AIAA had a successful ASCENDxTexas event in April to discuss accelerating the business of space exploration and the growing Texas space ecosystem. Over 300 attendees from around the world gathered to hear from a diverse group of experts and industry luminaries from organizations including NASA, Blue Origin, Voyager Space, The Boeing Company, Sierra Space, Redwire Space, SpaceX, and Lockheed Martin. Speakers and panels provided new insights on the lunar exploration market, explored space commercialization efforts, identified and debated technology gaps, and learned how NASA is evolving its approach to industry to enable faster outcomes.
Thank you to our 13 supporting sponsors and partners, including our Signature Sponsor, SAIC.
Join us on 8 June for a free virtual discussion on all aspects of space sustainability.
ASCENDxSustainability will feature industry luminaries and experts examining how to build and expand our off-world future in a more sustainable and deliberate fashion as we share a myriad of sustainability best practices and lessons learned. RSVP at www.ascend.events.
AIAA held its 26th annual Design/Build/Fly (DBF) Competition 21–24 April at Textron Aviation in Wichita, KS. DBF encourages excellence in aerospace engineering skills at the undergraduate and graduate levels by challenging teams to design and fabricate a radio-controlled aircraft, submit a written report about the aircraft’s design, and fly their aircraft over a defined course while carrying a payload and landing it without damage.
Sixty-four teams comprising 700 students and faculty participated in the competition, where teams had designed aircraft capable of transporting vaccination syringes and components on the designated course across four missions. This year, 152 flight attempts were made, with 87 resulting in a successful score, 40 of which completed one successful flight, and 15 teams completed all four missions (one ground and three flight missions). Georgia Tech won first place, followed by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University – Daytona Beach in second place. Austria’s FH Joanneum University of Applied Sciences came in third, and also won the award for best design report. In addition, a new award was introduced in honor of longtime DBF Organizing Committee member Stan Powell, who passed away in late 2021. The Stan Powell Memorial Award for Most Meaningful Lessons Learned was given to the University at Buffalo for their efforts to keep their plane in competition after some early setbacks.
Thank you to our sponsors: Primary: Raytheon Technologies and Textron Aviation; Gold: Aerovironment, General Atomics, Spirit Aerosystems, MathWorks, AIAA Foundation. Get involved in next year’s DBF in Tucson, AZ!
The AIAA Foundation supports DBF to advance aerospace and to ensure the next generation of aerospace professionals is equipped as they prepare to enter the workforce. More information on DBF can be found at aiaadbf.org. For information on how your organization can engage with and sponsor this event, please contact alexandrad@aiaa.org.
Due to the many activities of the Society and Aerospace Technology Outreach Committee (SAT OC), 2022 has proven to be a fantastic year. A testament to this statement is an increasing level of SAT OC membership as verified by a 32% growth of committee members since 2021. SAT OC’s membership has also become increasingly diverse; they are active in for-profit organizations, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies, and we have also seen a climb of members identifying as females, now at 34% of its membership (a 12% hike from 2021). The committee is revisiting the topics it has been involved in to capture the interests of all its membership. Such efforts can potentially lead to the formation of new subcommittees.
SAT OC Spotlight
The SAT OC is proud to highlight a member whose leadership, commitment, and skills make a difference in the aerospace community: Suzanne Swaine.
Swaine, a graduate student in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University, was awarded this year’s Estus H. and Vashti L. Magoon Award for Excellence in Teaching along with Arch Pleumpanya (an AIAA Student Member). We congratulate them both.
Swaine joined SAT OC with many bold ambitions. She is a full-time Ph.D. student at Purdue studying aerospace systems in the Aerospace Systems Design, Analysis, and Optimization Laboratory. Her research aims to determine how AAM and conventional aviation technologies can best be implemented to address the needs of underserved remote and isolated communities in Northern Canada.
