AIAA is pleased to announce the winners of the Zarem Graduate Student Award for Distinguished Achievement:

Stephen Monroe, Clarkson University, won the aeronautics award for his paper, “Parallel Unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (URANS) Studies of the Performance of ONR Waterjet AxWJ-2.” Monroe will present his paper at the 2024 International Congress of the Aeronautical Sciences (ICAS) in Florence, Italy, 9-13 September 2024.

Quentin Roberts, University of Washington, won the astronautics award for his paper, “Investigation of Pre-Ignition Propellant Mixing in Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine.” Roberts will present his paper at the 2023 International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Baku, Azerbaijan,
2-6 October 2023.

The winners will receive their awards at the 2024 AIAA SciTech Forum, Orlando, Florida, 8–12 January 2024. This award was established by AIAA Honorary Fellow Abe Zarem, founder and managing director of Frontier Associates, to annually recognize graduate students in aeronautics and astronautics who have demonstrated outstanding scholarship in their field.

Aeronautics

Stephen Monroe just completed his first year as an M.S. student in Mechanical Engineering at Clarkson University. He received his B.S. from Clarkson University in 2022. In his senior year, Monroe began learning CFD algorithms and HPC in the research group of Professor Chunlei Liang. During the first year of graduate study, Monroe conducted URANS studies of an ONR waterjet propulsion unit on parallel computers. He also is performing large eddy simulations of the same propulsion system to examine finer flow structures. Monroe is determined to become a skillful computational fluid dynamicist in large eddy simulations using an open-source code before completing his M.S. program. While uncertain about his future in academia, Monroe intends on using the skills he has developed to become a proficient propulsion system designer.

“Coming into the Graduate School, I only intended on achieving an M.S. degree. Having being recognized for my hard work by the Abe Zarem award, not only has my passion for research been rejuvenated, but my consideration of furthering my education has as well,” said Monroe.

Monroe’s faculty advisor, Chunlei Liang, is Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Clarkson University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of London in 2005. Liang is an ASME Fellow and an AIAA Associate Fellow.

Astronautics

Quentin Roberts is an M.S. student at the University of Washington studying aeronautics and astronautics with a concentration in fluids. His research is on injector mixing in rotating detonation rocket engines (RDREs). Roberts will start work in fall 2023 as a propulsion analyst at Blue Origin.

“Receiving this award will allow me to greatly expand my horizons in the world of astronautics by not only providing an opportunity to learn about what research the international community is working on, but also an opportunity to present my own research to an international audience,” said Roberts.

Roberts’ faculty advisor, Carl Knowlen, received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from the University of Washington in 1983 and 1985, respectively. He continued with his graduate research on ram accelerators at the UW and completed his Ph.D. program in 1991. Dr. Knowlen then accepted a Postdoctoral Research Associate position with the UW Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics where he expanded his research endeavors to include shockwave chemical reactors. He has been teaching AA Department courses on a regular basis since 2002 and was appointed to his current position as a Research Associate Professor in 2015.

For more information on the Abe M. Zarem Graduate Awards for Distinguished Achievement, please contact Michael Lagana at [email protected] or 703.264.7503.

Teams are invited to participate in the 28th annual AIAA Design/Build/Fly (DBF) competition, 18–21 April 2024, in Wichita, KS. This year’s objective is to design, build, and test an airplane to demonstrate Urban Air Mobility (UAM) missions. Flight missions will include delivery of the airplane, medical transport, and urban taxi. The goal is a balanced design possessing good demonstrated flight handling qualities, and practical and affordable manufacturing requirements while providing a high vehicle performance.

The 2024 rules document can be found at aiaa.org/dbf. Proposal submissions will be accepted from 15 October, 0800 hrs ET USA, to 31 October 1700 hrs ET USA.

2024 AIAA Trailblazing STEM Educator Award Applications Open

The Trailblazing STEM Educator Award, sponsored by AIAA and Challenger Center, celebrates three K-12 educators who go above and beyond to inspire the next generation of explorers and innovators in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

The award winners receive $5,000 for the educator, $5,000 for the educator’s school or organization, an all-expense paid trip to Washington, DC, to be honored at the AIAA Awards Gala, and free access to Challenger Center’s STEM education programs.

