On 10–11 April, the AIAA University of Michigan Student Branch welcomed over 150 attendees for the AIAA Region III Student Conference. Students representing 13 universities and three high schools presented 43 papers.
During the kick-off dinner, attendees were excited to watch the Artemis II crew splash down after their successful mission. The enthusiasm continued the next day with the technical presentations. The student paper presentations included an AIAA conference-style research paper and a 20-minute oral presentation in front of a panel of judges. This year’s conference was the first to feature high school presentations.
Retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and University of Michigan Center for Entrepreneurship Lecturer David Brewer was the event’s keynote speaker. He discussed entrepreneurship and the current status of the aerospace industry.
Members of the student branch also hosted lab tours, showcasing the Wilson Student Team Project Center, the Space Physics Research Laboratory (SPRL), the Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) Lab, and the University of Michigan Wind Tunnel. Tours highlighted key features of each lab and teaming space, emphasizing the breadth of resources and lab space the university’s Aerospace Engineering students have access to within the program.
The conference was a great opportunity for our members to come together and learn from each other, to support each another, and to bring their passion to our field. A big thank you to the AIAA University of Michigan Student Branch, Sukhpreet Singh, Kylie Bugenski, and Region III Deputy Director of Education Christopher Pestak for working together and putting on an awesome event.
Region III Winners
High School Category
- First Place: “A Probabilistic Framework for Terrain-Aware Emergency Site Selection Under Thrust Loss,” Bhavna Jonnadula, Troy High School (Troy, MI)
- Second Place: “Interaction-Induced Momentum Redistribution in Clustered Hall-Effect Thrusters Using a Reduced Prescribed-Field Model,” Venkataashish Gogineni, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (Aurora, IL)
- Third Place: “Optimization of Rocker-Bogie Suspension Systems for Improved Rover Traversal Speed on Extreme Extraterrestrial Terrain,” Emilee Colton, Sumedh Pendyala, and Makayo Cheung, Oswego East High School (Oswego, IL)
Undergraduate Category
- First Place: “Feasibility of Low-Cost Hypersonic Vehicles for Second-Mode Instability Data Collection,” Aditya Singh and Brandon Chynoweth, Purdue University (West Lafayette, IN)
- Second Place: “Development and Optimization of Inductively Coupled Plasma Neutralizer for Electric Propulsion Applications,” David Rubin, Stephen Tushentsvo, and Alexey Shashurin, Purdue University (West Lafayette, IN)
- Third Place: “Automated Processing and Classification of Lidar Point Clouds for Flight Path Modeling Software,” Kavanaugh Frank and Chad Mourning, Ohio University (Athens, OH)
Graduate Category
- First Place: “Thermodynamic Cycle Analysis of Turbo-Compound Engine with High-Efficiency-Hybrid-Cycle Internal Combustion Rotary Configuration,” Chloe Amoroso and Maryam Younessi-Sinaki, Cleveland State University (Cleveland, OH)
- Second Place: “Hybrid Actuator Control Allocation: A Hardware Comparison of QP and PI Allocators on an Air Spindle Testbed,” Jad Halabi, Ritwik Majumdar, and Oliver Jia-Richards, University of Michigan Ann Arbor (Ann Arbor, MI)
- Third Place: “Pulse Detonation Driven Ignition of a Rotating Detonation Engine,” Ryan Timmerman and Jason Payyappilly, Purdue University (West Lafayette, IN)
Team Category
- First Place: “Examination of the Viability of Reclaimed Gas Electric Propulsion for Orbit Maintenance of Crewed Space Stations,” Noah Negron, Sashvat Krishnan, Henry Poutasse, and Oliver Jia-Richards, University of Michigan Ann Arbor (Ann Arbor, MI)
- Second Place: “Design, Testing, and Comparisons of a Carbon Dioxide Compressed Gas Propulsion Module for IU CubeSat Platforms,” Varun Chitiveli, Brody Booker, Max Cirino, Antonio Accardo, and Nishanth Kunchala, Ohio State University (Columbus, OH)
- Third Place: “Design and Analysis of a Hydrogen-Air RDC for Power Generation Research,” Deepesh Balwani, Sumit Laha, Anjali Patel, Oluwaniademi Ogundana, and David Taranowski, Purdue University (West Lafayette, IN)