Swaine spent six years as an Aircraft Performance Technical Specialist with Gulfstream Aerospace, where she worked on the G650ER, G700, and G800 programs. She was heavily involved with the AIAA Savannah Section, including as chair for the 2017–2018 year, and she is a member of the AIAA Aircraft Design Technical Committee. Originally from Nova Scotia, Canada, Swaine earned her Masters of Applied Science in 2014 from Carleton University as a member of Professor Robert Langlois’ Applied Dynamics Laboratory. She earned her Bachelor’s in Aerospace Engineering from Carleton University in 2011.
Swaine hopes to become a professor after graduation and her passion for teaching is reflected in her words: “After spending some time in the industry and working with co-op students, I knew I wanted teaching to be a bigger part of my life. I’ve had incredible teachers and mentors who have impacted my life in profound and positive ways, and I would like to do the same for my students. I am lucky to be studying under Professor Crossley who is a phenomenal teacher both in and out of the classroom. … [I’ve] enjoyed the challenge of working with a variety of students who learn in different ways, have different levels of experience, and who come from different backgrounds. I hope these experiences will help me become a better professor after graduation.”
SAT OC is thrilled about a future where driven, motivated, and highly skilled individuals such as Swaine will positively impact and shape society.
Diversity Corner
Name: Lieutenant Colonel Bree Fram
Notable Contributions: Lt Col Bree Fram is the President of SPARTA and an active-duty lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Space Force. SPARTA advocates and educates about transgender military service and is dedicated to the support and professional development of over 1,300 transgender service members. A member of SPARTA since 2014, she focuses on policy and advocacy work to develop a more inclusive military. Lt Col Fram came out as transgender on the day the transgender ban in the military was dropped in 2016. She is currently the highest ranking out transgender officer in the Department of Defense. She is assigned to the Pentagon to lead space acquisition policy development for the Department of the Air Force.
Potential Societal Impact of Contributions: Lt Col Fram previously served in a wide variety of Air Force positions including a Research and Development command position and an oversight role for all Air Force security cooperation activity with Iraq. In earlier assignments, she served in the Air Force Directorate of Strategic Plans, as a Legislative Fellow at the U.S. Capitol on the staff of Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo, several tours as a program manager for satellite and technology programs, and deployed to Qatar and Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
In collaboration with the AIAA Diversity and Inclusion Working Group and Claudine Phaire, SAT OC is highlighting prominent members of the wider aerospace community in the Diversity Corner.
On 26 March the AIAA Greater Huntsville Section (GHS) hosted the Rocket City Invitational quiz bowl tournament at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). A total of 84 students from 17 schools competed. Volunteers from AIAA GHS, the AIAA UAH Student Branch, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Jacobs Space Exploration Group, ERC, Paragon TEC, SAIC, TriVector Services, Mississippi State University, and Alabama Scholastic Competition Association supported the tournament.
The event consisted of an online, pre-tournament Buzzword Challenge open to all AIAA GHS members, and a traditional, in-person quiz bowl tournament for the 18 teams. Through a grant provided by The Boeing Company, the National Academic Quiz Tournament (NAQT) was commissioned to write a question set for the Buzzword platform covering a wide variety of topics in aerospace and aviation. Players were organized into middle school, high school, college, and open (non-student) divisions.
Jared Sauer, winner of the Buzzword college division, had the highest score across all four divisions. Sauer is a junior studying aerospace engineering at UAH.
The quiz bowl tournament began with three pools of teams playing five round-robin preliminary games to determine which teams would advance to the afternoon varsity playoffs. The two middle schools had their own head-to-head playoffs, and Monrovia Middle School won the double-elimination middle school finals.
The varsity playoffs were seeded based on the results of the preliminary games. The winners were: Hoover High School, 1st place; Alabama School of Cyber Technology and Engineering, 2nd place; Sparkman High School, 3rd place; and Spain Park High School, 4th place. The top ten individual scorers were also recognized with medals. Trophies, team cash awards, and individual medals were made possible through generous sponsorships provided by Jacobs Space Exploration Group and ERC.
