On 9 May, the members of the AIAA Niagara Frontier Section took part in the annual Niagara Frontier Aviation and Space Hall of Fame induction ceremony. This event honors aerospace professionals from the Niagara Frontier region whose innovative work and lasting contributions have had an impact on aviation and space history.
Seven professionals were inducted this year, including Calvin Abplanalp, for work at Eastman Kodak and L3Harris; Laura Abplanalp, Kodak and L3Harris; Michael Becker, Moog Inc.; John Goodell, Carleton Controls (now Cobham Mission Systems); Walter Gordon for AIAA, the 914th Airlift Wing of the U.S. Air Force, and Moog; Charles Ward Hall (posthumously, Hall Aluminum Aircraft (a pioneering aircraft company in Buffalo from 1927 to 1934); and Michael Sears, Calspan Flight Research.
At the event, the AIAA Niagara Frontier Section recognized their 2025 Young Professional of the Year awardee, Sadaf Sobhani from Cornell University, with a framed print of Two Legends, One Sky, commissioned by the AIAA Niagara Frontier Section. In showing the iconic Bell X-1 and Avro Arrow in formation over the U.S. and Canadian Falls, Two Legends, One Sky reflects the membership of the Niagara Frontier Section in New York, Ontario, and Quebec, as well as the shared aerospace heritage between the United States and Canada.
Sobhani, an assistant professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, was selected for her significant contributions to spacecraft thermal management and propulsion system research over the past decade,” said nominator and AIAA Fellow Mark Campbell. “At Cornell, she leads an integrated experimental and computational research program with a unique fusion of thermofluidics and manufacturing.” Campbell, the John A. Mellowes ’60 Professor in Mechanical Engineering at Cornell, also stressed the significance of Sobhani’s research, which has a primary focus on advanced ceramics as chamber materials in small satellite chemical thrusters.
Sobhani is a member of the AIAA Thermophysics Technical Committee, and she co-authored a chapter on “Thermal Protection for Exploration Vehicles,” in The Planning and Execution of Human Missions to the Moon and Mars (AIAA, 2023).
