Ragini Acharya joined the University of Tennessee Space Institute, (UTSI) as an Associate Professor in the Mechanical, Aerospace, and Biomedical Engineering, (MABE) Department.  Acharya received her PhD in Mechanical Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University in 2008.   

Before coming to UTSI, Ragini Acharya spent over a decade in aerospace and defense industry with her last appointment as a Hypersonic Propulsion Lead at Raytheon Missile Systems. Acharya has been the principal investigator of multiple programs on Hypersonic and propulsion technologies, reacting flow modeling and computations, and uncertainty quantification method development. Her research has been funded by government agencies and industry including DARPA DSO, DARPA TTO, AFRL, NASA Langley, AMRDEC, MDA, and Raytheon Missile Systems. Acharya has co-authored two graduate-level textbooks on, “Turbulent and Multiphase Combustion” (John Wiley & Sons) in addition to over 50 technical articles in peer-reviewed publications and technical conferences. Acharya is an AIAA Associate Fellow, a Pre-college Outreach Director for AIAA Greater Huntsville Section, and a member of both the High-Speed Air Breathing Propulsion and Inlets, Nozzles, and Propulsion System Integration Technical Committees at AIAA. Acharya is mother of a five-year old daughter and wife of Paul Palies. They reside in Madison, AL and enjoy outdoor activities.