Dr. Jacqueline O’Connor is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University and the head of the Reacting Flow Dynamics Laboratory. Her research focuses on unsteady combustion phenomena and durability issues in power and propulsion technologies, including power generation gas turbines, aircraft engines, and diesel engines, using high-speed laser diagnostics. Previously, she was a post-doctoral researcher at Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore, California in the Engine Combustion Department. She received a BS from MIT in Aeronautics in 2006, and a MS and Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from Georgia Tech in 2009 and 2012. She is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the recipient of the 2023 Tsuji Early Career Award from the Combustion Institute. At Penn State, she teaches undergraduate courses on thermodynamics, internal combustion engines, and gas turbines, and graduate courses on combustion.