Mingtai Chen

Assistant Teaching Professor

I am an experimentalist fascinated with designing a test setup, acquiring test data, analyzing the data, and making the final conclusions and recommendations. As an educator, my goal in the long term is to make the experiment in aerodynamics and vehicle structures more appealing to students.  

Before joining NC State, I was a flight test engineer in Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd, Shanghai. This job provided experience on how the ideas in textbooks are transferred to industry and tested in real flights. Also, this working opportunity motivated me to learn more in aerospace engineering. Therefore, I chose to pursue my Ph.D. program in 2016 at the University of Alabama. In the end, I am passionate about aerospace engineering to which I continue devoting my time and efforts.

Outside of work, I will play guitar to refresh myself and go fishing in nature.

Grants

  • NCSU FRPD 2022-2345
  • NCSU SoTL Scholarship

Publications

Aerospace Engineering Undergraduate Laboratory Courses: A Systematic Review (1990–2025)
Chen, M. (2026, March 1), Computer Applications in Engineering Education, Vol. 3. https://doi.org/10.1002/cae.70179
Computational Study of Hybrid Propeller Configurations
Chen, M., Liu, T., Edwards, J., & Fang, T. (2026, January 15), Aerospace, Vol. 1. https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace13010094
A Redesigned Physical Laboratory Approach to Aerospace Engineering Structure Education
Chen, M. (2025, February 24), Laboratories. https://doi.org/10.3390/laboratories2010006
Experimental and Numerical Analysis of a Toroidal Propeller
Chen, M., Liu, T., & Fang, T. (2025, August 23), Journal of Aerospace Engineering, Vol. 38. https://doi.org/10.1061/jaeeez.aseng-6423
Experimental and Numerical Study of a UAV Propeller Printed in Clear Resin
Chen, M., Wimsatt, J., Liu, T., & Fang, T. (2025, April 22), Aerospace, Vol. 12. https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace12050362
Numerical Study of a Small Rotor Interacting with a Generic Wing Using a Transient Solver
Chen, M., Liu, T., Wimsatt, J., & Edwards, J. (2025, July 16), AIAA AVIATION FORUM AND ASCEND 2025. https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2025-3634
Rotor-Wing Interaction in Urban Air Mobility Tiltrotors
Chen, M. (2025). , . https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3693-8462-6.ch015
Aeroacoustic and aerodynamic measurements at the rotor plane in the interaction of a small rotor with wings
Chen, M., Liu, L., Chen, Y., & Wimsatt, J. (2024, October 1), The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Vol. 156, pp. 2816–2826. https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0032471
Experimental assessment of blowing effect on vehicle performance and aero-acoustics in small-rotor/wing interaction
Chen, M., Chen, Y., Hua, J., Maier, N., & Burdette, D. (2024, March 7), Journal of Vibration and Control, Vol. 3. https://doi.org/10.1177/10775463241236303
Facilitating aerospace engineering senior design: Integrating lab curriculum redesign with student project and new technologies
Chen, M. (2024, June 2), Engineering Reports, Vol. 6. https://doi.org/10.1002/eng2.12938

View all publications via NC State Libraries

Mingtai Chen