Summer 2011

In this issue:
1. Darmofal to direct ACDL
2. Oman honored, students attend IAA symposium
3. New docs delivered
4. Newsnotes
5. AeroAstro awards
6. ISS pix first from Soyuz to show docked Shuttle

Dave Darmofal

1. Darmofal to direct ACDL

Department head Jaime Peraire has announced that Professor Dave Darmofal has taken on the role of Aerospace Computational Design Lab Director. Peraire was ACDL director prior to becoming department head this summer.

ACDL improves the design of aerospace systems through the advancement of computational methods and tools incorporating multidisciplinary analysis and optimization, probabilistic and robust design techniques, and next-generation computational fluid dynamics. The laboratory studies a broad range of topics that focus on the design of aircraft and aircraft engines.

2. Oman honored, students attend, IAA symposium

Man Vehicle Lab director Dr. Chuck Oman has been elected to full membership in the International Academy of Astronautics. This spring, he was honored, along with nine other colleagues, at the 18th Annual IAA Humans in Space Symposium banquet in Houston. Chuck reports that 14 MIT graduate students and four faculty participated in the week long IAA symposium. He also notes that bioastronautics graduate student Rachel Ellman won second place in the student poster competition at the event.

Dr. Chuck Oman (left) at the IAA Banquet with AeroAstro students (from left), Hui Ying Wen, Rachel Forman, Justin Kaderka, Jaime Mateus,  Dr. Kevin Duda, Dustin Kendrick, Jordan Spatz, Alex Bruno, Andie Gilkey, Torin Clark, Raquel Galvan, Sarah Lumpkins, Rachel Ellman, Tatsuya Arai, and Allie Anderson.  

3. New docs delivered

Congratulations to our newly-minted Ph.D.s: (front from left) Tatsuya Arai, Namiko Yamamoto, Maggie Stringfellow, Claire Cizaire, Jaime Mateus, Julie Shah, (back from left) Alejandra Uranga, Dan Courtney, Tom Temple, Fabio Fachin, James Whiting, and Mina Jun.

Mark Drela

Danielle Wood

4. Newsnotes

Carla Perez-Martinez was the subject of an article in the spring issue of Spectrum. The story focuses on her UROP work with Professor Paulo Lozano on computer chip microfabrication, becoming lead author on a published paper, and then being invited to France to collaborate with a team working in the same area. Paulo tells us, "She'll be back at MIT in the fall for grad school with us."

PARTNER and ICAT researchers Ioannis Simaiakis, Harshad Khadilkar, Hamsa Balakrishnan, Tom G. Reynolds, R. John Hansman, Brendan Reilly and Steve Urlass captured best paper award at the USA/Europe Air Traffic Management R&D Seminar. Title of the paper: "Demonstration of Reduced Airport Congestion Through Pushback Rate Control."

Sertac Karaman, a student of Professor Emilio Frazzoli, is the winner of the 2011 AIAA Orville and Wilbur Wright Graduate Award. The AIAA Foundation Orville and Wilbur Wright Graduate Awards provide $10,000 awards bestowed annually to four graduate-level students participating in research endeavors as part of their engineering/science graduate studies.

Grad student Masayuki Yano is the recipient of a Singapore-MIT Alliance Graduate Fellowship in Computational Engineering.

A proposal by Professor Dava Newman has won funding by NASA's Human Research Program and the National Space Biomedical Research Institute of Houston to help investigate questions about astronaut health and
performance on future space exploration missions. The proposal title is "Defining the Relation Between Biomarkers of Oxidative and Inflammatory Stress and Atherosclerosis Risk in Astronauts During and After Long-Duration Spaceflight."

Professor Mark Drela has been chosen as the recipient of the 36th William Littlewood Memorial Lecture Award, an award jointly sponsored by AIAA and by SAE International. The award requires a lecture by the recipient, accompanied by a written paper dealing with a broad phase of civil air transportation considered of current interest and major importance. The objective is to advance air transport engineering and to recognize those who make personal contributions to the field.

Congratulations to AeroAstro grad students Chase Coffman, Daniel Handlin, Brad Holschuh, Chris Pong, Matt Smith, and Sunny Wicks, selected by NASA's Office of the Chief Technology for its inaugural class of Space Technology Research Fellows. They'll receive graduate student fellowships to pursue master's or doctoral degrees in relevant space technology disciplines. Their research topics are available on the NASA website.

NASA has made a video profile of AeroAstro alum and MIT PhD candidate Danielle Wood. Danielle has pursued diverse experiences with NASA as an intern, guest researcher, graduate fellow, contractor and Student Ambassador. She's currently considering ways that NASA technology spinoffs can be deployed in developing countries.

SpaceWorks Commercial wants AeroAstro students to know of a full/part-time paid internship position in their Washington, D.C. office for a Commercial Space Analysis Intern for the Fall 2011 semester. The deadline for submission is September 9, 2011. Visit http://www.sei.aero/employment/index.html?id=6#com and then click <Commercial Space Analysis Intern>.

5. AeroAstro Awards

In case you missed our department awards ceremony at the end of the spring term, following are the awards presented:

• American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics,  MIT Student Chapter, Advising Award: Dean Ian Waitz
• American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics,  MIT Student Chapter, Teaching Award - Professor Youssef Marzouk
• René Miller Prize in Systems Engineering - Emily Calandrelli , Maria de Soria-Santacruz Pich, Carla Perez Martinez, and Jonathan Battat
• Wings Award: To recognize an individual support staff member in AeroAstro for excellence  - Jean Sofronas
• Spirit of XVI Award: to a person whose work, commitment, and enthusiasm contribute significantly to the achievement of the mission of the Department - Anne Maynard
• Vickie Kerrebrock Award: To recognize significant contributions to building a sense of community in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics  - Sue Whitehead

With interim department head Dave Darmofal are department award winners (from left) Anne Maynard, Sue Whitehead, and Jean Sofronas.

Dean Ian Waitz is presented with the AIAA Advising Award by AIAA officer Carla Perez Martinez.

Stacey Nakamura

6. ISS pix first from Soyuz to show docked Shuttle

Alum Stacey Nakamura of the MIT Club of South Texas, who keeps tabs on alum astronauts for us, shares a link for some great photos taken while Endeavour was last docked at the International Space Station. Stacey notes that Cady Coleman was aboard the Soyuz from which the photos were taken while Greg Chamitoff and Mike Fincke were on the ISS and Endeavour. All are MIT alums. BTW, Greg will be visiting AeroAstro in early October. Details to follow.

Stacey, who chairs the JSC Safety & Engineering Review Panel at NASA's Johnson Space Center, maintains a section of the S. Texas Club's website devoted to MIT alum astronauts and their activities. It's well worth checking out.

Endeavour docked to the ISS, as seen from a departing Soyuz.

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