Details at http://aiaa.org/trailblazingstemeducatoraward.

AIAA Roger W. Kahn Scholarship

AIAA will award four $10,000 scholarships to current high school seniors who plan to study aerospace engineering at a college or university in fall 2024. AIAA will also provide an all-expense paid trip to Washington, DC, to attend the AIAA Awards Gala, where we recognize top aerospace professionals and contributors to the aerospace community. Each student also will be provided with a mentor from AIAA’s professional members to help guide the students to achieve a career in aerospace.

Details of the eligibility and requirements can be found at
aiaa.org/kahnscholarship. Applications Close: 31 December 2023.

The AIAA North Texas Section supported the Moon Day STEM event on 22 July 2023 at the Frontiers of Flight Museum at Dallas Love Field in cooperation with the SETP Southwest Section, AIAA University of Texas at Arlington/University of Texas at Dallas Student Branches, and the University of Texas at Arlington Aero Mavs rocket team. The museum hosts the annual event to inspire kids in the STEM fields with aviation-themed activities, displays (including the Apollo 7 command module) and speakers, including retired NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough.

Twenty-five volunteers from Lockheed Martin, Bell, Virgin Galactic, Airborne Tactical Advantage Company, FAA, and the GAO participated as the children designed and constructed their own paper airplanes, flew them on the flight test range to measure time aloft and distance, and then computed the resultant velocity in English and metric units. The students also were able to fly an F-35 simulator provided by Lockheed Martin. Participating AIAA members were Kevin Christensen, Jason Daugherty, Felipe Flores-Mendoza, Mike Fox, Chlois Hill, Derek Jackson, Dana Johnson, Chi Mai, Erasmo Pinero, James Sergeant, and Bob Wetherall.

Name: Brent Sherwood, AIAA Associate Fellow

Notable Contributions: A space architect, Sherwood is in his third space career. At Boeing for 17 years, he led development of human exploration system concepts, Space Station manufacturing methods, and multiple business growth strategies. At the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for 14 years, he led creation of the JPL Innovation Foundry and the winning proposals for InSight, Psyche, and Cassini’s final mission extensions. Now at Blue Origin, he is senior vice president for Space Systems Development and executive sponsor (and member) of New Ride, the company’s LGBTQ business resource group. He grew Blue Origin SSD’s in-space business from $50M to $1B in less than four years. This included winning NASA contracts to develop the Blue Moon lunar lander, Orbital Reef commercial space station, and Blue Alchemist technology for making solar cells from lunar regolith, plus formulation of multiple company-funded system developments. Extensively published in the exploration and development of space, he is the 2020 recipient of the American Society of Civil Engineers Columbia Medal, a Corresponding Member of the International Academy of Astronautics, former board member of the American Astronautical Society, and has served on several NASA strategic planning panels. His M.S. is from the University of Maryland, and his M.Arch. is from the Yale School of Architecture.

Potential Societal Impact of Contributions: The human breakout into space will make the energy and material resources of space available for endless human opportunity. Civilization can then grow without limit, preserving Earth and seeding the universe with life.

*In collaboration with the AIAA Diversity and Inclusion Working Group and Claudine Phaire, the AIAA Society and Aerospace Technology Outreach Committee is highlighting prominent members of the wider aerospace community in the Diversity Corner.

Dale C. Ferguson died in October 2022.

In 1970, Ferguson graduated with high honors from Case Western Reserve University, with a B.S. in Astronomy and received the Jason J. Nassau Prize in Astronomy. In 1974, he received his Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Arizona, Tucson.

Ferguson worked at NASA Lewis Research Center (now NASA Glenn) and with the Marshall Space Flight Center before moving to the Air Force Research Laboratory in Albuquerque, NM. Ferguson was the Principal Investigator on one of the Mars Pathfinder Sojourner Rover technology experiments, the Wheel Abrasion Experiment. He was the deputy for Space Environments in the Photovoltaics and Space Environments Branch at the NASA Lewis Research Center. Over the years he also taught or had done research at Louisiana State University, the Max-Planck-Institute for Radioastronomy in Germany, New York University, the Arecibo Radioastronomy Observatory in Puerto Rico, Southeast Missouri State University.

