Prior to joining the faculty at Washington University in 2001, Professor Agarwal was the Chair of the Aerospace Engineering Department at Wichita State University from 1994 to 1996 and the Executive Director of National Institute for Aviation Research from 1996 to 2001. From 1994 to 2001, he was also the Bloomfield Distinguished Professor at Wichita State University.
From 1978 to 1994, Professor Agarwal worked in various scientific and managerial positions at McDonnell Douglas Research Laboratories in St. Louis. He became the Program Director and McDonnell Douglas Fellow in 1990. From 1976 to 1978, Professor Agarwal worked as a NRC Research Associate at NASA Ames Research Center and as a Principal Research Engineer at Rao and Associates in Palo Alto, California from 1975 to 1976.
Over a period of 35 years, Professor Agarwal has worked in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Computational Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) and Electromagnetics, Computational Aeroacoustics, Multidisciplinary Design and Optimization, Rarefied Gas Dynamics and Hypersonic Flows, Bio-Fluid Dynamics, and Flow and Flight Control. More recently, he has devoted some of his efforts in nanotechnology and renewable energy systems - in particular wind, solar and biomass. He is the author and coauthor of over 500 publications and serves on the editorial board of more than 20 journals. He has given many plenary, keynote and invited lectures at various national and international conferences worldwide. Professor Agarwal continues to serve on many professional, government, and industrial advisory committees.
Professor Agarwal is a Fellow of eighteen societies: American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS), American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), American Physical Society (APS), American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), American Academy of Mechanics (AAM), American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Chinese Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics (CSAA), Institute of Pysics (IOP), UK, Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET), Energy Institute (EI), Australian Institute of High Energetic Materials, American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), Academy of Science of St. Louis, Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS), and World Innovation Foundation (WIF). He has received many honors and awards for his research contributions including the ASME Fluids Engineering Award (2001), ASME Charles Russ Richards Memorial Award (2006), Royal Aeronautical Society Gold Award (2007), AIAA Aerodynamics Award (2008), AIAA/SAE 2009 William Littlewood Lecture Award (2009), James B. Eads Award of Academy of Science of St. Louis (2009), ASEE/AIAA John Leland Atwood Award (2009), SAE Clarence Kelly Johnson Award (2009), SAE Franklin W. Kolk Award (2009), AIAA Lindbergh Award (2010), SAE Aerospace Engineering Leadership Award (2013), SAE Excellence in Engineering Education Award, SAE International Medal of Honor (2015) and AIAA Reed Aeronautics Award (2015) among many others.
