Aerospace Engineering is shaping the future of transportation, communication, explorations, and security through hands-on experience and teamwork. The department’s mission is to prepare students for leadership positions in design, testing, and operation of complex aerospace and related systems. Some of our highly successful graduate students are profiled below.
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Bruce Davis | |
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Stephanie Golmon | |
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Laurren Kanner |
Bruce Davis
Ph.D Student(spring 2008 MS graduate)
Graduate student Bruce Davis has taken full advantage of his opportunities since arriving in the Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences. He has gained valuable handson experience helping to develop the Total Irradiance Monitor (TIM) instrument for NASA’s Glory Mission—a Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP)- led effort designed to measure the total energy output of the Sun for Earth’s longterm climate record. In addition, he has completed a bioastronautics graduate project in Professor David Klaus’s lunar module lab, become a leader in the CU-Boulder Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) organization, and played an active role on another graduate research team that is building the Distributed Atmospheric Neutral Density Explorer (DANDE), a satellite that will analyze and improve satellite drag models in the upper atmosphere.
“The department here is great. I couldn’t imagine going anywhere else,” Davis said. “I believe that any student who has the motivation for hands-on experience will find it here. They’re very proactive in meeting the needs of the students as well. Anything our team has needed, whether in research projects, facilities, or funding for an evening event, the department has gone out of its way to support us.”
Davis has a research assistant appointment with LASP working on requirements management and verification of the TIM instrument for the Glory Mission, a NASA project operated out of Goddard Space Flight Center. TIM is an observatory that will measure total solar irradiance—all of the energy that comes from the Sun—and will enhance our knowledge of solar effects on Earth’s climate with an application toward global warming models.
His lunar module work began over a year and a half ago on a team of 10 graduate students working to define the vehicle’s requirements, think through its operational scenarios, and determine the best ways to address those situations. Davis focused his efforts on the topic of dust mitigation—research he continued as part of an independent study the following semester. After submitting the results, he and a fellow graduate student were chosen to present their research at the University of Hawaii in late 2007.
On the DANDE satellite team—a project advised by Professors Scott Palo and Jeffrey Forbes—Davis is part of a multidisciplinary effort to improve the drag models for satellites in the mesosphere, with an application toward improving military satellite performance. The project team includes multiple graduate students from aerospace engineering, physics, electrical engineering, and computer science all working together. “We’re going through high-end design that creates challenging integration issues, but it’s all going well. I’m having a lot of fun with the project and I’m hoping to initiate a PhD topic with the momentum of the program,” said Davis. “One of the cool things is that we have strong industry support and involvement. The project is co-sponsored by the Colorado Space Grant Consortium and the Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences. It’s really exciting, and I spend much of my free time working on this project. I love the opportunities it has given me to develop a satellite structure and to work with a team of creative and terrific people.”
Stephanie Golmon
Ph.D Student
Selected among the first ever recipients of the H. Joseph Smead Graduate Student Fellowship, PhD candidate Stephanie Golmon has brought a love of applied science—and a dual degree in physics and math—to structures research in the Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences.
“I graduated from Principia College in June, which is a small school in Elsah, Illinois, and I was a double major in physics and math there.While I enjoyed those, I wasn’t sure if that was the direction I wanted to go with my career,” said Golmon. “I also worked with our solar car team, and I really loved the more applied nature of that, which helped me decide to go into engineering as my career.” Golmon studies in the aerospace structures group under Professor and H. Joseph Smead Faculty Fellow Kurt Maute. Currently her work centers on microscale battery modeling, focusing on how the mechanics in a battery are affected by electrochemical processes, with the end goal of designing something that is both load bearing and able to store electrical energy—in other words, to make a battery that can bear weight.
“You can actually have a system for a spacecraft or aircraft that’s also a part of the structure of the craft, so you can save a ton of weight and make it more efficient,” said Golmon. “I’m focusing on looking at batteries. Right now, everything I’ve done is computer-based modeling. There isn’t a mathematical model right now, so that’s what we’re trying to develop.”
Golmon spends about half of her time in a research assistantship position and is taking three classes this semester. Her long-term goals include working in industry and pursuing her childhood dream of becoming an astronaut. As for choosing to study at CU, Golmon credited the aerospace department’s high reputation, her visit to campus, and the opportunity to receive the Smead Fellowship for making the difference in her final decision.
