MIT Aeronautics and Astronautics Department
enews Vol 2, #5
February 2006
In this issue:
- Awards and accomplishments
- North American, International CDIO conferences
- NASA Director Griffin to speak
- IM sports
- Structures/materials conference scheduled
- Email info session planned
- Web faves
1. AWARDS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS
The MIT Engineering Council, Academic Council, and Executive Committee of the MIT Corporation have approved the following promotions: David Miller to Professor (with tenure); Olivier de Weck to Associate Professor (without tenure); and Raul Radovitzky to Associate Professor (without tenure). Department Head Professor Wesley Harris asks all AAers to “please join me in proffering a hearty congratulations to Dave, Oli, and Raul.”
The American Association for the Advancement of Science has named a team of Russian and American scientists to receive its 2005 International Scientific Cooperation Award. Among the seven honorees is Aero-Astro lecturer Paul Cefola. AAAS said of the recipients, “Once adversaries, these dedicated scientists are honored for both their determination to transcend numerous limitations to collaboration and their pioneering work to advance state-of-the-art space surveillance in both countries for the benefit of the worldwide astrodynamics community and the safety of human activity in space.” Read more about the award at http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2006/0215coopaward.shtml
Surrounded by friends, family, faculty, and staff, recent graduate Chris McQuin was commissioned as a USAF 1st Lieutenant on 24 February at the MIT ROTC Building. McQuin, who had been named MIT Air Force ROTC Cadet of the Year, has been awarded a rare and coveted slot in the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training program http://www.baseops.net/militarypilot/enjjpt.html. In April, McQuin will report to Sheppard AFB, Texas, where he'll spend about 55 weeks training on T-37s and T-38s with other future fighter pilots from our NATO allies. He's come a long way from tossing paper planes off the Hangar mezzanine!
Diane Soderholm, chairwoman of the Aero-Astro Awards and Recognition Committee, sends along a list of recent High Five Award recipients: Kathryn Fischer, Ping Lee, Helen Halaris, Michael Corcoran, Sally Chapman, Beth Marois, Phyllis Collymore, Todd Billings, and Brian O'Conaill. High Fives, which are for department staff, are special thank yous from one person or group, to another person or group “for help, service, or support beyond normal duties.” Nominating someone for a High Five is as simple as filling out the online form at http://web.mit.edu/aeroastro/about/awards/highfive.html. Other department staff awards include the Above and Beyond Award and the Spirit of XVI Award. “We are particularly encouraging faculty to nominate staff for these awards,” Soderholm says. You can learn more about AA Awards, and submit nominations, at http://web.mit.edu/aeroastro/about/awards/index.html
Draper Laboratory's Space Science Business Area Manager Linda Fuhrman, a 1986 AA alum, was honored as 2005 Engineer of the Year by the New England Section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Fuhrman's citation reads, in part, “Over the past two decades, Linda has provided solutions to complex engineering problems for NASA Space Systems. Linda is currently working on designs for future Mars missions, including the first airplane to fly on another planet. Linda actively supports a wide variety of public outreach and community groups, including Cambridge Public Schools, National Engineers Week, and the Boston Museum of Science, yet she always manages to find time to support her local AIAA section, including a nice synopsis in this past year of the Mars Airplane and CEV projects, which were very well received by the community.”
Speaking of Linda Fuhrman, she, and AA alum Julianne Zimmerman were picked by Mass High Tech newspaper as “2006 Women to Watch.” According to the publication, “they are among eight women that have been selected throughout the New England region as notable and accomplished 'up and comers' in their male-dominated field.”
Professor Larry Young was recently selected to receive a $50,000 Deshpande Center grant to develop his ideas for a fluid helmet liner. Young says he is “particularly pleased since the project is an outgrowth of the work of two our undergraduate students Nick Chan and Jason Ruchelsman, in the Engineering Projects Lab, directed at the time by Profs. Greitzer and Deyst.” Deshpande official told Young, “We are pleased to fund your project and have it become part of our growing portfolio of innovative research in emerging technologies.”
2. NORTH AMERICAN, INTERNATIONAL CDIO CONFERENCES
The MIT CDIO team brings to readers' attention two upcoming meetings of schools collaborating in the international CDIO Initiative. On 14-15 March, the North American CDIO Region meets at the University of Colorado in Boulder for workshops and to discuss CDIO development in the U.S. and Canada. In June, the CDIO Initiative holds its Annual International Conference in Linköping, Sweden. The meeting begins with a workshop to introduce CDIO to those wishing to learn about the international initiative, and to assist new adopters begin the implementation process. Following the workshop, there will be presentations of papers, collaborators will present updates on CDIO-related activities in their schools (e.g., course development, CDIO Standards implementation), CDIO themes will meet (curriculum and program evaluation, dissemination and development, learning and assessment, students, workspaces and design-build projects), and plan future CDIO development. For more information on both the North American and International CDIO meetings, visit http://www.cdio.org/meetings.
