Education
Brief Bio
Dr. O. Haldun Unalmis is a Professor of Aerospace Engineering in the Leslie A. Rose Department of Mechanical Engineering at South Dakota Mines. He has over 35 years of combined experience across academia and the energy sector. He previously served as a Senior Engineering & Technology Advisor in Houston, Texas, and spent 14 years at the Aerospace Engineering Department of The University of Texas at Austin as a Research Scientist and Adjunct Professor. Outside of work, Dr. Unalmis enjoys hiking, listening to music, and playing chess.
Research Expertise
Dr. Unalmis specializes in experimental fluid dynamics, focusing on high-speed turbulent flows, fluid-structure interactions, and supersonic cavity flows. Combining decades of cross-disciplinary expertise from aerospace academia and the energy sector, his research propels innovation in optical and electronic multiphase flow measurement technologies. He is an active member of the professional societies AIAA, SPE, and ASA.
Teaching
Dr. Unalmis currently teaches Gas Dynamics to senior undergraduate students pursuing an Aerospace Engineering (ASE) minor, as well as to graduate students specializing in fluid dynamics research. His prior university teaching portfolio includes Boundary Layer Theory & Heat Transfer, Statics, and Dynamics for diverse engineering disciplines. Bringing his teaching expertise to industry, Dr. Unalmis also developed and delivered corporate-level training on flow measurement using optical and electronic sensing technologies, including the creation of electronic learning modules. Looking ahead, he plans to instruct core aerospace engineering courses and intends to develop a specialized graduate course titled "Introduction to Fiber-Optics Fundamentals and Its Applications in Fluid Dynamics" to support advanced graduate research.