James A. Flaten
James Flaten

James A. Flaten

Associate Director of the MN Space Grant Consortium and Contract Associate Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics

Contact

612-626-9295
flate001@umn.edu
Akerman Hall
Room 205C
110 Union Street SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Education

Ph.D., Physics, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, 1997

B.A., Physics and Mathematics (with Computer Science emphasis), Carleton College, 1987

Professional Background

Associate Contract Professor, Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics Department, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN, 2015-Present

Assistant Contract Professor, Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics Department, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN, 2005-2015

Associate Director of the MN Space Grant, Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics Department, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN, 2005-Present

Assistant Professor, Physics Department, Luther College, Decorah, IA, 2001-2005

Assistant Professor, Physics Department, University of Minnesota - Morris, Morris, MN, 1997-2001

Graduate Student Teaching and Research Assistant, Physics Department, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN, 1991-1997

Physics Instructor, The Hill School (a private high school), Pottstown, PA, 1988-1991

Research Interests

UMN Experts  |  Presentations

Professor Flaten serves as the Associate Director of the Minnesota Space Grant Consortium (MnSGC), a NASA higher education program, which involves state-wide promotion of all-things-NASA-related. He teaches NASA-related classes, including freshman seminars on high-altitude ballooning and high-power rocketry, and also works with college students and faculty (and others) on out-of-class NASA-related projects including building and flying miniature spacecraft into the stratosphere using weather balloons, developing science payloads for NASA suborbital rocket flights, and mentoring student teams participating in high-power rocketry competitions. Professor Flaten also conducts teacher workshops and outreach activities at local schools and for the general public on aerospace, astronomy, physics, and engineering. His formal academic background is in low-temperature experimental physics and he particularly enjoys the connections between physics and sound (especially musical instruments), physics and art (especially art using unusual optics), and physics and Halloween (including an annual display of "spooky" physics demonstrations at the Mystery Science Lab in the CSE Math & Science Fun Fair).

Teaching Subjects
AEM 1301 -- Ballooning: Design, Build, and Fly
AEM 1905 -- Freshman Seminar: Aircraft and Spacecraft
AEM 2011 -- Statics
AEM 3031 -- Deformable Body Mechanics
AEM 4495 -- Aerospace Systems Problems

Honors and Awards

1987: Graduated summa cum laude, with Honors in Physics

1987: Elected to Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi

1986: Noyes Prize for Academic Excellence

1984: Phi Beta Kappa Freshman Prize

Selected Publications

 Flaten, J. A., Lindensmith, C. A. & Zimmermann, Jr., W. (2006) "The Frequency Dependence of Critical-Velocity Behavior in Oscillatory Flow of Superfluid 4He Through a 2-µm by 2-µm Aperture in a Thin Foil," Journal of Low Temperature Physics, 142(5-6): 725-752. 

Flaten, J. A., Borden, C. T., Lindensmith, C. & Zimmermann, Jr., W. (2006) "Simulations of Vortex Evolution and Phase Slip in Oscillatory Potential Flow of the Superfluid Component of 4He Through an Aperture," Journal of Low Temperature Physics, 142(5-6): 753-767. 

Flaten, J. A. & Cooper, R. A. (2005) "Improving Upon Mach's Wave Machines to Demonstrate Traveling Waves," The Physics Teacher, 43: 304-307.

Flaten, J. A. & Parendo, K. A. (2001) “Pendulum waves – A lesson in aliasing,” American Journal of Physics, 69(7): 778-782. 

Flaten, J. A. (1999) "Curves of Constant Width," The Physics Teacher, 37: 418-419.

Flaten, J. A. (1997) "Beyond Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation," The Physics Teacher, 35: 248-250.