Rate My Professor Hans DeSmidt

Hans DeSmidt is Professor and AE Program Coordinator in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He received his BSME from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 1996, MSME in 2004, and PhD in 2005, both graduate degrees from Pennsylvania State University. DeSmidt joined the University of Tennessee in 2005 as Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering, was promoted to Associate Professor in 2011, and to Professor in 2017. Before his faculty appointment, he worked as Research Associate in the Structural Dynamics and Controls Laboratory at Pennsylvania State University's Mechanical Engineering Department from January to August 2005.

His research specializations encompass structural dynamics and vibration, dynamical systems and controls, analysis and control of time-varying systems, mechatronics and active structures, rotordynamics, and gossamer space structures. DeSmidt has earned the NSF Career Award in 2008, ASME Dynamics and Control Division Rudolf Kalman Best Paper Award in 2009, UTK Quest Scholar of the Week in January 2010, American Helicopter Society Annual Forum Propulsion Sessions Best Paper Award in 2011, and contributed as Co-Investigator to the NASA Agency Honor Award in 2018 for the Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technology Advanced Propulsion Team's exceptional contributions to rotary-wing aircraft technologies. Notable publications include 'Coupled Torsion-Lateral Stability of a Shaft-Disk System Driven Through a Universal Joint' in ASME Journal of Applied Mechanics (2002), 'Stability of a Segmented Supercritical Driveline with Non-Constant Velocity Couplings Subjected to Misalignment and Torque' in Journal of Sound and Vibration (2004), and 'On the Robust Stability of Segmented Driveshafts with Active Magnetic Bearing Control' in Journal of Vibration and Control (2005). His scholarly work focuses on vibration control of rotorcraft drivelines and related dynamical systems.