Ian Rivera obtained his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at the Pennsylvania State University. As an undergraduate at Penn State, Ian worked in the Reacting Flow Dynamics Laboratory alongside Prof. Jacqueline O’Connor and her graduate students. His undergraduate thesis focused on understanding how changes in combustor geometry, flow velocity, and swirl angle affected the flame’s static stability. In the summer of 2023, Ian worked at GE Vernova’s Gas Turbine Technology Laboratory in Greenville, South Carolina. Here, he developed a flow and reaction model of a hydrogen-powered single-nozzle combustor rig to predict NOx and CO emissions. At Penn State, Ian was also part of the Millennium Scholars Program and won awards like the 2023 Astronaut Scholarship. 

As an NSF and GEM Fellow at Georgia Tech, Ian is looking to deepen his understanding of reacting flows and contribute new, important knowledge to the combustion and propulsion field.