Dr Sonya A Brown is a Senior Lecturer in Aerospace Design in the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering.

Dr Brown is an expert in aerospace design and carbon composite materials. Dr Brown is focused on education and research in aerospace design, from conceptual vehicle design to detailed structures and systems design. Additionally, Dr Brown's research interests include the continued advancement of high-quality carbon composite materials, and the manufacturing technologies to produce composite components reliably for the aerospace industry.

Dr Brown is a Member of the Royal Aeronautical Society (MRAeS) and sits on the RAeS Sydney Branch Committee, a Senior Member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), and a Member of Engineers Australia (MIEAust).
 

Research Projects

Examples of Dr Brown's research projects include:

• Static and fatigue characterization of composite materials
• Multifunctional composites for structural supercapacitors
• Conductive composite materials
• Fibre-reinforced magneto-polymer matrix composites
• Automated fibre placement (AFP) for complex curvatures
• Carbon fibre composite manufacturing process optimisation
• High temperature materials and structures for hypersonic vehicles

Dr Brown has collaborated with organisations including the Defence Science and Technology (DST) Group, Axowind Holdings, and Quickstep Technologies.

PhD Opportunities

Dr Brown is currently seeking motivated PhD candidates in the areas of multifunctional composite materials and composite manufacturing process optimisation.

Students must be competitive for UNSW scholarship rounds. If you are a high performing student and interested, please contact Dr Sonya Brown: sonya.brown@unsw.edu.au

Aerospace Expertise

Dr Brown has provided expertise in aerospace topics and aircraft incidents as follows:

• Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 Boeing 737 MAX 8 disaster in Ethiopia 2019 (TV: ABC News, Sky World News; Radio: ABC Radio National)
• Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 aircraft crash in Iran 2020 (TV: ABC News, Sky World News)
• C130 firefighting aircraft crash in NSW 2020 (TV: SBS News)
• Western Sydney Airport concerns regarding fuel dumping 2020 (Print: Penrith Press)
• Flying Cars 2020 (TV: ABC News; Print: ABC News; Radio: ABC Radio)
• Sriwijaya Air SJ182 aircraft crash in Indonesia 2021 (Radio: ABC NewsRadio)
• Pratt & Whitney 4000 uncontained engine failures on Boeing 777 aircraft 2021 (TV: ABC News)
• Flying Cars 2021 (Print: Daily Telegraph, DriveNow, Fassifern Guardian & Tribune, Executive Traveller, MSN News, Gizmodo Australia; Radio: ABC Canberra, ABC Illawarra, ABC Regional SA, 2GB, 2SM, 2CC, 4CA, 2DU, 98five Sonshine FM, Alive 90.5 FM, 88.6 Plenty Valley FM, RhemaFM, Joy 94.9)
• Aircraft Storage and Return to Service 2021 (Print: The Guardian; Radio: ABC NewsRadio, ABC Radio National, ABC Sydney, ABC Melbourne, ABC Darwin, 3AW)
• China Eastern Airlines Flight MU5735 aircraft crash in China 2022 (Print: BBC News)
• Flying Cars 2022 (Radio: ABC Canberra)
• Boeing 737 firefighting aircraft crash in WA 2023 (TV: ABC News, Print: ABC News)
• Flying Cars 2023 (TV: ABC News, 7News; Print: Al Jazeera; Radio: ABC NewsRadio; Podcast: news.com.au I've Got News For You)
• The First Inventors - Boomerang Powered Drone based on ideas from First Nations inventor David Unaipon 2023 (TV: The First Inventors (Network 10, SBS NITV))
• Cessna 421C crash on Sunshine Coast 2023 (Radio: ABC Brisbane)
• Japan Airlines Airbus A350 crash with a Coast Guard Aircraft 2024 (TV: SBS World News; Radio: SBS Radio; Print: New York Times, The Guardian, Fast Company)
• Alaskan Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 which lost an optional emergency exit plug mid-flight 2024 (TV: ABC News 24, 7.30 ABC; Radio: ABC Radio National; Print: The Guardian)
• Airships usage for Cargo Transport 2024 (Print: The Guardian)
• Safe Design of Aircraft 2024 (Podcast: Shirtloads of Science)
• Singapore Airlines SQ321 turbulence incident 2024 (TV: Nine Network A Current Affair)
• The Future of Aviation 2024 (Podcast: UNSW Engineering the Future)
• Boeing 737 MAX and Aviation Safety 2024 (TV: ABC News 24 The World, SkyNews Australia)
• Future Commercial Aircraft Designs 2024 (Video: Engineers Australia Create)
• Jeju Air Flight 2216 crash in South Korea 2024-2025 (TV: BBC World News; Print: The Guardian, Anadolu News Agency (Turkey))
• Aviation Safety 2025 (Print: Escape, News.com.au)

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy, School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, The University of Sydney, awarded 2012

• Bachelor of Engineering - Aeronautical (Honours Class I and the University Medal), The University of Sydney, awarded 2007

Industry Background

Quickstep Technologies Pty Ltd, 2011-2017

• Materials Research Engineer and Lab Manager (October 2015 - October 2017)
• Research and Development Project Manager (November 2013 - October 2015)

• Research and Development Engineer (October 2011 - November 2013)