UT Knoxville engineer receives $450,000 Air Force research award

University of Tennessee, Knoxville, civil engineering assistant professor Han-Gyu Kim received an Air Force Young Investigator Program award to study how composite aircraft structures respond when heat and mechanical forces act together under extreme conditions. UT Knoxville said in an Oct. 8, 2026, announcement that the award provides $450,000 over three years.

The project will develop experimental and modeling methods linking thermal buckling, complex vibrations and damage progression in composite materials. Kim’s stated project title describes multiscale and multiphysics characterization and modeling of nonlinear dynamics and damage growth in composite aerostructures under extreme, coupled loading. The framework is intended to examine how interacting physical effects shape structural behavior and damage across multiple scales.

Kim identified the award as part of the Air Force’s FY26 Young Investigator Program and listed award number FA9550-26-1-B376. UT Knoxville said he will collaborate with the Structural Sciences Center at the Air Force Research Laboratory. The planned work is to develop and validate the experimental and modeling framework.