Ferguson’s primary research interest was the effects on spacecraft of their environments. His PIX-II, PMG, and SAMPIE experiments investigated interactions of the space plasma with spacecraft flying through it. EOIM-3 looked at the effects of the atomic oxygen environment in low Earth orbit on spacecraft materials. And the wheel abrasion experiment investigated the wear and abrasion caused by the Martian dust on metals deposited on one of Sojourner’s wheels. His work made it possible to build better spacecraft in the future.

The author of more than 300 papers, standards, and presentations, he published a college textbook, Introductory Astronomy Exercises. Ferguson was also very involved with AIAA, especially the Atmosphere and Space Environments Technical Committee (ASETC) where he was known for his research on spacecraft charging. He was also on the AIAA SciTech Forum Technical Program Committee (2021–2022).

Kenneth (Ken) Goldman, 92, died on 10 June 2023.

He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. He then worked on a fellowship for the Aeronautics Department at the Polytechnic Institutes of Brooklyn where he earned his Masters’ Degree.

In 1953, Goldman moved to Los Angeles to work at North American Aviation and McDonnell Douglas. In 1959 he joined TRW’s Space Technology Laboratory where he spent 32 years working on satellites in thermal control and system engineering.

James (Jim) D. Burke died on 19 August. He was 97 years old.

In 1945, Burke graduated with a mechanical engineering degree from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and became a U.S. naval aviator. Burke returned to Caltech to receive his master’s degree in aeronautics before joining the staff of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in 1949.

While at JPL, Burke was the director of the Vega program, developing the third stage of the general-purpose Vega launch vehicle, based on the Atlas rocket. After JPL was transferred to NASA and reorganized, Burke was named deputy director of the Lunar and Planetary Program.

Burke was also named as the first program manager of the Ranger program, a series of unmanned space missions by the United States in the 1960s whose objective was to obtain the first close-up images of the surface of the moon. The Ranger spacecraft were designed to take images of the lunar surface, transmitting those images to Earth until the spacecraft were destroyed upon impact. Burke and his team were in charge of spacecraft design, the deep space tracking and control network, space flight operations, and data reduction support systems, while the Space Science Division was in charge of the scientific experiments.

Burke participated in many other lunar, planetary, and astrophysical projects. In the early 1960s he worked for the Central Intelligence Agency, tracking the telemetry of the Soviet Luna and Venera Space rocket launches with the Stonehouse antenna. In the late 1970s, Burke, Paul MacCready, Peter Lissaman, and their team designed and built two human powered airplanes, the Gossamer Condor and Gossamer Albatross. In 1977 pilot Bryan Allen flew the Condor at Shafter Airport in California, winning the Kremer Figure of Eight Prize, sponsored by Henry Kremer and awarded by the Royal Aeronautic Society. In 1979 Allen flew the Albatross across the English Channel to win the second Kremer Prize for a flight from England to France. Burke piloted the Zodiac that traveled beneath the Albatross across the Channel.

Burke continued to work at JPL until his retirement in 2001. Minor planet 4874 Burke, discovered by Eleanor Helin, was named after him when he retired from JPL.

Burke and his wife, Lin, were supporters of the International Space University, traveling every year to teach and participate in ISU summer sessions. They contributed to scholarships for ISU students, as well as supporting the ISU Team Project publications, and watching the careers of students flourish after their study at ISU. He was also a supporting member of the Moon Village Association, and relished the international technical and cultural dialogue at MVA conferences on the subject of lunar exploration, development, and settlement.

As a sustaining member of The Planetary Society, Burke praised the Society’s outreach to young people and commitment to building community in a global forum. He was technical editor of the Planetary Report. Burke also worked on the Mars Balloon experiments in the Mojave Desert in California. And on one trip to the Mojave he brought back large Mars-like rocks for the Society’s Mars Rover model project. Burke was a supporter of the Space Generation Advisory Council, and a member of the American Geophysical Union, where he attended the yearly AGU meeting, focusing on the sessions on Planetary Geophysics.

Even toward the end of his life Burke was still able to delight in the discoveries of the James Webb Space Telescope, the development of the NASA Artemis program, and the success of the Chandryaan-3 moon landing.

AIAA has announced its 2022–2023 section award winners. The section awards honor particularly notable achievements made by members of AIAA’s 57 sections around the world in a range of activities that help fulfill the Institute’s mission. Each of the local sections offer technical programs and activities tailored to local aerospace professionals, students, and educators.

