Faculty Directory

EDUCATION

• Ph.D., 2004, University of Maryland (Aerospace Engineering)
• B. Tech, 1998, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (Aerospace Engineering)

BACKGROUND

Datta and his research group study the aeromechanics of advanced vertical lift aircraft. The major areas of research are: electric-VTOL (eVTOL), high-speed tiltrotors, scalable-3D structures, and Mars helicopters. Before joining Maryland, Datta was at the U.S. Army Aviation Development Directorate at NASA Ames Research Center for 9 years, where he worked on the full-scale wind-tunnel test of the UH-60A Black Hawk rotor, development of a 3D aeroelastic solver X3D, design of eVTOL, and aeromechanics of the JPL Mars Helicopter (Ingenuity). During 2008-2013, he was the structural dynamics lead of DOD's CREATE-AV software Helios --- a HPC tool for the design and analysis of advanced vertical lift aircraft. Datta was the Founding Chair of the eVTOL Technical Committee of the Vertical Flight Society (VFS) and a founding member of its Hydrogen Council. He has served / serves in the VFS Dynamics Technical Committee (2009-2012, 2016-2019, 2023-present),  VFS Alfred Gessow Best Paper Committee (2018-2020), Chair of VFS eVTOL Technical Committee (2019-2022), member of the U.S. Army's Vertical Lift Research Center of Excellence review committee (2012-2015), Chair of NASA Aeronautics Research Institute's working group on commercial intra-city Urban Air Mobility (2017-2018), Chair of the AIAA Structural Dynamics Technical Committee (2024-2026), and as Associate Editor of the Journal of the American Helicopter Society (2009-cont). He is a Technical Fellow of VFS.

HONORS AND AWARDS

• 2026 Best Paper in eVTOL, VFS, Yuval Enciu, Anubhav Datta, Diallo Ibrahima, Mikael Cardinal, Marc-Antoine Pilo & Asher Leach
• 2026 Best Paper in Autonomy & UAS, VFS, Kumardip Basak, Inderjit Chopra & Anubhav Datta
• 2024 Best Paper in Structural Dynamics, AIAA, Xavier Delgado & Anubhav Datta
• 2024 Best Paper in eVTOL, VFS, Matthew Arace & Anubhav Datta
• 2024 Elected Chair of the AIAA Structural Dynamics Technical Committee
• 2023 Best Paper in eVTOL, VFS, Matthew Arace & Anubhav Datta
• 2023 Best Paper in Structural Dynamics, AIAA, Mrinalgouda Patil & Anubhav Datta
• 2022 Best Paper in eVTOL, VFS, Emily Fisler & Anubhav Datta
• 2022 Howard Hughes Award, VFS

                    Mars Helicopter Ingenuity Team: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), NASA Ames and Langley Research Centers, Lockheed Martin Space, AeroVironment, Qualcomm, SolAero and University of Maryland. "For accomplishing the first powered flight on another planet on April 19, 2021, with a 39.1 sec. flight of the 4-lb (1.8-kg) Ingenuity helicopter on Mars."

• 2021 Best Paper in Structural Dynamics, AIAA, Seyhan Gul & Anubhav Datta
• 2021 Best Paper in Dynamics, VFS, Seyhan Gul & Anubhav Datta
• 2021 Best Paper in Advanced Vertical Flight, VFS, Cheng Chi, Ravi Lumba & Anubhav Datta
• 2020 Forum Technical Chair,  VFS Annual Forum-76
• 2019 Elected Founding Chair of VFS Electric-VTOL Technical Committee
• 2017 Keynote at the Electric & Hybrid Aerospace Technology Symposium, Cologne, Germany
• 2012 Keynote at the inaugural Asian-Australian Rotorcraft Forum, S Korea, Busan
• 2012 Group Achievement Award, NASA, for Full-scale UH-60A Black Hawk Airloads Testing
• 2011 13-th Agusta Westland Distinguished Guest Lecture, Agusta Westland Finmeccanica (now Leonardo), Italy
• 2011 Technical Excellence in Publications Award, NASA
• 2011 Best Paper in Dynamics & Alfred Gessow Forum Best Paper, AHS, Anubhav Datta, Hyeonsoo Yeo & Tom Norman
• 2011 Grover E. Bell Award, AHS

                      UH-60 Wind-Tunnel Airloads Test Team: US Army, US Air Force, NASA, and The National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex(NFAC). "For successfully completing the most intricate and extensive testing ever performed on a full-scale rotor system."

• 2009 Best Paper in Advanced Vertical Flight, AHS, Jayant Sirohi & Anubhav Datta
• 2009 Best Paper in Dynamics, AHS, Anubhav Datta & Wayne Johnson
• 2007 Group Achievement Award for breakthrough in unsteady aerodynamic modeling, U.S. Army
• 2006 Francois Xavier Bagnoud Award for contributions to rotorcraft under age 35, AHS
• 2005 Best Paper in Dynamics, AHS, Anubhav Datta & Inderjit Chopra
• 2003 Best Paper in Dynamics, AHS, Anubhav Datta & Inderjit Chopra
• 2002 Best Paper in Dynamics, AHS, Anubhav Datta & Inderjit Chopra