“I had a very nice offer from another school as well, and had I not had the Smead Fellowship offer, it would have made it a lot harder to choose CU,” said Golmon. “It’s a one-year fellowship, and it’s for students studying for a PhD. It is making it a lot easier for me not to have to worry about finances now and really to focus on schoolwork and research rather than worrying about how to pay the bills.”
Laurren Kanner
Masters StudentMy entry into the aerospace industry has no grand tale of nostalgia and inspiration, nor was it the product of history, upbringing, or other uncontrollable circumstance. It is in fact, very simple:
When applying for college at the turn of the millennium, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. My family encouraged me to pursue an engineering degree because I had "always been good at math and science" and because "it's a field where you can make a living": all reasonable albeit not remarkable reasons. And so I did, thinking "I can always change if I don't like it..." I, not being one to simply apply to college as Open Option, decided I would start at the top of the list, and work my way down if I didn't like a particular major. So without so much as a second thought, I filled in the top bubble on my application form which read "Aerospace Engineering Sciences (AES)", thinking to myself that this sounded like an interesting field but what does "aerospace" actually mean? I knew what space was (and that it was the realm of astronauts and science fiction), but what was this "aero" part? I was soon to discover what it meant, and I was taken aback by the challenge and beauty of it all. At the very least, I loved the reaction I got when I said "I'm an aerospace engineer". (It was usually "wow!", which is probably the coolest response possible)
Skip forward to January of 2008: I'm standing on a stage in Reno, NV accepting an award for winning the Graduate Division of the AIAA International Student Paper Conference. This is not the first time I've accepted an award for a conference paper (the 6th, actually) but somehow this moment is very special because it's AIAA (at the international level nonetheless), and AIAA means something special to me. For a moment even I feel a bit nervous! As I make my way back to my seat, I reflect upon the past 6.5 years and how I got to the place I'm at now. 4 years of undergraduate studies in AES at CU Boulder, and in the middle of my 3rd year of graduate school in the same department. I've been working at Ball Aerospace as a Spacecraft Systems Engineer for over 3 years now, periodically teach a prep class in AES for freshmen, and have held an officer's position with the AIAA Student Branch since i was a junior in my undergrad. All in all, quite a journey I've made: I've never done something for so long!
But the question still remains, how did I get here? I guess it's partially a bit of luck, a lot of work, and the support of those around me that kept me on-track. I think though, that there must be something said about the allure of this field and the amazing things we do in it. Aerospace is challenging and exciting enough to capture the imagination of both children and adults alike. I like to think that I could have done anything in my life that I set my mind to doing, but aerospace is what I get excited about, and aerospace is what I want to get others excited about. Aerospace is what I have chosen for myself and I've never looked back.
=== 2008 ===
* AIAA Abe M Zarem Award for Distinguished Achievement in Astronautics
* 2nd Place AIAA Region V Student Paper Conference, "Characterization of Volatile Movements on Titan through High-Prescision Gravitational Measurement - A Proposal"
=== 2007 ===
* Winner, AIAA 2007 International Student Paper Conference, "Impact of Seasonal Solar Beta Angle Variations on the Mission Planning of the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) All-Sky Survey Design"
* 1st Place, AIAA Region V Student Paper Conference, "Impact of Seasonal Solar Beta Angle Variations on the Mission Planning of the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) All-Sky Survey Design"
* 3rd Place, AIAA Region V Student Paper Conference, "Educational Opportunities Supporting the Development of a Full-Scale Mockup of the New Lunar Surface Ascent Module (LSAM) Design at the University Level"
* Best Student Paper, Joint Army-Navy-NASA-Airforce (JANNAF) 2007 Liquid Propulsion Subcommittee Conference, "MACH-SR1: Development and Characterization of Hybrid Rocket Technologies Through Undergraduate R&D"
* Finalist, Pacific International Committee on Space Exploration Systems (PICSES) Conference, "Translating Life Support System Functions into Hardware
Requirements and Operational Considerations for a Lunar Outpost Analogue"
* CU Gold "Rising Star" Leadership Award nominee
=== 2006 ===
* Runner-up, University Government for Graduate Students "Teaching Effectiveness Award"
=== 2005 ===
* ASEN Outstanding Senior, 2005
* 1st Place, AIAA Region V Student Paper Conference, "Investigation of a Castable Ceramic Nozzle in a Mid-Powered Rocket Application"
* 2nd Place, Colorado Space Grant Consortium Research Symposium, "Multi-disciplinary university of Colorado High-altitude Student Rocket 1 (MaCH-SR1)"