AIAA Foundation
Making an Impact: Supporting the Next Generation’s Academic Careers
AIAA is pleased to announce the 2019 recipients of AIAA undergraduate scholarships and graduate awards. The Institute has awarded more than 750 aerospace scholarships to undergraduate and graduate students during the past 20 years.
Undergraduate Scholarships and Graduate Awards for the 2019–2020 Academic Year
The AIAA Rocky Mountain Section presented a $500 scholarship to Andrew Meikle, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado.
The $10,000 Daedalus 88 Scholarship, endowed by current AIAA President John Langford, CEO and President, Aurora Flight Sciences, was presented to Ara Mahseredjian, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California.
The $10,000 David and Catherine Thompson Space Technology Scholarship, named for and endowed by former AIAA President David Thompson, retired chairman, chief executive officer, and president of Orbital ATK, Dulles, Virginia, and his wife Catherine, was presented to Savannah Cofer, Rice University, Houston, Texas.
The Digital Avionics Technical Committee presented four scholarships of $2,000 each:
The Dr. Amy R. Pritchett Digital Avionics Scholarship was presented to Kaelan Oldani, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The Cary Spitzer Digital Avionics Scholarship was presented to Hannah Lehman, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.
The Ellis F. Hitt Digital Avionics Scholarship was presented to Spencer McDonald, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Knoxville, Tennessee.
The Dr. James Rankin Digital Avionics Scholarship was presented to Ryan Kelly, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Knoxville, Tennessee.
The Air Breathing Propulsion Technical Committee’s $1,000 Gordon C. Oates Air Breathing Propulsion Graduate Award was presented to Veeraraghava Raju Hasti, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana.
The Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) Technical Committee’s $2,500 Guidance, Navigation and Control Graduate Award was presented to Young-Young Shen, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado.
The inaugural recipients of the $5,000 Dr. Hassan A. Hassan Graduate Award in Aerospace Engineering are Jonathan T. McCready and Joshua Glazer, both from North Carolina State University (NCSU). The award was established to entice top NCSU aerospace engineering seniors, who also are AIAA members, to earn their graduate degree (M.S. or Ph.D.) in aerospace engineering at NCSU.
The John Leland Atwood Graduate Award was presented to Garrett Marshall, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee. Established in 1999, the $1,250 award, sponsored by endowments from Rockwell and what is now The Boeing Company and named in memory of John Leland “Lee” Atwood, former chief executive officer of Rockwell, North America, recognizes a student actively engaged in research in the areas covered by the technical committees (TC) of AIAA.
The $1,250 Leatrice Gregory Pendray Scholarship was presented to Anna Liu, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana.
The $2,500 Liquid Propulsion Technical Committee Scholarship was presented to EliseAnne Koskelo, Pomona College, Claremont, California.
The Modeling and Simulation Technical Committee’s $3,500 Luis de Florez Graduate Award was presented to Regis Thedin, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania.
The Propellants and Combustion Technical Committee’s $1,250 Martin Summerfield Propellants and Combustion Graduate Award was given to Adam Weiss, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, California.
The Neil Armstrong Graduate Award was presented to Mike Lotto, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado. This $5,000 award honors the character and achievements of the late astronaut, military pilot and educator, Neil A. Armstrong, the first human to set foot on the moon.
The $5,000 Orville and Wilbur Wright Graduate Awards, given in memory of the Wright brothers’ contributions to the evolution of flight, recognize two full-time graduate students. The winners are:
• David Morata, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California
• Derek Nichols, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia
The $1,500 Space Transportation Technical Committee Scholarship was presented to Theo Rulko, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The $5,000 Vicki and George Muellner Scholarship for Aerospace Engineering, named for and endowed by the late Lt. Gen. George Muellner, former AIAA president, and his wife Vicki, was presented to Justin Lidard, University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, Maryland.
The $5,000 Wernher von Braun Scholarship, named in honor of the German rocketeer and founder of the U.S. space program, was presented to Matthew Corrado, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia.
Applications for the 2020 scholarships are being accepted from 1 October to 31 January (aiaa.org/home/get-involved/students-educators/scholarships-graduate-awards).
“AIAA is grateful to its members who support the academic careers of the next generation of aerospace engineers,” said Merrie Scott, AIAA Foundation director. “Your contributions and partnerships with the Institute helps aerospace continue its tradition of pushing the boundaries of what’s possible for so many of our student members. You are truly making a difference one student at a time.”
For more information and if you are considering endowing a scholarship, please contact Merrie Scott at 703.264.7530 or merries@aiaa.org.
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Section News
AIAA Delaware Section Helps Sponsor Rocket Rampage!
Credit: AIAA Delaware Section
For the sixth consecutive year, the AIAA Delaware Section, in conjunction with Northrop Grumman, sponsored the Rocket Rampage! summer camp at the YMCA in Elkton, MD. The camp took place the week of 15 July, and the activities centered on celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
Campers learned about the moon, its phases, and lunar and solar eclipses before moving on to a Rockets 101 course, where the campers constructed balloon rockets and straw rockets. Midweek, campers toured the Northrop Grumman Propulsion Systems and Controls facility in Elkton, MD, and rotated through four activity stations: Mentos rockets, cork bonding, soda spinners, and marshmallow landers. Day 4 was Mission Day, where campers participated in simulated astronaut training and made posters to encourage lunar tourism in the year 2120.
