Pablo Fajardo

Pablo Fajardo is a Full Professor of Aerospace Engineering at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) and currently serves as Vice-Rector for Faculty and Research Staff. He holds a PhD from Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (UPV) and a degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.

From 2008 to 2013, he was a University Assistant in Aerospace Engineering at UPV before joining UC3M in 2013 as a Visiting Professor. He became an Associate Professor in 2017 and was elected to the UC3M Governing Council and University Senate in 2018. Between 2014 and 2023, he served as Director of the Master in Aeronautical Engineering and Deputy Director of the School of Engineering. In 2022, he was promoted to Full Professor.

His research focuses on computational modeling and simulation of physical systems, particularly in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and plasma propulsion. His PhD thesis centered on the numerical and experimental characterization of turbomachinery. Currently, he develops numerical methods for plasma flow modeling and conducts experimental research on plasma thrusters. He has supervised three completed PhD theses and is currently advising four more.

Dr. Fajardo has published more than 40 articles in JCR-indexed journals, with more than 30 appearing in the top third of their respective fields. He has contributed to more than 50 international conferences, including IEPC, TurboExpo, and ESA’s ECSSMET.

He has played a key role in research projects and industry collaborations, participating in 17 publicly funded projects (9 European, 2 national, 4 regional, and 2 with the European Space Agency), totaling over €3.9 million in funding. As Principal Investigator (PI), he has led four national research projects, two Madrid Region projects, two H2020 projects (HIPATIA and CHEOPS-LP), and a project with ESA, securing an additional €1.7 million. He has also been involved in over 20 privately funded projects, serving as PI for nearly half of them, with €580,000 in industry contracts.

In academia, he has been instrumental in curriculum development for the Aerospace Engineering programs at UPV and UC3M, including the Master’s in Aeronautical and Space Engineering. He has taught a broad range of courses, supervised 20 final-year projects, and served on over 80 thesis evaluation committees and 20 doctoral tribunals. His international experience includes a research stay at the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics (Belgium) and invited lectures at the Aeronautical University in Querétaro.

He is also the promoter of the Airbus-UC3M and ISDEFE-UC3M research chairs, fostering collaboration between academia and industry in aerospace research.