3. NASA DIRECTOR GRIFFIN TO SPEAK
Massachusetts Space Grant invites everyone to a particularly special program on 8 March when, as part of its annual lecture series, MSG presents NASA Director Michael Griffin. Griffin's talk is titled, “Developing the Hardware for Future Human Space Exploration.” The program is at 3 p.m. in the Wong Auditorium, E51-115. For more information, email Helen Halaris halaris@mit.edu.
4. IM SPORTS INVITES PARTICIPANTS
Daniel Kwon, who coordinates intramural sports for the Department, wants all to know that “we
had a successful Fall Aero-Astro campaign, with the soccer team capturing the B+ league championships, the football team with an undefeated regular season, and the B league hockey started its title defense. The spring IM season is starting, and some Winter Sports are still going on. We're ready to begin signups and a call for captains for spring sports, and if you still want to join an ongoing winter sport, it's not too late.” Contacts for winter sports are as follows: Hockey - B league, Simon Nolet, snolet@mit.edu; C league, Dan Kwon, dankwon@mit.edu; D league, Lyric Doshi, lyric@mit.edu; Basketball, James North, jnorth@mit.edu.
5. STRUCTURES/MATERIALS CONFERENCE SCHEDULED FOR MAY
Professor Oli de Weck brings to your attention the AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference, 1 - 4 May 2006 at the Hyatt Regency Newport in Rhode Island. The meeting topic is “Structures and Materials for the Next Generation of Aerospace Vehicles: Evolution or Revolution?” This year's conference will also host the 14th Annual Adaptive Structures Conference, the 7th Annual Gossamer Spacecraft Forum, the 2nd Annual Multidisciplinary Design Optimization Specialist Conference, and the 1st Non-Deterministic Approaches Conference. Plenary presentations focus on near-term and long-term progression of structures and materials technology for the next generation of aerospace vehicles looking at the correct mixture of evolutionary and revolutionary ideas that will enable future manned and unmanned aircraft and spacecraft.
A subset of the conference is the 2nd AIAA Multidisciplinary Design Optimization Specialist Conference. Professor de Weck is the General Chair for this year's conference. “This year we had a 58 percent increase in the number of submissions over last year, and I am very proud of how MDO is growing as a field in its own right and how it supports Systems Engineering and Engineering Systems more broadly by providing a rigorous modeling, simulation and optimization capability in a complex systems context,” he says. Information is available at: http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=230&lumeetingid=1172
6. EMAIL INFO SESSION PLANNED
While they are quick to assure Eudora users that they are welcome to continue using the venerable email client, MIT IS&T will eventually cease to support it. If you are interested in migrating your email to Applemail or Outlook/Outlook Express, you will want to attend a special program hosted by Aero-Astro in 33-116 at 3 p.m. on March 14. At the program, IS&T representatives will answer your questions about migrating email including setup, importing address books and settings, and more. This is NOT a program for techies (although they are welcome) - it will be a plain-English primer on the email issue. All AA Department faculty, staff, and students are invited. You can learn more about email migration at http://web.mit.edu/ist/topics/email/migration.html. Watch for further information on the program. If you have a question you would like IS&T to address at the meeting, send it to Bill Litant wlitant@mit.edu.
7. WEB FAVES
As MIT develops and adapts technology—and applies it to education—the daily experience of students at MIT and around the world is transformed. The fruits of this effort are maturing from mere promise to broad and sustainable impact. At MIT, we are becoming the change we want we want to see in the world." So begins the new MIT Web site "Educational Transformation through Technology at MIT" The site offers studies and a sampling of MIT educational technology projects through its Project Gallery, presenting a snapshot of MIT's education technology development from 1999–2005. Aero-Astro is heavily represented in this new site: prominently featured are CDIO, Aero-Astro Active Learning, Aero-Astro flight simulation,and Mars Gravity. Visit http://web.mit.edu/edtech/
CONTRIBUTE TO THE E-NEWS
Please share your news with the rest of the Aero-Astro community by contributing to the e-news. Awards, events, new research - it's all of interest. Send your suggestions to wlitant@mit.edu.
