila. "As methodologies improve and the hardware improves, our appetite grows and we look at more complex problems than were previously tractable. Now often we're looking at problems that are multidisciplinary, such as the HALE aircraft."

While Karman is well-known for his research, this year's Cohen Award is given in recognition of his instructional efforts. Students past and present were effusive in their praise of his commitment to them, and his demands that together they would master the subject matter.

"In my mind, the starting point for a teacher and a mentor is commitment; commitment to his students and the institution with which he is associated," says Choudary R. Bobba, a 1979 PhD recipient. "With commitment comes the thirst for knowledge and the deep desire to help his students and develop a cooperative atmosphere to broaden their knowledge base. Dr. Ghia's commitment to his students is strong and unwavering."

Karman's students praised him for taking a deep personal interest in their success, far beyond what might be expected from only a few hours together each week in a classroom or lab.

"He makes you feel important, and he makes you realize that there is nothing you cannot do if you put your mind to it," says Nancy Swinford, a 1990 UC graduate.

Adds 1994 graduate Susan E. Beltz: "The classes taught by Dr. Ghia may be counted among the most challenging offered by the University of Cincinnati, but Dr. Ghia actively participates in the success of his students by preparing compelling course materials and lectures, encouraging classroom participation and discussion, and most importantly, taking the time to know his students."

Current student Chad Yoshikawa puts it this way: "I can recall a time when another student in Dr. Ghia's Turbulence class was telling me about his grades from a previous quarter. He mentioned a few A's and then said that he also got an A in Dr. Ghia's class. He turned to me and said, `But an A in Dr. Ghia's class - that's special.' The reason for this is that Dr. Ghia makes us think so hard about the subject that an A in his class means that you have mastered the material."

In his approach, Karman says, failure is not an option. "I consider their failure as my failure. When you take that attitude, it's a really demanding task on your part to see that all of the students are able to learn, and that they complete your class learning the material that you had intended for them to master."

R. Sivaji, a current master's student, recognizes that commitment is at the core of Karman's success. "Dr. Ghia is dedicated and committed to the role of a classroom instructor and a researcher, and invests considerable time in both aspects of his professorship. Rarely does a week go by when he is not working at least six days a week, with a smile on his face, deriving maximum usefulness out of each day. His work ethic makes for an exceptional role model to any student who has the fortune and pleasure of interacting with him."