Aero Students Dominate at AIAA

At the AIAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Student Conference on April 3-4 in Hampton, Va., Clark School aerospace engineering students performed well against student teams from seven other regional universities (Carnegie Mellon, George Washington University, Old Dominion, Penn State, University of Virgina, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia University) who presented conference papers on their research and development projects.

The Clark School sent 24 students to compete for Student Paper Awards in three categories: Team, Graduate, and Undergraduate. Thirty judges from industry and government scored the written manuscripts and oral presentations.

The Clark School won the following:

* First Place, Team category: Robbie Vocke and Timofey Spirodonov (et. al.) – Design and Construction of All-Composite UAVs Utililizing a Modified VARTM Process (Advisor: Dr. Darryll Pines)

* First Place, Graduate category: Louise A. Ahuré – "Behavior of Magnetorheological Fluid Composites Employing Carrier Fluids Certified for Landing Gear Use" (Advisor: Dr. Norm Wereley)

* Third Place, Graduate category: Harinder Singh – "Nondimensional Analyses of Single and Multiple Event Vertical Stroking Crew Seats Employing Magnetorheological Energy Absorbers" (Advisor: Dr.Norm Wereley)

* First Place, Undergraduate category: Michael Gentry – "Fatigue Testing of Pneumatic Artificial Muscle Actuators" (Advisor: Dr. Norm Wereley)

* Second Place, Undergraduate category: Joseph Ramsey – "Flow Visualization and Particle Imaging Velocimetry of an Insect-Based Flapping Wing Mechanism" (Advisor: Dr. J. Gordon Leishman)

* Third Place, Undergraduate category: Nicholas D’Amore – "An Empirical Assessment of Several Models for Drag of an Underwater Vehicle" (Advisor: Dr. Dave Akin)

* The UM chapter of AIAA also came away with the 2007-2008 Outstanding Student Branch (Mid-Atlantic Region) Award. Breanne McNerney (2008 AIAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Student Conference co-chair) accepted on behalf of the Maryland Chapter.

The first-place winners earned $500 cash prizes. Vocke, Ahuré and Gentry also were awarded free trips to represent the Mid-Atlantic Region at the International Student Paper Conference, which will be held January 4-7, 2010, in conjunction with the 48th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, in Orlando, Fla. Second-place winners earned a cash prize of $300, and third-Place winners a cash prize of $250.

Published April 11, 2009