Fall 2009
Nicholas Pedatella Wins Student Poster Competition
Doctoral Candidate Nicholas Pedtella (advised by Prof Kristine Larson) won the student poster competition at the 4th COSMIC Data Users Workshop, held in Boulder the last week of October.
Bruce Davis Wins Student Paper Competition
Graduate Student Bruce Davis (advised by Prof Mahmoud Hussein) won Second Place in the Biennial Conference on Mechanical Vibration and Noise Student Paper Competition, held this year in San Diego at the ASME IDETC conference. His paper's title is “A three-dimensional lumped parameter model of nanoscale phononic crystals”.
Kristina Wang Receives SWE Collegiate Member Award
Aerospace BS/MS candidate Kristine Wang received the Society of Women Engineer's highest national award for a collegiate member in Chicago, on October 16, 2009. "Kristina Wang's technical skills, enthusiasm and outstanding volunteer work have made her a valuable collegiate leader,” says Nora Lin, SWE president. "As section president, she was able to secure funding from various sources to bring eight additional members to WE08, and four to the 2009 Region I conference."
See here for more details.
ION Kepler Award
Prof Penina Axelrad was selected to receive the 2009 Kepler Award from the Institute of Navigation "for her continued contributions in the field of satellite navigation; dedication to the education of future generations of navigation engineers; and extensive service to professional societies including The Institute of Navigation." See kepler2009.
Former Astronaut Jim Voss Joins Aerospace Engineering Sciences
University of Colorado alumnus-astronaut Jim Voss is the second astronaut to join CU-Boulder's aerospace engineering sciences department, following a NASA career that included five spaceflights, 202 days in space, and four spacewalks. He joins former astronaut Joe Tanner, a senior instructor in AES since fall 2008. "I have returned to CU to teach and to help the College of Engineering and Applied Science and the aerospace department," said Voss. "I hope to inspire the next generation of space explorers." See Voss_Joins_CU.
AES Chair Wins Dean's Award
The 2009 Dean's Award for Outstanding Research in the College of Engineering & Applied Science will be awarded to Jeffrey M. Forbes, Chair of the Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the College Faculty/Staff Meeting on September 25, 2009. This award is based on annual faculty performance evaluation data completed this past spring by the departments, programs, and deans of the College.
Aerospace Ph.D. Candidates Win First and Second Place
Marcin Pilinski and Bruce Davis won first and second place, respectively, at the 17th Annual Frank J. Redd Student Scholarship Competition held at the 23rd AIAA Small Satellite Conference in Logan, UT this August. Both Marcin and Bruce presented papers on their DANDE work. Marcin was awarded $10,000 for first place and has been invited to present his paper at the European Space Conference next year. Bruce received $7,000 for second place and has been invited to chair a session at the European Space Conference.
$2M for eSpace
Congressman Jared Polis won approval from the U.S. House of Representatives for $2M in the Department of Defense budget to be earmarked for the Center for Space Entrepreneurship (a/k/a eSpace), a company based in Louisville. If approved by the Senate in September and signed into law by Obama, the funds will help grow the aerospace industry in metro Denver by creating a partnership between industry and university research to develop and commercialize viable space technologies. See here for more details.
Spring 2009: Major Tornado Study with Unmanned Vehicles
After years of work designing and building them, AES Professors Brian Argrow, Eric Frew, and UCB students plan to send their 12-pound, 10.5 foot wingspan aerial vehicles for one-hour flights into developing storms during tornado season. Measurements made by the instruments aboard the vehicles may help scientists to improve their ability to predict short-term severe weather forecats. See Daily Camera story for details.
April 2009: CU Doctoral Students Win $10,000 Top Prize
UCB graduate students Evan Thomas (Aerospace) and Max Gold (Civil Engineering) have volunteered their time for six years with Engineers Without Borders-USA, helping to bring water purification systems, biogas generators and high efficiency cooking stoves to remote villages in Rwanda. Turning that charity into an economically sustainable enterprise is an idea that won first place at Purdue University's national Idea-to-Product Competition for Social Entrepreneurship on April 4. Read CU News.
