Aaryan builds optimization into early aerospace design: he developed a modular multidisciplinary design optimization framework for rapid electric aircraft conceptual design, applied it to competition aircraft trade studies, and carried graduate-level MDO coursework as an undergraduate at Purdue.
Applied optimization for the Purdue SAE Aero Design Team during the competition aircraft conceptual design stage.
Put the same modular MDO framework to work on the team's conceptual design workflow, using it to compare candidate aircraft configurations against sizing, performance, and mission-level constraints in one place. Running the trades through a single optimization loop let the team weigh configurations consistently rather than evaluating them in isolation, turning early design questions into faster, better-supported decisions.
Result: The framework let the team compare configurations and make faster design decisions during the conceptual stage, and an abstract on "A Modular MDO Framework for Rapid Electric Aircraft Design" was accepted to the AIAA Aviation Forum 2026 on the back of that work.
Purdue Aircraft TeamsAAE 550 Multidisciplinary Design Optimization, named on this site as a graduate-level course, taken as an undergraduate in Purdue's aerospace engineering program.
Carried AAE 550 as an undergraduate, working through the formal MDO methods behind the research: framing objectives and constraints, driving optimization algorithms, and running sensitivity and design-space studies. Aaryan deliberately loaded this graduate course alongside AAE 514 Intermediate Aerodynamics on top of the standard aerospace curriculum, grounding the applied framework work in the underlying optimization theory.
Result: AAE 550 appears in the Academia page course list, and the site describes it as a graduate-level course taken as an undergraduate.
Coursework detailsHow Aaryan Lath applies aerodynamics and CFD: Ahmed body vehicle simulations and slant-angle drag sweeps in AAE 412, plus graduate AAE 514 aerodynamics.
Aaryan Lath aircraft design: leading Purdue SAE Aero competition aircraft as Chief Engineer, plus XFLR5 wing analysis, DBF and AAE 251 lunar mission design.
Aaryan Lath's aerospace propulsion work: a distributed electric propulsion survey in AAE 339 and turbofan bypass ratio and engine-cycle analysis at Purdue.
Working on something in this space? Aaryan would love to hear about it.
Get in touchLast reviewed 2026-07-12