AIAA is pleased to announce that Hossam Adel is the recipient of the 2026 Zarem Graduate Student Award for Distinguished Achievement in Astronautics.
Adel will receive his award at AIAA SciTech Forum 2027, Orlando, Florida, 11–15 January 2027. This award was established by AIAA Honorary Fellow Abe Zarem, founder and managing director of Frontier Associates, to annually recognize graduate students in aeronautics and astronautics who have demonstrated outstanding scholarship in their field.
Hossam Adel is a graduate student and research assistant in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Auburn University. He is a member of the Advanced Propulsion Research Laboratory, directed by Professor Joseph Majdalani. His research interests include numerical modeling, optimization, and the application of level-set methods to complex systems and flow geometries.
“I am deeply honored by this recognition and grateful to everyone who has supported me throughout this journey, especially Dr. Majdalani, my wonderful advisor.”
Hossam’s faculty advisor, Joseph Majdalani, is the Francis Chair of Excellence in Aerospace Engineering at Auburn University. An AIAA Fellow, he is recognized for pioneering work in acoustic instability and cyclonic-engine technology. With over 350 publications and 23,000 citations, he ranks in the top 0.8% of aerospace researchers globally. His breakthroughs include new cyclonic, vorticoacoustic, asymptotic, computational, similarity, stability, boundary-layer, and high-speed flow formulations. He is known for coauthoring Viscous Fluid Flow with Professor Frank M. White. Besides 18 regional and 11 national best papers, his main accolades include the William Walker Teaching, Mark Spencer Mentorship, James Wyld Propulsion, Von Kármán Lectureship, Abe Zarem Educator (5 times recipient), Auburn Senior Research Excellence, Auburn Book Author, Auburn Outstanding Graduate Mentor, ASEE Leland Atwood Educator, AIAA Sustained Service, Foundation Faculty Advisor, Konrad Dannenberg Educator, Hap Arnold, SAE Ralph Teetor Educator, Marquette Outstanding Teacher (twice), and NSF CAREER Awards.
“I would like to thank God Almighty for blessing us with such exceptional students as Hossam, who passionately pursue perfection, and a little bit of ‘magis,’ in everything they touch. Thanks to Hossam’s outstanding performance, an obviously fair and thoughtful selection committee, and a bit of magic from above, history is made in two consecutive years: back-to-back Mike Freeman Awards in the Southeast Region, and back-to-back Abe Zarem Awards on the national stage! To be named the nation’s Abe Zarem Educator for a fifth time is both profoundly humbling and tremendously appreciated! We are immensely grateful to everyone at AIAA, our beloved society of premier professionals, for this deeply meaningful recognition and quite extraordinary honor.”
For more information on the Abe M. Zarem Graduate Awards for Distinguished Achievement, please contact Merridith Kauten, at [email protected] or 703.264.7503.
