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Engineering is a lie that helps us realize truth: Art, Tornadoes, and a Sabbatical in Canada with Fred Haan

  • Tue, Apr 15, 2025
  • 4:00 pm–5:00 pm

ENGR Seminar with Professor Fred Haan
I practice wind engineering - that is, wind effects on structures. More specifically, I study tornadoes, tornado aerodynamics, and tornado effects on structures. Last year I did a sabbatical at Western University in London, Ontario using one of the world's largest tornado simulators to try to answer some aerodynamic puzzles about how things (specifically cars) fly in tornadoes. Along the way, I learned more about art than I was expecting - and specifically, how art can inform and help illustrate engineering concepts and engineering research. In this talk, I'm going to explain how we study the wind and how we design for wind effects, how Picasso, Magritte, and Van Gogh influenced my thoughts, how we got cars to fly in the lab (after years of failure), and what other fun things I learned during my sabbatical.