SwRI’s Dr. Chris Thomas named AIAA Associate Fellow

(Press-News.org) SAN ANTONIO — October 14, 2025 — Dr. Chris Thomas of Southwest Research Institute’s Mechanical Engineering Division has been named an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

AIAA Associate Fellows are recognized for overseeing important engineering or scientific work, outstanding contributions to their field, or original work of exceptional caliber. Associate Fellows must be recommended by at least three other associate fellows, be a senior member in good standing of the AIAA, and have a minimum of 12 years of professional experience. AIAA selects only one Associate Fellow for every 150 members per year.

“Dr. Thomas’ innovative work exemplifies technical excellence and leadership. His recognition as an AIAA Associate Fellow is well-deserved and reflects significant contributions to our field,” said Dr. Ben Thacker, AIAA Fellow and Vice President of SwRI’s Mechanical Engineering Division.

Thomas leads SwRI’s Combustion for Defense and Aerospace Applications Group. His work focuses on developing a wide variety of combustion technologies, such as propulsion systems, gas turbines and battery safety technologies. He has authored many publications, including a book chapter, 30 journal articles, and over 100 conference papers. He also has two patents pending.

“Dr. Thomas’s selection is a reflection of his strong technical leadership and impactful collaborations in cross-disciplinary applications, ranging from propellants to gas turbine combustion and battery safety and testing,” said Dr. Tim Allison, director of SwRI’s Machinery Department.

Thomas’s propellant, battery safety, and blast testing research papers are frequently cited, recognizing influential or foundational work. He helped create a comprehensive burning rate database used by the research community to understand and predict how solid propellants burn. He also developed updated modeling tools used by the Air Force Research Laboratory to simulate solid propellant behavior. His recent metal fuel combustion studies have provided new insights into how metal fuels burn and suggested promising directions for safer and more powerful propellants.

He has also developed new methods to study lithium-ion battery overheating and failure, and he invented a patent-pending method to predict the consequences of catastrophic battery failure. Thomas recently led studies on how blasts behave and dissipate as they spread, ultimately developing a universal scaling law for gas-phase blasts, important for safety engineering. This work led to an early-career fellowship from the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine.

Thomas currently serves as the forum deputy technical chair for AIAA Aviation and vice chair of the Region IV Southwest Texas Section. He is a dedicated mentor to students and engineers, and he has helped design and fund workforce development programs to provide academic and industry opportunities to promising students in underserved and underrepresented communities across Texas.

Thomas holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate degrees in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University. He joined SwRI in 2023.

For more information, visit https://www.swri.org/markets/energy-environment/power-generation-utilities/advanced-power-systems/oxy-fuel-combustion.

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