Section awards are given annually in eight categories based on the size of each section’s membership. Each winning section receives a certificate and a cash award. The award period is 1 June 2022–31 May 2023.

The Outstanding Section Award is presented to sections based upon their overall activities and contributions through the year. The winners are:

VERY SMALL — First Place: Central Coast of California; Second Place: Adelaide; Third Place: Delaware; Honorable Mention: Melbourne

SMALL – First Place: Northwest Florida; Second Place: Wichita; Third Place: Palm Beach

MEDIUM – First Place: Tucson; Second Place: Greater Philadelphia; Third Place: Illinois

LARGE – First Place: Northern Ohio; Second Place: Cape Canaveral; Third Place: North Texas

VERY LARGE – First Place: Los Angeles-Las Vegas; Second Place: Hampton Roads; Third Place: Rocky Mountain

The Communications Award is presented to sections that have developed and implemented an outstanding communications outreach program. Winning criteria include level of complexity, timeliness, and variety of methods of communications, as well as frequency, format, and content of the communication outreach. The winners are:

VERY SMALL – First Place (tie): Central Coast of California, Matthew Tanner (U.S. Air Force), communication officer; First Place (tie): Delaware, Jordon Wozney (Northrop Grumman Corporation), communications officer; Second Place: Point Lobos, Giovanni Minelli (Naval Postgraduate School), section chair; Third Place: Melbourne, Frank Papa (Spacelink Consulting), communications officer

SMALL – First Place (tie): Long Island, David Paris, section chair; First Place (tie): Northwest Florida, Ryan Sherrill (Air Force Research Laboratory), section chair Second Place: Utah, Michael Stevens (Northrop Grumman Corporation), section chair

MEDIUM – First Place: Greater Philadelphia, Jonathan Moore (Lockheed Martin Corporation), communications officer; Second Place: Illinois, Kenneth Brezinsky (University of Illinois Chicago), secretary; Andrew Touvannas (Woodward Inc), honors and awards officer; Laura Villafañe Roca (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), section chair; Third Place: Tucson, Huntington Gazecki (Raytheon), communications officer

LARGE – First Place (tie): Northern Ohio, Edmond Wong (NASA Glenn Research Center), communications officer; First Place (tie): Atlanta, Neil Sutherland (Delta Air Lines TechOps), section chair; Second Place: Alburquerque, Elizabeth Kallman (Harvard University), communication officer; Third Place (tie): Cape Canaveral, Kevin Johnson (Jacobs Technology), section chair; Third Place (tie): North Texas, James Sergeant (Virgin Galactic), section chair

VERY LARGE – First Place: Los Angeles-Las Vegas, Kenneth Lui (Ken’s Consulting), section chair; Second Place: Hampton Roads, Lee Mears (NASA Langley Research Center), Newsletter Editor Officer; Third Place: Greater Huntsville, Tracie Prater (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center), section chair

The Membership Award is presented to sections that have supported their membership by planning and implementing effective recruitment and retention campaigns. The winners are:

VERY SMALL – First Place: Delaware, Zachary Gent (Northrop Grumman Corporation), membership officer; Second Place: Adelaide, Patrick Neumann (Neumann Space), section chair; Third Place: Central Coast of California, Michelle Itzel-Montoya (U.S. Space Force), section chair

SMALL – First Place: Wichita, Mary Drouin (Spirit Aerosystems), membership officer; Second Place: Northwest Florida, Ryan Sherrill (AFRL), section chair; Third Place: Utah, Michael Stevens (Northrop Grumman), section chair

MEDIUM – First Place: Illinois, Andrew Touvannas (Woodward Inc), honors and awards officer; Second Place: Greater Philadelphia, Christina Layton (College of New Jersey), membership officer; Third Place: Tucson, Andrew Alexander (Raytheon), membership officer

LARGE – First Place: Northern Ohio, Jonah Sachs-Wetstone (NASA Glenn Research Center), membership officer; Second Place: Orange County, Bob Welge (Robert’s Engineering Development), membership officer; Third Place (tie): Atlanta, Aaron Harcrow (No Box Innovations), membership officer; Third Place (tie): St. Louis, Alexander Friedman (The Boeing Company), membership officer; Mark Kammeyer (The Boeing Company), university education officer