April 2009: CU-Boulder Redbull Airplane Competition Winner
Michael Opland, AES undergraduate, won the CU-Boulder Redbull Airplane competition and is one of only 14 American contestants invited to participate in the finals of the Global Paper Airplane Competition. Michael will have an all-expenses trip to Austria for the finals, which will judge farthest flight (the category he won in), the longest airtime and flight aerobatics. See additional info at these links:
http://www.redbullpaperwings.com
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Red-Bull-973842.html
Youtube video of the 2006 finals: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN8nKPdjsnk
Spring 2009: Recent Awards for Aerospace Engineering Sciences Faculty, Staff, and Students
AES Professor William Emery received the 2009 Boulder Faculty Assembly Excellence in Research Award. He also was selected for the IEEE/GRSS Outstanding Service Award for 2009.
Matt Rhode, AES Laboratory Coordinator, received the highest award possible for UCB staff--the Chancellor's Employee of the Year Award for 2009.
Graduate Students Nicholas Pedatella and Laura Stiles received NSF Graduate Research Fellowships. Mr. Pedatella also received an Outstanding Paper Award from AGU, and Ms Stiles received an Amelia Earhart Scholarship. Amal Chandran received an Outstanding Paper Award from AGU. Laura Brower and Christine Hartzell received Amelia Earthart Scholarships as well.
Undergraduate Farheen Rizvi was selected for the Silver Medal Award, and Vicki Hsu was awarded the Norlin Scholarship.
April 2009: Community Movie Event
Aerospace Engineering Sciences; Mechanical Engineering; and Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering hosted a community movie event on April 1st. Former NASA Astronaut Joe Tanner introduced two IMAX films, "To Be An Astronaut," and "Space Station," and spoke to the students about undergraduate Co-Op Opportunities and the newly developed Graduate Projects Courses. After the event, Mr. Tanner generously signed autographs for the children in attendance.
Spring 2009: John A. Vise Award, Graduate Student Service Award
Ryan Kobrick and Bruce Davis are the recipients of the 2009 John A. Vise Graduate Student Excellence Award., and Eric Vinande is the recipient of the first annual Graduate Student Service Award. See Graduate Awards for more details.
February 2009: AeroSpace Systems Science and Engineering (AS3E)
University of Colorado at Boulder administrators have launched a comprehensive space science and engineering initiative that will bring together faculty and students across campus now participating in a broad swath of space-related research. Read CU News.
January 2009: Aerospace Student Project DANDE Wins National Competition
A group of 16 judges from the Air Force and industry selected CU-Boulder's student-designed satellite, the Drag and Neutral Density Explorer (DANDE) for the opportunity to be launched into space as a secondary payload by 2011. The UCB students, representing a multidisciplinary group from such departments as Aerospace, Electrical, Mechanical, and Computer Science, competed against 10 other schools to win the AIAA/AFOSR/AFRL National University Nanosatellite Design competition. Read CU News and listen to interview on Colorado Matters from Friday, February 13, 2009.
Spring 2009: CU Aerospace Program Begins 2009 On a Roll
As quoted in the Denver Post: "Since 2004, CU has received more NASA research funding than any other public university in the United States." See story.
Also see Daily Camera story on Feb 15, 2009 re aerospace industry boosting Boulder County's economy.
January 2009: eSpace: The Center for Space Entrepreneurship
In order to enhance space entrepreneurship and work force development, the University of Colorado at Boulder and Space Dev., Inc. have formed a new non-profit organization named eSpace: The Center for Space Entrepreneurship. This endeavor includes an initial $90,000 grant to CU's Aerospace Engineering Sciences department to fund an eSpace Venture Design program. Read more.
Januray 2009: UCB Aerospace Awards and Recognition at AIAA in Orlando, FL
The Aerospace Engineering Sciences department's KRAKEN senior projects team (AY2007-08) won the AIAA's first annual International Student Conference Team Award on January 6, 2009. Also recognized at the AIAA conference in Florida are Aerospace graduate students Jason Roadman. who received the 2008 John Leland Atwood Award; and Laurren Kanner, winner of the 2008 Abe M. Zarem Award for Distinguished Achievement in Astronautics.
In addition , Brian Hynek of LASP received the Abe M. Zarem Educator Award for his work in advising Laurren Kanner.