Dr. Turgut (Sarp) Sarpkaya, Distinguished Professor of Mechanical and Astronautical Engineering, joined the Naval Postgraduate School in 1967, after twelve years of teaching and research at various institutions, including post-doctoral work at MIT, the University of Manchester (England), and the Aerodynamics Research Institute of Gottingen (under the direction of Prof. H. Schlichting). During the past fifty years, he contributed to the understanding of vortex-shedding in time-dependent flows, vortex breakdown, wave forces on offshore structures, computational methods with vortices, vortex-induced oscillations, vortex/free-surface interactions (scars and striations) and, more recently, to the motion of trailing vortices and their interaction with the follower aircraft. His contributions to marine hydrodynamics became part of the international design codes for offshore structures. He also contributed to the stability of oscillating flows, dynamics of submarines, trailing vortices of submerged bodies in density-stratified medium, hydroelastic response of flexible structures, and collapse of large parachutes.

A Fellow of several professional societies, including that of the Royal Society of Naval Architects & Marine Engineers (RINA), author of a book, more than 250 journal articles and editor of several books, Sarp enjoys active research on the stability of time- dependent flows, bluff-body hydrodynamics, wake-vortex interactions, vortex-induced oscillations, and the surface signature of submerged bodies and vortices.

His contributions have been recognized numerous times over the years: Collingwood Prize in 1957, Lewis F. Moody Award in 1967, Sigma Xi Research Award in 1971, Freeman Scholar Award in 1988, the Fluids Engineering Award of ASME in 1990, the Offshore Mechanics and Arctic Engineering Award in 1993, and NASA's prestigious award of Turning Goals into Reality in 2002.