Recently highlighted in the December issue of the AIAA Aerospace America 2016 Year in Review was work being done on the Rotating Detonation Engine (RDE) or Pressure Gain Combustor (PGC) by Professors Mitsuru Kurosaka and Carl Knowlen and their students: "Academia made significant progress in PGC development this year. A team from the University of Washington demonstrated success in controlling the spin direction of an RDE detonation wave using a system that emits circumferentially phased sequential sparking." Also contributing to the project were Professors Mattick, Breidenthal and Bruckner.