CV

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Education

• Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, Brigham Young University, expected April 2027
  • Dissertation: Enabling Unsteady Aerostructural Wind Turbine Blade Design Optimization via Analytical Gradients and Machine Learning
  • Advisor: Andrew Ning
• B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Brigham Young University, 2020
  • Minors in Mathematics and Ballroom Dance

Research interests

• Aeroelastic design optimization of wind turbines
• Gradient-based optimization & efficient gradient computation (adjoint / AD)
• Deep-learning surrogate models for engineering design

Experience

• April 2020 – Present: Graduate Student Researcher, Brigham Young University
  • Develop aeroservoelastic software for gradient-based optimization.
  • Design approaches for physics-based deep learning surrogate modeling.
  • Write scientific articles on theoretical advancements and experimentation.
  • Advisor: Andrew Ning
• Aug 2016 – Present: Teaching Assistant, Brigham Young University
  • Supported students across undergraduate and graduate courses including Newtonian mechanics, statics, system dynamics, fluid mechanics, flight vehicle design, design optimization methods, and deep learning for engineers.
  • Mentored students one-on-one and in groups, graded work, provided feedback, and occasionally taught lectures.
• Jan 2023 – April 2026: Undergraduate Research Coordinator, Brigham Young University
  • Led the design, coordination, and instruction of a one-on-one undergraduate research skills course.
  • Contributed to three major curriculum redesigns emphasizing the skills and dispositions essential for academic research.
  • Oversaw the full student lifecycle, from application review through strategic mentor matching, and mentored graduate student instructors.
• June 2023 – Aug 2023: Aeromechanics Research Intern, NASA Ames Research Center
  • Analyzed a current eVTOL aircraft using the NASA Design and Analysis of Rotorcraft software (NDARC) to verify performance claims, under the mentorship of Chris Silva and Wayne Johnson.
  • Mentored three high school interns and advised other interns on electronics, aircraft design, structural mechanics, and coding.
• April 2018 – April 2020: Undergraduate Research Assistant, FLOW Lab, Brigham Young University
  • Designed two test harnesses to compare the efficacy of aerodynamic analysis programs.
  • Implemented airfoil parameterization methods in a B-spline program for smooth optimization.
  • Analyzed a wind turbine using blade element momentum theory against unsteady experimental data.

Skills

• Numerical analysis and scientific computing
• Programming: Julia (primary), Python, MATLAB, Fortran, C++, C#
• Gradient-based optimization, automatic differentiation, adjoint methods
• Deep learning / surrogate modeling

Publications

Efficient derivative computation for unsteady fatigue-constrained nonlinear aero-structural wind turbine blade optimization

Cardoza, A., & Ning, A. (2026). "Efficient derivative computation for unsteady fatigue-constrained nonlinear aero-structural wind turbine blade optimization." Wind Energy Science, 11(4), 1487–1504. doi:10.5194/wes-11-1487-2026

A General Coupling Methodology for Unsteady Aerostructural Optimization with Analytic Derivatives

McDonnell, T., Cardoza, A., Caprace, D. G., & Ning, A. (2022). "A General Coupling Methodology for Unsteady Aerostructural Optimization with Analytic Derivatives." AIAA SciTech 2022 Forum, San Diego, CA. doi:10.2514/6.2022-1291

Incorporating High-Fidelity Aerostructural Analyses in Wind Turbine Rotor Optimization

Caprace, D. G., Cardoza, A., Ning, A., Mangano, M., He, S., & Martins, J. R. R. A. (2022). "Incorporating High-Fidelity Aerostructural Analyses in Wind Turbine Rotor Optimization." AIAA SciTech 2022 Forum, San Diego, CA. doi:10.2514/6.2022-1290

Presentations

• “Unsteady aerostructural blade optimization with analytic gradients,” NAWEA 2023 WindTech Conference

Mentoring

• Graduate students: Weston Pace (PhD, April 2025 – present)
• Undergraduate students: Zachary Twitchell, Elise McConlogue, Ben Linford, McKay Hoffmann, Petr Tupitsyn, Janet Wong, Sam Nasman, Weston Pace, Jacob Child, Tanner Oldham, Gregory Devenport

Affiliations

• American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)

Service

• Chinese Language Missionary, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, New York, New York South (Jan 2013 – Jan 2015). Taught English language courses, provided translation support, and led a small team of missionaries.