Eugene Veloso
Email: ev9477@princeton.edu
Education
B.S. in Mechanical Engineering
Harvard University, 2023
Biography
Eugene was born in Manila, Philippines and grew up in Rio Grande City, Texas. He graduated from Harvard University in 2023 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and worked at Aurora Flight Sciences before attending Princeton. During his time at Harvard, Eugene conducted research at the Microrobotics Lab and developed a smart wearable device for space suit applications using dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs), a type of soft robotic actuator. At Aurora Flight Sciences, he supported the Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstrator program (EPFD) in collaboration with NASA and GE. Eugene also spent two summers working at Boeing Commercial Airlines with the Product Development team as an intern. Now a member of the BAM Lab at Princeton, he combines his interests in bioinspired robotics with aviation. Eugene is passionate about the intersection of biology and engineering and seeks to uncover pathways for enabling efficient sustainable aviation. Outside of research, Eugene enjoys rock climbing, playing guitar, breakdancing, and speedrunning the daily NYT games.
Research
Eugene researches the role of covert-inspired flaps as control effectors on aeroelastic structures. His work is funded by the Toyota Research Institute of North America (TRINA) where they are developing a multifunctional High Altitude Aerial Platform for wind energy harvesting, atmospheric data collection, and communications. The platform, which is a highly elastic and flexible kite, requires control authority and stability augmentation, and Eugene investigates the role of covert flaps in enabling such capabilities both in nature and engineering. In particular, he conducts wind tunnel experiments, collects Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) measurements, and applies system identification techniques to characterize the flaps’ effects on aerodynamic forces and moments and to understand the underlying flow physics. Eugene is also interested in applying these findings and techniques onto other applications, such as electric aircraft, UAVs, and wind turbines.