The AIAA Region VI Conference was held 29–30 March at the University of California Irvine (UCI). From the inspiring presentations to the incredible community of students, faculty, and professionals—the weekend was one to remember. There were 187 attendees, and 49 papers presented, which also included high school presenters. Nahum Melamed from The Aerospace Corporation gave students a fascinating look into “Planetary Defense from Asteroids and Comets,” while Jeff Puschell, Northrop Grumman and also the Region VI Deputy Director of Education, spoke about “Hyperspectral Coastal Water Imaging from Space for Engineering a Sustainable Planet.”
The opening keynote on day 2 was given by Aleksey Matyushev, CEO & Co-Founder of Natilus, and his team at Natilus noted the conference was “a fantastic opportunity to engage with the next generation of aviation engineering talent. There was tremendous enthusiasm, thoughtful questions, and lively discussion on the topic of sustainable aviation and blended-wing body aircraft.”
Also included at the conference were tours of UCI Rocket Lab for UCI Rocket Project for Solids, and Liquids, which initially began as a solid propulsion team focused on launch rockets using solid motors, but it has expanded into liquid motors as well, and the teams are focused on competing at the national level. Students also toured the X-Energy Lab, where multi-phase, chemically reacting flows are studied – especially those at previously unexplored scales and conditions – to enable future power, propulsion, and energy system technologies. There was also the opportunity to explore the Lyon Air Museum, which showcases authentic aircraft, rare vehicles, and related memorabilia, with emphasis on World War II.
The conference ended with an awards dinner where cash prizes were given to first-, second-, and third- place winners for each category. All university students had the option to publish their papers with AIAA. The UCI Student Branch thanked all the volunteers for working on the event but wanted to especially thank the attendees for their “presence, energy, and curiosity … [to] make this event such a meaningful and memorable experience.”
Region VI Winners
High School Category
First Place: “A Novel Low-Cost Zero Mean-Flow Chamber Design and Physics-Informed Neural Network for Astrophysical and Environmental Turbulence Applications,” Aiden Kwon, Palos Verdes Peninsula High School (Rolling Hills Estates, CA)
Second Place: “A Study of Toroidal Propellers with Comparison to Traditional Propellers,” Bingxuan Cheng, Trabuco Hills High School (Mission Viejo, CA)
Third Place: “Taming the Oblique Wing: Improving Fuel Efficiency by Developing and Flight Testing an Oblique Wing Aircraft Utilizing a Novel Control Method,” Kevin Shen, Olympia High School (Olympia, WA)
Undergraduate Category
First Place: “Modeling a Gliding Turn-Back Maneuver (“Impossible Turn”) Following an Engine Failure,” Nicholas Lototsky, University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA)
Second Place: “Computational Model of a Table Top Shock Tunnel for Hypersonic Environments,” Lindsay Feyrer and Tim Linke, University of California Davis (Davis, CA)
Third Place: “Spectroscopic Analysis of Erosion Rate from Electrode Surfaces on the ZaP-HD Device,” Elyse Lian, University of Washington (Seattle, WA)
Graduate Category
First Place: “Aerodynamic Force Characterization of a Novel Variable Amplitude Flapping Wing Robot,” Geourg Kivijian and Nandeesh Hiremath, California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo (San Luis Obispo, CA)
Second Place: “Initial Parametric Design of a Torsion Pendulum to Demonstrate Attitude Control using Microoptoelectromechanical System Control of Radiation Pressure,” Jonathan Messer, University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA)
Third Place: “Influence of Functionalized Titanium Dioxide Ligant Length on Composite Mechanical Properties,” Ian Holmes and Joseph Kalman
Undergraduate Team Category
First Place: “Design and Experimental Validation of a Gallium Field Emission Electric Propulsion Thruster,” Kylar Flynn, Gabriel Goldman, Connor Storey, and Jose Torres, University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA)
Second Place Tie: “Tensegrity Structures for Energy Absorption in Aerospace Landing and Reusable Rocket Systems,” Leire Roma Rubi, Ryan Kuo, and Brennan Birn, University of California Berkeley (Berkeley, CA)
Second Place Tie: “Load Testing of a Superelastic Tire Suited for Space Exploration,” Audrey Park, Jacqueline Nguyen, Amanda Lucker, Yashvi Deliwala, University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA)
Third Place: “Design of a Non-Flapping Morphing Drone Inspired by the Western Gull,” by Jose Aquilera Fuentes, Jeffrey Astorga, Marco Zuloaga, Jeremy LeMaster, Adrian Corral, Jonathan Balan, Joseph Mackey de Zela, Matthew Emil Martin, Harmandeep Gill, Brianna Murphy, and Peter Bishay, California State University Northridge (Northridge, CA)
