Sadaf Sobhani named Young Professional of the Year

Sadaf Sobhani, an assistant professor in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, was selected for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Niagara Frontier Section 2025 Young Professional of the Year Award, recognizing significant achievement within aeronautics and astronautics.

Recipients must be under the age of 35 and are considered based on professional achievements, background, experience, education credentials and community involvement. Sobhani was nominated for the award by Mark Campbell, the John A. Mellowes ’60 Professor in Mechanical Engineering at the Sibley School.

“Professor Sobhani has made significant contributions to spacecraft thermal management and propulsion system research over the past decade,” said Campbell. “At Cornell, she leads an integrated experimental and computational research program with a unique fusion of thermofluidics and manufacturing.”

In his nomination, Campbell stressed the significance of Sobhani’s research, which has a primary focus on advanced ceramics as chamber materials in small satellite chemical thrusters. She also investigates the application of ceramic additive manufacturing for enabling innovations in electric propulsion technologies. Her team has invented a novel method for manufacturing electrospray thrusters, which are a type of electric propulsion device that operates by extracting and accelerating ions from a conductive liquid propellant through an applied electric field. Their innovation combines two-photon polymerization printing, ceramic 3D printing, and pyrolysis of a polymer mold.

Sadaf is a recipient of the 2024 NASA Early Career Faculty award for her work on discovering novel heat transfer fluids for spacecraft active thermal control. She is also the recipient of the 2023 NASA Early Stage Innovations award for her work in ceramic additive manufacturing for integrated spacecraft thermal management systems.

“This is very synergetic with her teaching efforts – she created a new class on Spacecraft Thermal Management in the Sibley School,” said Campbell. “Additionally, she co-authored a chapter on thermal protection and control in ‘AIAA Volume on Planning and Execution of Human Missions to the Moon and Mars’ published in 2023.”

With the award, Sobhani will receive two years of AAIA membership, and she was honored at the Niagara Frontier Aviation and Space Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on May 9.