Principal Technical Advisor for Advanced Aeroacoustics

Robin Downs, PhD serves as the principal technical advisor for advanced aeroacoustics at the U.S. DOT Volpe Center. Since joining Volpe’s Environmental Measurement and Modeling Division in 2016, Downs has applied her expertise in aircraft boundary-layer laminar-to-turbulent transition to aircraft performance and noise measurement and modeling, specializing in sonic booms and rocket propulsion noise. She utilizes engineering theories, computational methods, and experimental techniques to advance commercial supersonic technologies and commercial space transportation. Downs leads teams supporting these activities for NASA and Department of War, and she supports FAA by participating in international initiatives as a member of the aircraft noise technical working group within the International Civil Aviation Organization's Committee on Aviation and Environmental Protection.

Downs uses her affinity for data analysis, signal processing, and computer programming to develop in-house software tools and contribute enhancements to NASA’s PCBoom suite of sonic boom propagation modeling programs. She led a multidisciplinary team in constructing a database comprising thousands of turbulence simulation results and subsequently developed new signal processing filters designed to rapidly estimate turbulence effects on shaped sonic booms. As a member of the Aviation Environmental Design Tool team, Downs supports FAA by providing expertise in aircraft performance, fuel burn modeling, and noise measurements used to further enhance and validate the tool. She has participated in field measurements for a wide range of vehicles, including helicopters, small uncrewed aircraft (drones), jet aircraft, space launch vehicles, and road vehicle tire pavement noise. Furthermore, she has led field measurements of sonic booms from conventional jets, space reentry vehicles, and hypersonic test track vehicles. As the technical lead supporting NASA under their High-Speed Flight Project, Downs supports planning and executing community response tests using the X-59 quiet supersonic aircraft.

She has co-authored works published in various scientific and engineering journals, including a cover article in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America Express Letters. Downs also serves as an expert reviewer and frequently presents at professional conferences.

She received a BS in mechanical engineering and an MS in aerospace engineering from Case Western Reserve University, as well as a PhD in Aerospace Engineering from Texas A&M University. Downs' academic work was supplemented by positions at the NASA Glenn Research Center and the U.S. Air Force Research Lab. From 2012 to 2016, she conducted post-doctoral research on aircraft drag reduction, bringing a multifaceted background to her federal service.