Subith Vasu, associate professor at UCF in Orlando, is an expert in spectroscopy and optical diagnostics. Before joining UCF in 2012 as an assistant professor, he was a postdoc at Sandia National Labs after obtaining his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 2010, and his B.Tech from the India Institute of Technology in Madras, India. His research group at UCF, which currently consists of 12 Ph.D. students, one graduate student, and three postdocs, have authored more than 70 journal articles, and more than 150 conference articles using diagnostic sensors for a variety of applications including power generation, propulsion, transportation, explosions and spacecraft air quality monitoring.

UCF’s shock tube and novel laser diagnostic techniques are used to investigate various problems relevant to advanced combustion systems under practical conditions. The strategy of using shock tubes provide an ideal device for acquiring ignition delay times, species concentration time-histories, and reaction rates while laser-based diagnostic studies are non-intrusive, provide in-situ measurements (e.g., concentration of individual species including trace species, and temperature), and have fast-time response (micro-second). In addition to providing crucial knowledge about the reacting systems, measurements will provide critical validation targets for computational fluid dynamic modelers.

Graduates from Vasu's group hold key positions in academia, national labs and industry. He is a recipient of the following prestigious early career national awards: the 2018 DARPA Young Faculty Award, the 2016 DTRA Young Investigator Award, and the 2015 ACS Doctoral New Investigator Award. He has also received multiple international awards including the 2017 ASME Dilip Ballal Early Career Award (only one international award is given per year); and the 2018 SAE Ralph R Teetor Educational Award (an international award dating back to 1963). In addition, he has received much recognition from UCF including the 2017 Inaugural Luminary Award, the 2016 Reach for the Stars Award and the 2017 CECS Deans Advisory Board Award.

• ^GB. Almansour; S. Gupta; Subith Vasu; “Reduction of Cyclic Variations by Using Advanced Ignition Systems in a Lean-Burn Stationary Natural Gas Engine Operating at 10 Bar BMEP and 1800 rpm”, SAE Int. J. of Engines, 2019, 12(1).


• ^GS. Neupane, ^UGC.E. Bishop, R. Peale, S. Vasu, “FTIR absorption cross section measurements of several organo phosphorus compounds used as chemical weapon simulants”, J. Mol. Spec. 2019, 355, 59-65.


• ^UGE. Wait; A. Masunov; S.S. Vasu; “Quantum Chemical and Master Equation Study of OH + CH₂O → H₂O + CHO Reaction Rates in Supercritical CO2 Environment”,Int. J. Chem. Kinet., 2019, 51, 1, 42-48, Selected as Cover Image.


• ^GB. Almansour; ^GG. Kim; S. Vasu; “The effect of diluent gases on high pressure laminar burning velocity measurements of advanced biofuels”, SAE Int. J. of Fuels and Lubs., 2018, 11(4).


• ^GS. Barak; ^GE. Ninnemann; ^GS. Neupane; ^PF. Barnes; J. Kapat; S.S. Vasu; “High pressure ignition delay times measurements and comparison of the performance of several oxy-syngas mechanisms under high CO2 dilution”, J. of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power-Transactions of the ASME, 2018; 141(2):021011.


• Chong-Wen Zhou, Yang Li, Ultan Burke, Kieran P. Somers, Saadat Khan, Joshua W. Hargis, Travis Sikes, Eric L. Petersen, Mohammed AlAbbad, Aamir Farooq, Youshun Pan, Yingjia Zhang, Zuohua Huang, ^GJoseph Lopez, ^GZachary Loparo, Subith S. Vasu, Henry J. Curran, “An Experimental and Chemical Kinetic Modeling Study of 1,3-Butadiene Combustion: Ignition delay time and laminar flame speed measurements”, Combust. and Flame., 197, 2018, 423-438.


• ^GS. Neupane, ^GS. Barak, ^GE. Ninnemann, ^GZ. Loparo, A.E. Masunov, S.S. Vasu, “Shock Tube/ Laser Absorption Experiments and Kinetic Modelling study of Tri-Ethyl Phosphate (TEP) Combustion”, J. Phys. Chem. A., 2018, 122 (15), 3829-3836.


• ^PAnthony Terracciano; ^GKyle Thurmond; ^GMichael Villar; ^GJustin Urso; ^GErik Ninnemann; ^GAkshita Parupalli; ^GZachary Loparo; Nick Demidovich; Jayanta S. Kapat; William P. Partridge, Jr.; S. Vasu, “Hazardous das detection sensor using broadband LED based absorption spectroscopy for space applications”, New Space, 2018, 6 (1), 28-36. Cover Page Article.


• Q. Ru, ^GZ. E. Loparo, X. Zhang, S. Crystal, S. Vasu, P. Schunemann, K. Vodopyanov, “Self-referenced octave-wide optical parametric oscillator based on GaP crystal centered at 3 µm and pumped by an Er-fiber laser”, Optics Letters., 2017, 42 (22), 4756-4759.


• ^UErik Ninnemann, ^GBatikan Koroglu, ^GOwen Pryor, ^GSam Barak, ^GLeigh Nash, ^GZachary Loparo, J. Sosa, K. Ahmed, Subith Vasu, “New insights into the shock tube ignition of H2/O2 at low to moderate temperatures using high-speed endwall imaging”, Combustion and Flame, 2018, 187, 11-21.

(^UGUndergraduate Student Co-author; ^GGraduate Student Co-author; ^PPost-doc)