VERY LARGE – First Place: Hampton Roads, Richard Winski and Julia Cline (NASA Langley Research Center), membership officers; Second Place: Los Angeles-Las Vegas, Sherry Stukes (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory), membership officer; Third Place: New England, Hiro Endo (Test Devices — Schenck USA Corporation), section chair

The Public Policy Award is presented for stimulating public awareness of the needs of aerospace research and development, particularly on the part of government representatives, and for educating section members about the value of public policy activities. The
winners are:

VERY SMALL – First Place: Delaware, Di Ena Davis, public policy officer; Second Place (tie): Adelaide, Patrick Neumann (Neumann Space), section chair; Second Place (tie): Central Coast of California, Michelle Itzel-Montoya (U.S. Space Force), section chair; Third Place: Melbourne, Kaja Antlej (Deakin University), section chair

SMALL – First Place (tie): Northwest Florida, Michael Kelton (U.S. Air Force), public policy officer; First Place (tie): Palm Beach, Kevin Simmons (BLUECUBE Aerospace), public policy officer

MEDIUM – First Place: Greater Philadelphia, Joi Spraggins (Legacy Bridges STEM Academy); public policy officer; Second Place: Illinois, Mordechai Levin (Masterflight Inc), public policy officer; Third Place: Tucson, Robert Tagtmeyer (Raytheon), public policy officer

LARGE – First Place: Northern Ohio, Michael Heil (ML Heil Consulting LLC), public policy officer; Second Place: Cape Canaveral, Linda Andruske (The Aerospace Company), public policy officer; Third Place: Albuquerque, Mark Fraser (U.S. Air Force), public policy officer

VERY LARGE – First Place (tie): Los Angeles-Las Vegas, Kenneth Lui (Ken’s Consulting), section chair; Roz Lowe (Delta Hi-Tech), public policy officer; First Place (tie): Rocky Mountain, Lisa Luedtke (Lockheed Martin Corporation), public policy officer; Second Place: Hampton Roads, Steven Dunn (Jacobs Technology), public policy officer; Third Place: Houston, Wayne Rast (CCP SW Safety), public policy officer

The STEM K–12 Award is presented to sections that have developed and implemented an outstanding STEM K–12 outreach program that provides quality education resources for K–12 teachers in the STEM subject areas. The winners are:

VERY SMALL – First Place: Central Coast of California, Thomas Stevens (Space Launch Delta 30), STEM K-12 officer; Second Place (tie): Delaware, Daniel Nice (Northrop Grumman Corporation), section chair; Second Place (tie): Point Lobos, Giovanni Minelli (Navel Postgraduate School), section chair; Third Place: Adelaide, Patrick Neumann (Neumann Space), section chair

SMALL – First Place: Palm Beach, Shawna Christenson (Aerospace and Innovation Academy), STEM K-12 officer; and Kevin Simmons (BLUECUBE Aerospace), public policy officer; Second Place: Northwest Florida, Judith Sherrill (AFRL), STEM K-12 officer; Third Place: Northern New Jersey, Raymond Trohanowsky (Army Futures Command), section chair

MEDIUM – First Place: Tucson, Michelle Rouch (Artwork by Rouch), STEM K-12 officer; Second Place: Phoenix, Paul Kaup (STEM+C Inc), STEM K-12 officer; Third Place: Greater Philadelphia, Christopher Reynolds (Lockheed Martin Corporation), STEM K-12 officer

LARGE – First Place (tie): Cape Canaveral, Melissa Sleeper, STEM K-12 officer; First Place (tie): St. Louis, Jackie Blumer (Greenville Jr. High School), STEM K-12 officer; Second Place: Orange County, Binay Pandey (International Vitamin Corporation), STEM K-12 officer; Third Place: Northern Ohio, Jonathan Kratz (NASA Glenn Research Center), STEM K-12 officer

VERY LARGE – First Place: Hampton Roads, Amanda Chou and Karen Berger (NASA Langley Research Center), STEM K-12 officers; Second Place (tie): Greater Huntsville, Robin Osborne (ERC), STEM K-12 officer; Second Place (tie): National Capital, Susan Bardenhagen, STEM K-12 officer; Third Place: Los Angeles-Las Vegas, Arpie Ovsepyan (Herbert Hoover High School), STEM K-12 officer

The Section-Student Branch Partnership Award recognizes the most effective and innovative collaboration between the professional section members and student branch members.

