James Scoggins
Associate Professor
James Scoggins
Associate Professor
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Associate Professor
Associate Professor
Professor Scoggins’ research sits at the intersection of computational aerothermodynamics and scientific machine learning for high-enthalpy and hypersonic flows. Accurate prediction of the multiscale, coupled radiation, flow, and thermal protection material-response processes occurring in hypersonic flight is essential for planetary exploration, national defense, asteroid-threat awareness, and a growing commercial space industry. Professor Scoggins aims to address key challenges by bridging the gap between first-principles modeling and data-driven discovery for high-speed flows. His research group develops physics-informed, probabilistic machine learning methods that transform how we predict, interpret, and design for extreme flight environments. Applications of this work include the prediction of heating environments for planetary entry vehicles and meteors, shock-layer radiation transport, kinetic transport processes for magnetized plasmas, thermal relaxation in nonequilibrium flows, and flight sensor characterization, optimal placement, and interpretation under uncertainty.
Ph.D., Energy Sciences, jointly from CentraleSupélec (France) and the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics (Belgium), 2017
M.S., Aerospace Engineering, North Carolina State University, 2011
Graduate Minor, Mathematics, North Carolina State University, 2011
B.S., Aerospace Engineering, North Carolina State University, 2009
Associate Professor, Aerospace Engineering & Mechanics, University of Minnesota, 2026 – present
Solutions Architect, Senior Principle, Analytical Mechanics Associates, Inc., 2026 – present
Research Aerospace Engineer, Aerothermodynamics Branch, NASA Langley Research Center, 2021 – 2026
Post-doctoral Researcher, Center for Applied Mathematics, Ecole Polytechnique (France), 2018 – 2021
Research Associate, Advanced Computing Division, NASA Ames Research Center, 2018
Post-doctoral Researcher, von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics (Belgium), 2017 – 2018
2025: NASA Langley Research Center CIF/IRAD Award
2024: AIAA Thermophysics Best Paper Award
2022: NASA KSC Group Achievement Award for TFAWS Organization
2019: Fondation Mathématique Jacques Hadamard Postdoctoral Fellowship
2018: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Seal of Excellence for Individual Fellowship Proposal
2009: NASA Graduate Student Research Fellowship
2009: North Carolina Space Grant Summer Fellowship
2007: NOAA Ernest F. Hollings Scholarship
J.B. Scoggins, K.L. Bibb. Probabilistic Machine Learning Aerodatabase for the Orion Crew Module. AIAA Aviation Forum, June 2026. AIAA 2026-4401.
J.B. Scoggins, A. Mazaheri, C.O. Johnston. Characterization of the MEDLI2 Radiometer Optical Properties. 2023AIAA Aviation Forum, San Diego, CA, June 2023. AIAA 2023-4037.
G. Bellas-Chatzigeorgis, J.B. Haskins, J.B. Scoggins. Transport properties for neutral C, H, N, O and Si-containing species and mixtures from the Gordon and McBride Thermodynamic database. Physics of Fluids 34:087102, 2022.
J.B. Scoggins, J. Han, M. Massot. Machine Learning Moment Closure for Accurate and Efficient Simulation of Polydisperse Evaporating Sprays. AIAA Scitech 2021 Forum, virtual, January 2021. AIAA 2021-1786.
J.B. Scoggins, V. Leroy, G. Bellas-Chatzigeorgis, B. Dias, T.E. Magin. Mutation++: Multicomponent thermodynamic and transport properties for ionized gases in C++. SoftwareX 12, 2020.
B. Dias, J.B. Scoggins, T.E. Magin. Luminosity calculation of meteor entry based on detailed flow simulations in the continuum regime. Astronomy and Astrophysics 635:A184, 2020.
J. B. Scoggins, J. Rabinovitch, B. Barros-Fernandez, A. Martin, J. Lachaud, R.L. Jaffe, N.N. Mansour, G. Blanquart, T.E. Magin. Thermodynamic properties of equilibrium carbon-phenolic gas mixtures. Aerospace Science and Technology 66:177-192, 2017.
J.B. Scoggins, T.E. Magin. Gibbs function continuation for linearly constrained multiphase equilibria. Combustion and Flame 162(12):4514-4522, 2015.
J. Lachaud, J.B. Scoggins, T.E. Magin, M.G. Meyer, N.N. Mansour. A generic local thermal equilibrium model for porous reactive materials submitted to high temperatures. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 108:1406-1417, 2017.
J.B. Scoggins, P. Knisely, T.E. Magin. Crossed contributions to electron and heavy-particle transport fluxes for magnetized plasmas in the continuum regime. 30th International Symposium on Rarefied Gas Dynamics (RGD30): AIP Conference Proceedings, 1786(130002), 2016.