Dietmar Rempfer

Title
Dean of the College of Engineering, Professor of Aerospace Engineering and Mathematics
Email
Department
Aerospace Engineering Department
College
College of Engineering

Areas of Expertise

Theoretical and applied fluid dynamics and turbulence

Unsteady aerodynamics

Applications of dynamical systems theory and numerical methods to problems in fluid mechanics

Function space representations for the solution of partial differential equations

Dietmar Rempfer

Dietmar Rempfer was awarded a PhD for his work on low-dimensional models and chaos in boundary-layer transition from the University of Stuttgart, Germany in 1991, and he finished his Habilitation in Fluid Mechanics at the same university in 1995.

He has received the Hermann-Reissner Award for Aerospace Engineering in 1992, and a Heisenberg Fellowship in 1995. In 1996, Rempfer joined Cornell University as a Visiting Associate Professor where he worked with John Lumley on low-dimensional models for transitional and turbulent flows. In 2001, he became a faculty member at Illinois Institute of Technology as an Associate Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, where he was promoted to Professor in 2012. From 2004 to 2017 he also held joint appointments in IIT’s Department of Applied Mathematics, first as an Associate Professor and, starting in 2012, as a Professor of Applied Mathematics.

Rempfer has served as Associate Dean for IIT’s Armour College of Engineering from 2012 to 2015, and as Interim Chair of the Department of Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering from June 2015 through August 2016. In July of 2017 he assumed the position of Founding Director of the School of Engineering at Purdue University Northwest. In May of 2021 he became the Interim Dean of Engineering and Sciences at Purdue Northwest. As of July of 2023, Dr. Rempfer is Dean of the College of Engineering and Professor of Aerospace Engineering and Mathematics at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona.

He has been a member of the Global Engineering Deans Council and its Executive Committee since 2018 and 2020, respectively. 

  • D. - Doctoral in Mechanical Engineering, Universitat Stuttgart

Selected Publications

Numerical study of detailed flow field and performance of Savonius wind turbines
T Zhou, D Rempfer (2013), Renewable Energy 51, 373-381

Proper orthogonal decomposition-based estimations of the flow field from particle image velocimetry wall-gradient measurements in the backward-facing step flow
TD Nguyen, JC Wells, P Mokhasi, D Rempfer (2010), 
Measurement Science and Technology 21 (11), 115406

Predictive flow-field estimation
P Mokhasi, D Rempfer, S Kandala (2009),
​Physica D: Nonlinear Phenomena 238 (3), 290-308

On boundary conditions for incompressible Navier-Stokes problems
D Rempfer (2006), Applied Mechanics Reviews 59, 107-125

Application of the proper orthogonal decomposition to datasets of internal combustion engine flows
M Fogleman, J Lumley, D Rempfer, D Haworth (2004),
Journal of Turbulence 5 (1), 023

Optimized sensor placement for urban flow measurement
P Mokhasi, D Rempfer 2004), Physics of Fluids 16 (5), 1758-1764

Low-dimensional modeling and numerical simulation of transition in simple shear flows
D Rempfer (2003), Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics 35 (1), 229-265

Turbulence over a compliant surface: numerical simulation and analysis
S Xu, D Rempfer, J Lumley (2003), Journal of Fluid Mechanics 478, 11-34

On low-dimensional Galerkin models for fluid flow
D Rempfer (2000), Theoretical and Computational Fluid Dynamics 14 (2), 75-88

Investigations of boundary layer transition via Galerkin projections on empirical eigenfunctions
D Rempfer (1996), Physics of Fluids 8 (1), 175-188

Evolution of three-dimensional coherent structures in a flat-plate boundary layer
D Rempfer, HF Fasel (1994), Journal of Fluid Mechanics 260, 351-375

Dynamics of three-dimensional coherent structures in a flat-plate boundary layer
D Rempfer, HF Fasel (1994), Journal of Fluid Mechanics 275, 257-283


Administrative and Leadership Positions

  • 2023–present - Dean, College of Engineering, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott
  • 2021–2023 - Interim Dean, College of Engineering and Sciences,
    Purdue University Northwest
  • 2017–2023 - Director, School of Engineering, Purdue University Northwest
  • 2015–2016 - Interim Chair, Department of Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology
  • 2015–2016 - Campus Lead, Pathways to Innovation Program, National Center for Engineering Pathways to Innovation, National Science Foundation
  • 2012–2015 - Associate Dean, Armour College of Engineering,
  • Illinois Institute of Technology
  • 2012–2015 - Chair, Academic and Business Programs, Ed Kaplan Family Institute for Innovation and Tech Entrepreneurship, Illinois Institute of Technology

Academic and Professional Appointments

  • 2023–present - Professor of Aerospace Engineering and Mathematics, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott
  • 2017–2023 - Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, Purdue University Northwest
  • 2012–2017 - Professor of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering,
    Department of Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology
  • 2012–2017 - Professor of Applied Mathematics, Department of Applied Mathematics, Illinois Institute of Technology
  • 2004–2012 - Associate Professor of Applied Mathematics, Department of Applied Mathematics, Illinois Institute of Technology
  • 2001–2012 - Associate Professor of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Department of Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology
  • 1996–2001 - Visiting Associate Professor, Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University
  • 1993–1996 - Research Scientist, Institut für Aerodynamik und Gasdynamik, Universität Stuttgart
  • 1992–1993 - Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Arizona
  • 1990–1992 - Research Assistant, Institut für Aerodynamik und Gasdynamik, Universität Stuttgart
  • 1988–1989 - Research Assistant, Institut A für Mechanik, Universität Stuttgart
  • 1987–1988 - Consulting in simulation and software engineering,
    Dornier-System GmbH, Immenstaad

Member of:

  • American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics - AIAA
  • American Physical Society - APS
  • American Society of Engineering Education - ASEE
    • ASEE Engineering Deans Council - EDC
  • American Society of Mechanical Engineering - ASME
  • Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers - IEEE
  • Global Engineering Deans Council - GEDC
    • Member, GEDC Executive Committee
  • Hermann-Reissner Award for Aerospace Engineering 1992
  • Heisenberg Fellow 1995-2000