Cosan Unuvar

Dr. Cosan Unuvar has always been genuinely interested in and curious about aerospace as well as science and wanted to be an astronaut. He strongly believes that humans need to explore the universe, which will lead to endless discoveries and advanced technologies, with a wide spectrum of positive impact on human life and beyond.

Cosan holds a B.S. in Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science, with honor, from Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara, Turkey. He came to the US with a student exchange (study abroad) program and started his graduate studies afterwards.

Cosan completed his Ph.D. in Materials Science & Engineering at University of California, Davis (UCD) in 2006. His dissertation project was about the Effects of Gravity and Electric Current in Combustion Synthesis. Cosan led a team of professors, students, industry professionals, and government agency representatives in a joint effort in two successful reduced gravity flight campaigns (KC-135) at the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC), Houston. Cosan has logged 8 flights with about 320 reduced gravity parabolas, including Lunar and Martian gravities. He also led the flight certification of the research hardware, which involved a deep, multi-field (mechanical, electrical, chemical and materials) analysis and the preparation of an extensive Test Equipment Data Package (TEDP). Cosan also developed a similar experimental system to be used at the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) Drop Tower. These gave him the opportunity to expand his horizons and gain experience in the design, development, analysis, production and approval of sophisticated research equipment.

Cosan continued his career as a research faculty at the Colorado School of Mines, at the Advanced Combustion Synthesis & Engineering Laboratory (ACSEL) and the Center for Space Resources (CSR). His main research project was funded by NASA Langley Research Center (LRC) to develop a contingency sterilization of a Martian Sample Return (MSR) mission, successfully using combustion synthesis as a heat source. Cosan has also worked with NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) in the development of Ultra High Temperature Ceramics (UHTC) for aerospace and atmospheric reentry applications. Additionally, Cosan mentored many undergraduate and graduate students.

Cosan was involved with a wide range projects: industrial to government/military applications such as, advanced novel materials synthesis and processing, nanomaterials, in-situ resource utilization (ISRU), reactive material structures, lightweight armor, cast parts, biomaterials and etc. with the support from NASA, DARPA, NSF, NADCA and DOE and therefore holds a wide spectrum of interdisciplinary expertise, exceptional trouble analysis, and problem solving skills. Currently, Cosan is taking a major leading role in an effort of a manufacturing company (MAS Intercom) in a new market area penetration and business investment by project management, technical consulting, continuous improvement, quality, trade shows, fundraising and marketing.

Cosan’s interest include travelling, hiking, snowboarding, swimming, soccer, volleyball, go-karting and etc.


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