VERY SMALL – First Place: Central Pennsylvania, Puneet Singla (Pennsylvania State University), section chair; Second Place: Adelaide, Harry Rowton (University of Adelaide), student branch liaison; Third Place: Central Coast of California, Eva McLaughlin, education officer

SMALL – First Place: Wichita, Linda Kliment (Wichita State University), education officer; Second Place: Twin Cities, Kristen Gerzina (Northrop Grumman Corporation), section chair; Third Place: Sydney, Tjasa Boh Whiteman (University of New South Wales), section chair; Ramzel Liwanag (University of New South Wales), vice chair

MEDIUM – First Place: Illinois, Laura Villafañe Roca (University of Illinois Urbana Champaign), section chair; Second Place: Tucson, Peter Olejnik, young professional officer; Third Place: Greater Philadelphia, Jonathan Moore (Lockheed Martin Corporation), section chair

LARGE
First Place: North Texas, James Sergeant (Virgin Galactic), section chair; Second Place: St. Louis, Alexander Friedman (The Boeing Company), membership officer; Mark Kammeyer (The Boeing Company), university education officer; Third Place (tie): Cape Canaveral, J. Keith Sowell (Star Voyager), education officer; Third Place (tie): Central Florida, Walter Hammond (Walter Sierra LLC), section chair; Third Place (tie): Orange County, Dino Roman (Boeing Commercial Airplanes), section chair

VERY LARGE – First Place: New England, Thomas “Phoenix” Robbins, outreach officer; Charles Wilson, advisor; Second Place: Rocky Mountain, Cordero Orona (Lockheed Martin Space Systems), outreach officer; Third Place (tie): Hampton Roads, Soumyo Dutta (NASA Langley Research Center), section chair; Third Place (tie): Los Angeles-Las Vegas, Luis Cuevas (Lockheed Martin Corporation), young professional chair; Third Place (tie): National Capital, David Brandt (Lockheed Martin Corporation), section chair

The Young Professional Activity Award is presented for excellence in planning and executing events that encourage the participation of the Institute’s young professional members, and provide opportunities for leadership at the section, regional, or national level. The winners are:

VERY SMALL – First Place: Delaware, Taylor Coleman, young professional officer; Second Place: Adelaide, Daniel Kilonzo (University of Adelaide), young professional officer; Third Place: Melbourne, Kaja Antlej (Deakin University), section chair

SMALL – First Place: Northwest Florida, Prashant Ganesh (University of Florida), young professional officer; Second Place: Utah, Michael Stevens (Northrop Grumman Corporation), section chair; Third Place: Twin Cities, Kristen Gerzina (Northrop Grumman Corporation), section chair

MEDIUM – First Place: Antelope Valley, Joseph Piotrowski (NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center), young professional officer; Second Place: Indiana, Robert Kapaku (Rolls-Royce), young professional officer; Third Place (tie): Greater Philadelphia, Jonathan Moore (Lockheed Martin Corporation), section  chair; Third Place (tie): Illinois, Savas Mavridis (Northrop Grumman Mission Systems), vice chair; Third Place (tie): Tucson, Peter Olejnik, young professional officer

LARGE – First Place (tie): Cape Canaveral, Kineo Wallace (Vaya Space), young professional officer; First Place (tie): Northern Ohio, Halle Buescher (NASA Glenn Research Center), young professional officer; Second Place: North Texas, James Sergeant (Virgin Galactic), section chair

VERY LARGE – First Place: Hampton Roads, Kyle Thompson (NASA Langley Research Center), young professional officer; Second Place: Los Angeles-Las Vegas, Courtney Best (The Boeing Company), young professional officer; Third Place (tie): Greater Huntsville, Christopher Kitson (nou Systems), young professional officer; Third Place (tie): New England, Shreyas Hegde (Pratt & Whitney), section chair

The Outstanding Activity Award allows the Institute to acknowledge sections that held an outstanding activity deserving of additional recognition. The winners are:

