Will Fernandes joined Florida Polytechnic University as an assistant professor in Fall 2025. Prior to this, he held a post-doctoral research position at Texas Tech University, where he completed an M.S. and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering.
His area of expertise is aircraft design, especially related to the blended-wing-body (BWB) and flying wing. He published over 20 journal and conference papers between 2021 and 2025, exploring the intersection between aircraft design, aerodynamics, stability and controls and modeling. Fernandes has also been an active member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), especially as a part of the Transformational Flight Integration and Outreach Committee.
Education
Expertise
Professional Activities
Select Publications
Fernandes, G., Gandur, N., Maldonado, V., Mallory, A., Philip, J., Kendrick, D., Mills, C., Esquivel, V., Ku Doh Moo, H., & Ruiz, E. (2024). Conceptual Design of a Semi Blended Wing Body Hybrid Electric Regional Transport. AIAA SCITECH 2024 Forum. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2024-1911
Gandur, N., Fernandes, G., Maldonado, V., Wilkey, J., Valencia, A., Shelton, N., Brink, A., & Ramirez, S. (2024). Conceptual Design of a Single Core Mixed Pressure Flow Hybrid Electric Turbine Engine. AIAA SCITECH 2024 Forum. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2024-1181
Santos, D., Fernandes, G.D., Doosttalab, A., & Maldonado, V. (2024). Experimental Aerodynamics of a Small Fixed-Wing UAV Coated with Bio-Inspired Microfibers Under Static and Dynamic Stall. Aerospace, 11(11), 947. https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace11110947
Maldonado, V., Fernandes, G., Childre, H., & Gould, D. (2024). Aerodynamic Performance and Turbulent Jet Flow Characteristics of Ducted Rotors with Rectangular, Tapered, and Elliptical Blades. AIAA SCITECH 2024 Forum. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2024-1766
Dos Santos, D., Hicks, J., Dufflis, G., Cheon, M., & Maldonado, V. (2024). Computational and Experimental Aerodynamics of an E-VTOL Aircraft With Distributed Underwing Ducted Fan Propulsion and Boundary Layer Ingestion. AIAA AVIATION FORUM AND ASCEND 2024. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2024-4512
Dufflis Fernandes, G. (2024). Design of a stealth, flying wing bomber aircraft using vortex panel methods (Doctoral dissertation, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas). https://hdl.handle.net/2346/100823
Fernandes, G., Gandur, N., & Maldonado, V. (2025). Design of a Stealth, Flying Wing Bomber Aircraft Using Vortex Panel Methods. AIAA SCITECH 2025 Forum. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2025-2351
