John E. LaGraff
Emeritus Professor
Dr. John E. LaGraff is currently Emeritus Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, having served as Department Chair from 1997-2003. Prior to that he was director of the Aerospace Engineering Program from 1985. He was also the Director of the College of Engineering and Computer Science International Study Program from 1980-2009. Dr. LaGraff holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT and a Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering Science from Oxford University (1970).
Dr. LaGraff has been active in Syracuse University campus leadership having served on the University Senate for over twenty years and held important positions as chair of the Senate Budget Committee, as well as serving on the University Committee on Principles for Long Range Budget Planning, the Committee on Space Planning and as Chair of the Committee on Part Time Teaching. He was the recipient of the Chancellor’s Citation for Excellence in 2008.
Dr LaGraff has been active in national leadership in engineering education including serving as President of Sigma Gamma Tau the Aerospace Engineering honor society, Chairman of the Aerospace Division of the American Society of Engineering Education, and was recently Chair of the AIAA’s Academic Affairs Committee. He has served as AIAA’s Deputy Director for Education for the Northeast Region 1 and just completed a 3 year term as AIAA Vice President for Education. Dr. LaGraff served a 5 year term as Commissioner on the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of the ABET and is currently the commissioner for AIAA on the ABET Board of Directors and Chair of the Global Council for ABET. He has also directed visitor training and visit assignments for ABET accreditation visits to aerospace engineering programs in the U.S. Dr. LaGraff served a 5 year term on the executive committee of the Global Engineering Education Exchange Program in partnership with the Institute for International Education.
Dr. LaGraff has been the recipient of the Syracuse University ECS College Outstanding Service Award, the Filter-Tech Outstanding Teacher Award in Mechanical, Aerospace and Manufacturing Engineering, the AIAA National Faculty Advisor Award, the AIAA Special Service Citation (1993), the ASEE Aerospace Division Distinguished Service Award (2000), the AIAA Sustained Service Award (2001), and the AIAA/ASEE Atwood Award (2003) for outstanding contributions to aerospace education. He is a member of the ASEE, a Fellow of the ASME, and Associate Fellow of AIAA. He is a member of the Oxford and Cambridge University Club of London.
Research Interests
Dr. LaGraff’s research activities were continuously supported by the USAF and NASA for over 20 years. His area of expertise is in experimental techniques in unsteady flows in turbomachinery with over 40 papers published. He works in collaboration with co-workers from Oxford University and the University of Pisa and has been a visiting research faculty at both institutions(1983 and 1997 respectively). Dr. LaGraff has organized and hosted a triennial international workshop on unsteady turbomachinery flows at Syracuse University since 1993, an event that attracts 50 of the world’s top researchers. The most recent one was in August 2009. In the spring of 2003 he was on research leave at Oxford University and the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. In the spring of 2007 Professor LaGraff was a visiting scholar at the Politechnic University of Madrid and in the autumn of 2007 a Visiting Professor at the ETH Zurich . He has had visiting lectureships at the University of Pisa (Spring 2007,2009), at City University London(Spring 2010,Fall 2011,Spring 2013), and at the Czech Technical University, Prague, Fall 2012.
Recent Publications
Polafax, P., Oldfield, M.L.G., LaGraff, J.E., and Jones, T.V. , “PIV Maps of Tip Leakage and Secondary Flowfields on a Low Speed Turbine Blade Cascade with Moving End Wall”, ASME Turbo Expo 2005, GT2005-68189, June 2005. ASME Journal of Turbomachinery, April 2007.
Polafax, P., Oldfield, M.L.G., Ireland, P.T., Jones, T.V. and LaGraff, J.E., “Blade Tip Heat Transfer and Aerodynamics on a Large Scale Turbine Cascade with Moving End Wall”, ASME Turbo Expo 2006, GT2006-90425, May 2006. Accepted ASME Journal of Turbomachinery.
Passaro, A., Biagioni, L., LaGraff, J.E., and Oldfield, M.L.G., “Fast Acting Probe for Measurement of Turbulent Pressure and Temperature Fluctuations in a Gas Turbine Combustor”, AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, AIAA 2006-0550, Jan. 2006.
LaGraff, J.E. and Ashpis, D.E. (Editors), “Minnowbrook IV-2003 Workshop on Transition and Unsteady Aspects of Turbomachinery Flows”, NASA/TM-2004-212913, August 2004.
Anthony, R.J., Jones, T.V. and LaGraff, J.E., “Hugh Frequency Surface Heat flux Imaging of Bypass Transition”, ASME Turbo Expo 2004, GT2004-54162, June 2004 (Journal of Turbomachinery)
Anthony, R.J., Jones, T.V., LaGraff, J.E., “Unsteady Surface Heat flux Under a Three Dimensional Crossflow Boundary Layer”, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Aerospace Sciences Meeting, AIAA-2004-13411, Jan. 2004.
Passaro, A., LaGraff, J.E., Oldfield, M.L.G., Biagioni, L., Moss, R.W., and Battelle, R.J., “Measurements of Turbulent Pressure and Temperature Fluctuation in Gas Turbine Combustor,” NASA/CR – 2003-212540, Sept. 2003.
LaGraff, J.E. (Editor), “Proceedings of Minnowbrook III, 2000 Workshop on Boundary Layer Transition and Unsteady Aspects of Turbomachinery Flows,” NASA/CP – 2001-21088, April 2002.