VERY SMALL – Melbourne, International Moon Day 2022 event—”The (Re)birth of Australia in Space: Towards Sustainable Lunar Exploration.” As Australia looks to go to the moon for the first time, no earlier than 2026 through the development of a Foundation Services Rover, AIAA Adelaide Section and the Moon Village Association partnered on an event to celebrate the UN’s International Moon Day 2022. The (Re)birth of Australia in Space brought together highly recognized Australian and U.S. speakers in the areas of space archaeology, space history, space law and heritage, space industry and space studies who discussed the past, present, and future of Australian involvement in sustainable lunar exploration. The event was well received, including discussion with the panelists at the end of the session. At the event, AIAA announced the intention to establish the AIAA Melbourne Section.

SMALL – Long Island, “Landing on the Moon” at the Cradle of Aviation Museum. AIAA partnered with IISE, ASME, ISA, IEEE (AESS) for this hybrid event with presenter John Connolly, a member of NASA’s Artemis team and Human Landing System Program. Connolly drew upon his 36 years of NASA expertise, including lunar lander design, lunar surface systems, and human Mars mission planning experience, to describe the Grumman-built lunar module (LM) and the differences between that original lunar lander and the SpaceX lander that will carry astronauts to the moon within the next three years and then take humans to Mars and beyond. He also made a point of explaining that the mission fundamentals have not changed over the last 50 years.

Honorable Mention, Wichita, “To the Moon and To the Planets Beyond: What is the Future of the Artemis HLS.” This joint event between the AIAA Wichita Section, and the Kansas University, University of Missouri Kansas City, and Wichita State University student branches was planned to engage all of the student branches in the section to build bridges and encourage collaboration. The featured speaker, Alicia Dwyer Cianciolo, Senior Technical Lead for Advanced Entry, Descent and Landing Vehicle Technology Development at NASA Langley Research Center, provided a fascinating talk focusing primarily on the various challenges facing the Artemis III Human Landing System mission. She also covered her experience with Mars exploration over the past 20 years, including her work on the Odyssey and Reconnaissance Orbiter aerobraking operations and as a member of the Entry, Descent and Landing Team that successfully landed the Curiosity Rover in 2012 and the InSight lander in 2018. In-person attendance was encouraged to promote networking and collaboration between the student branches and professional members, but there was a hybrid component to enable a much wider reach. The event was received very enthusiastically by all participants and will serve as a model for future events.

MEDIUM – Antelope Valley, First Flights in the Antelope Valley. This large dinner event at the Hellenic Center in Lancaster, Calif., was moderated by Colonel Grant Mizell. A First Flight Consideration Panel, including Dan Canin, Bob Hood, and Evan Thomas, discussed first flight experience with the Stratolauncher, B-2, and the upcoming X-59. Doug Shane also presented on “Reflections on First Flight from a Pilot’s Perspective.” The section secured an agreement with SETP/SFTE to agree on even cost/profit, and headed primary planning meetings to organize the dinner, manage event costs, design and purchase awards, promote the event with flyers and programs, and prepare an onsite report.

Honorable Mention, Phoenix, “Taking Flight.” This event was organized as a hands-on learning, immersive experience in aviation, aeronautics, aerospace, robotics, UAV/UAS, and many more STEM-related areas of interest. The event helped demonstrate the STEM applicability of hobbies including: students had the opportunity to “Buddy Box” with an instructor and fly a trainer RC airplane, a multi-rotor vehicle, or an RC car or truck. Students also had the opportunity to build small model rockets with the help of model rocketry volunteers. There were opportunities for students to learn about the many different STEM enrichment programs from all over the valley. In addition, schools from around the state were invited to showcase their engineering, aviation, aerospace, and robotics programs, and professionals spoke with students about career choices in the applicable fields.

LARGE (tie) – Cape Canaveral-Palm Beach, Small Satellite Education Conference. The 2022 Small Satellite Education Conference was an inaugural activity created by two AIAA members: one from Palm Beach and the other from Cape Canaveral. The Center for Space Education was the venue perfect for the conference, where they focused on presenting various technical topics around small satellites to students, educators, professors, and industry veterans. The goal was to foster both the idea that anyone, professional, collegiate, or even middle school level, could develop a small satellite program and win an opportunity to have their project sent into space. Attendees also had the opportunity to visit various vendor booths to learn about more technologies, learn about local college programs, and see what several middle schools had accomplished over the past year. Additionally, students from middle school to early professional, and several veterans (industry and academia), gave presentations. They offered several scholarships and various awards for different design and art competitions.