The week culminated in Rocket Launch Day, where campers had the opportunity to launch the Estes model rockets they had built during the week. Overall, the rockets performed nearly flawlessly, avoiding the nearby rocket-eating trees and launching 200 to 300 feet, and attracting the attention of many of the participants from the other YMCA camps and preschool classes.
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Obituary
AIAA Associate Fellow Smith Died in March
Alexander E. Smith died on 1 March 2019 at age 59.
Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Smith attended Glasgow Caledonian University to obtain his undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering followed by a master’s degree in Aerospace Systems at Cranfield University. He began working for the National Air Traffic Service (NATS), the Engineering division of the Civil Aviation Authority (UK). He quickly excelled in his duties and was chosen to represent the UK’s interests at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a role where he became known worldwide to a great many people.
During his time at NATS Smith attended Westminster Business School (London) and gained his MBA in Finance. He moved to the United States in 1988 to work on behalf of the FAA. After working at MSI and Booz Allen Hamilton, he formed his own company (Rannoch) where he mentored many and launched careers. For 17 years he led the company as its CEO until its sale to SRA in 2008. By this point the company grew to attain a staff of almost 400 people spread across the globe.
Pursuing several lifelong interests in art, music and travelling, Smith also obtained his Ph.D. from the International School of Management based in Paris. His aviation career continued unabated and he expanded his involvement with various institutions, including as part of the AIAA Digital Avionics Technical Committee. He was a Fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology, the Royal Institute of Navigation, the Royal Aeronautical Society, and the Institute of Directors. He was also a Chartered Engineer (UK) and a Certified European Engineer (EUR Ing.). He authored over 50 issued U.S. and European patents.
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Obituary
AIAA Fellow Parker Died in April
Norman F. Parker died on 20 April 2019.
Parker started at Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, PA, on a Westinghouse scholarship. World War II interrupted his studies and he served on the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, TN. In 1948, Parker graduated from Carnegie Tech, with a Doctorate of Science degree in Electrical Engineering.
From 1948 to 1967, Parker was at North American Aviation, Inc., where he advanced from system engineer to leading the Autonetics Division, best known for its provision to the military of the guidance and control system for the Minute Man missile as well as the inertial guidance system for nuclear submarines. From 1967 to 1968, Parker served as executive vice president and director at The Bendix Corporation in Detroit before joining Varian Associates in Palo Alto, CA, as president, CEO, and director.
Recognized for his superior technical, management, and executive skills, Parker served as director on several corporate boards, was a member of Sigma Xi (the Scientific Research Honor Society), the National Academy of Engineering, and was a fellow of IEEE and AIAA.
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Obituary
AIAA Associate Fellow Hitt Died in May
Dr. Darren L. Hitt died on 10 May 2019. He was 53 years old.
Dr. Hitt earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University in the area of Micro-Fluid Mechanics. After a brief appointment as research fellow and adjunct faculty member in the Department of Physics at Loyola College, he joined the University of Vermont in 1998. He was promoted to Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering in 2012, and he embodied the teacher-scholar model of the university.
Dr. Hitt received a prestigious NSF CAREER Award in 2001 for his research on microfluidics. His scientific interests later focused on micropropulsion for nano-satellites, for which he won multiple NASA and DoD EPSCoR awards. His work has translated in technological innovations with several patents and a local company, Benchmark Space Systems, founded by a former Ph.D. student, Dr. Ryan McDevitt.
After his appointment as the director of the Vermont Space Grant Consortium (VSGC) in 2013, Dr. Hitt administered and facilitated a continuous stream of large NASA EPSCoR Research Group awards that contributed to scientific and technological advancements in many areas critical to NASA’s mission, including atmospheric entry physics, biofilms, and material sciences. These awards fostered collaborations within academic institutions within the states and with NASA research centers. His office funded multiple innovative research faculty awards, graduate fellowships, and undergraduate internships.
An Associate Fellow of AIAA, Dr. Hitt was a member of the AIAA Fluid Dynamics Technical Committee from 2008 to 2015. He was also the AIAA University of Vermont Student Branch Faculty Advisor from 2016 to 2019. Among his many other services to the scientific community, he was an associate editor and on the Editorial Board of AEROSPACE. Dedicated to the Department of Mechanical Engineering, he served as interim Department Chair while still an Assistant Professor in 2003 and 2004 and later as Program Head from 2010 until 2012.
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Obituary
AIAA Fellow Felder Died in August
Wilson Felder, a pioneer in the fields of aviation technology and systems engineering, died 20 August 2019. He was 73.
Dr. Felder graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.A. in Geology (1968), M.A. (1972), and Ph.D. (1978). He began his military career by enlisting as a Signalman, and deploying to Vietnam and the Mediterranean Sea aboard the USS Butte (AE-27). He served as an active and reserve Naval Officer, retiring from the active reserve with the rank of Commander (Special Duty, Intelligence).
Dr. Felder was the 15th and second-longest serving director of the William J. Hughes Technical Center, the nation’s leading research laboratory for air transportation systems. He also served as the Director of Research for the FAA. Prior to his appointment as a senior executive in the FAA, he was employed by TRW, Inc, where he retired in 2001 after 23 years as Vice President, Aviation Services. Since his retirement from the FAA, he was a Distinguished Service Professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology. His research focused on complex systems—their mathematical foundations, design, and verification and validation.
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