On 10 April, AIAA members attended the Junior League of Hampton Roads (JLHR) Tour of Trucks event with an activity for foam gliders and straw rockets. The event was held at Langley Speedway and included several different types of vehicles ranging from trash trucks to street cleaners to police vehicles. AIAA members Robert Haynes, Zack Owens, Vanessa Aubuchon, Karen Berger, and Amanda Chou manned the AIAA booth and taught children and their families how to make their own straw rockets and foam gliders. Some spontaneous competitions on who could fly their glider the farthest or launch their rocket the farthest happened between groups that arrived. Children were allowed to experiment and modify them to fly better, especially in the very windy conditions!
Allen Fuhs died on 20 December 2021, at the age of 94.
Dr. Fuhs was a graduate of the University of New Mexico, where he received his degree in Mechanical Engineering. After serving in the U.S. Navy during the Korean Conflict, he earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology.
After serving as Chief Scientist at the Aero-Propulsion Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dr. Fuhs began a 21-year career at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS). He chaired both the Aeronautics and Mechanical Engineering departments, becoming Distinguished Professor Emeritus before he retired. His research interests ranged from rarefied gas dynamics for reentry vehicles to anti-prism geometries in structures.
Dr. Fuhs was the first chairman of the Space Systems Academic Group at the NPS, and designed the curriculum. He taught courses in high-energy lasers, aircraft design, missile configuration and design, and spacecraft design. He also served as chief scientist of Orbital Sciences Corporation from 1987 to 1990.
He served on the Space Policy Advisory Board for the National Space Council during the George H.W. Bush administration and also served on Vice President Dan Quayle’s Space Policy Advisory Board and on the Advisory Committee for the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.
During his long involvement with AIAA, he served as AIAA President (1986–1987), was editor-in-chief of the AIAA Journal of Aircraft (1974–1979), Vice President, Publications (1979–1981), Editor of the AIAA Progress in Astronautics and Aeronautics book series (1998–2001), and served on several technical committees.
Fuhs was named AIAA Honorary Fellow in 2013 for his outstanding contributions in the field of aeronautics. Over his career, he authored 120 technical articles and wrote over a dozen books ranging from magnetohydrodynamics, fluid dynamics, to hybrid vehicles. He was also a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Society of Automotive Engineers, and the British Interplanetary Society. In 1990 he received the U.S. Navy Distinguished Civilian Service Award for his work at the Naval Postgraduate School.
Fred DeJarnette died 2 May. He was 88 years old.
Dr. DeJarnette’s fascination with airplanes and physics led him to the engineering school at Georgia Tech where he earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Aerospace Engineering. After serving in the U.S. Army, he earned his Ph.D (1965) in Aerospace Engineering from Virginia Tech, where he received the Sporn Award for excellence in teaching. Dr. DeJarnette also served as interim head of the Aerospace Department at Virginia Tech and worked at NASA Langley Research Center.
In 1970, he joined the faculty at North Carolina State University’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. He taught there for 45 years until 2012 and was department head from 1993 to 2000, and then Professor Emeritus.
Through his experimental and theoretical research, Dr. DeJarnette made important contributions to the design of the Space Shuttle Columbia and contributed to projects that were instrumental in the design of hypersonic planes able to travel from the East Coast of the United States to Tokyo in four hours. As director of Mars Mission Research Center at North Carolina State University and North Carolina A&T State University, he guided research funded by NASA. The research pioneered by Dr. DeJarnette and other brilliant engineers and the research center has greatly contributed to mankind’s efforts to reach Mars.
At NC State, Dr. DeJarnette developed new courses and supervised graduate research, assisting many former students in rising to high-level positions in the government and in the engineering industry. To honor his outstanding accomplishments and contributions to science, engineering and education, Dr. DeJarnette was awarded the 1990 Oliver Max Gardner Award.
Dr. DeJarnette was an AIAA Fellow and winner of the 1995 AIAA Thermophysics Award. He also served on the AIAA Committee on Higher Education (1996–2021) and the AIAA Thermophysics Technical Committee (2000–2003). Additionally, he was a member of the Society Automotive Engineering. Dr. DeJarnette’s technical contributions to the fields of computational fluid dynamics and heat transfer are well known and still in use today throughout the aerospace engineering industry.