LARGE (tie) – Niagara Frontier, Bell X-1 75th Anniversary Commemoration. This event commemorated the 75th anniversary, to the day, of the Bell X-1 breaking the sound barrier on 14 October 1947. The very first X-plane, then known as the XS-1 for eXperimental Supersonic, was designed and built at the Bell Aerospace plant in Niagara Falls. The keynote speaker, Richard Hallion, past Chief Historian of the U.S. Air Force and author of numerous books and articles on the X-1 and supersonic flight, spoke on “Buffalo, Bell, and the XS-1: A 75th Anniversary Perspective.” Hallion was introduced by Bill Barry, past NASA Chief Historian, who discussed the roots of Hallion’s X-1 research in the NASA History Office. The hybrid event consisted of dinner for 110 individuals at the Calspan hangar, including a large group from the AIAA student branch at the State University of New York-Buffalo, and 38 attendees via Zoom. The event also included a walking tour of the original X-1 loading pit next to Bell plant where the aircraft was built. Paul Schifferle, Calspan VP for Flight Research, gave a tour of the Calspan experimental variable stability aircraft to the students.

LARGE (tie) – Northern Ohio, Young Astronauts Day. The 28th Annual Young Astronaut Day (YAD) event was held on 5 November 2022, at Cleveland State University (CSU). After a two-year hiatus, the section’s long-standing STEM outreach event successfully returned with participation from 27 teams comprising over 165 K-12 students and nearly 60 parents and teachers. NASA Senior Research Engineer Diane Linne (recently retired from NASA Glenn Research Center) provided an inspiring keynote address in which she recapped her decorated career and taught some valuable lessons, both academic and non-academic. Linne highlighted her recent work considering the establishment of sustainable human presence on the moon and Mars through the generation and use of resources from indigenous materials, which includes building the infrastructure to refine and distribute fuel locally. Linne punctuated her talk by providing opportunities for the students to engage and participate in numerous demonstrations.

VERY LARGE (tie) – Los Angeles-Las Vegas, “DC-X/XA—The Genesis of Fully Reusable Access to Space.” The amazing vertical launching and landing capabilities of the SpaceX and Blue Origin rockets are very exciting. NASA’s DC-X/XA was 20+ years ahead of SpaceX or Blue Origin, but the facts and histories of the NASA DC-X/XA rockets are rarely mentioned. This event was an opportunity for attendees to experience the thrills and be inspired by the leaders of this groundbreaking and historic project! Event speakers included Dan Dumbacher (AIAA), Jess Sponable (New Frontier Aerospace (NFA), Inc.), Joaquin H. Castro (Aerojet Rocketdyne), James R. French (JRF Aerospace Consulting LLC), and Jeff Laube (The Aerospace Corporation). Members from the NASA DC-X/XA team participated, spoke, and volunteered to help. It was truly beneficial and inspiring. In addition to the 101 attendees at the 12 December 2022 event, there also have been 1,155 views on the video posted online.

VERY LARGE (tie) – Rocky Mountain, NSBE-AIAA Space Operations Forum 2023. AIAA Rocky Mountain Section (RMS) and Dexter Johnson of NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) from Glenn Research Center collaborated on a new networking event to help increase diversity and inclusion (D&I) within the Colorado aerospace community. The 1st Annual Space Operations Forum (SOF-2023), held 16–17 February at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), was a unique and successful opportunity for AIAA RMS to work directly on a D&I event with the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Space City Professionals (SCP) chapter in Houston, Texas. NASA officials gave presentations discussing how to transition from the International Space Station (ISS) to commercial low Earth orbit destinations as the ISS will be decommissioned in 2030. The forum was designed as a networking, working group event to produce a set of ideas from underrepresented professionals and students. Five working groups, including one with our virtual participants, were asked two primary questions by NASA. The solutions formulated by the working groups were presented at the end of the forum to NASA Johnson Space Center representatives. Additionally, Ball Aerospace hosted a facility tour for the group in Boulder, Colorado.