January 2011

In this issue:
1. Newsbriefs
2. AA undergrads intern at Kennedy
3. New controller minding the ISS
4. Winging it with the Navy
5. Water, not LOX, fuels Unified's bagel rockets
6.Comings and goings
7. Kresa talk video posted
8. MIT acronyms: add yours

Dava Newman's spacesuit design was featured on Nova and CNN

1. Newsbriefs

• Professor David W. Miller is in his second year of a four year appointment on the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board. The SAB provides independent advice and recommendations on science and technology matters. This summer, Dave will become SAB chair for science and technology reviews. Under this executive position, he'll be responsible for leading the two-year review of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Air Force Research Labs portfolios.

• In the November 3 Wall Street Journal article "Drones Get Ready to Fly, Unseen, Into Everyday Life," Professor Missy Cummings discussed how UAVs she's developing as "personal sentries" for soldiers could have civilian applications, such as a parent's monitoring a young child on the way to school. It would "bring a whole to meaning to a hover parent," she says.

• MIT Man Vehicle Lab SM student Hui Ying Wen '08 won the best presentation award at the Human Factors and Ergonomics, Society New England Chapter's 2010 Student Conference for her paper "Simulating Human-Automation Task Allocations for Safety System Design." Hui Ying is working at Draper on the project "Human Automation Interactions and Performance Analysis of Lunar Lander Supervisory Control," co-supervised by Drs. Kevin Duda and Charles Oman, and sponsored by the National Space Biomedical Research Institute's Human Factors and Performance Team.

• Ashley Marie Wessendorf, a grad student involved with the Man Vehicle Lab, has been selected for a 2011-2012 MIT/Center for the Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology Medical Engineering Fellowship. The letter announcing the award lauded her "faculty recommendation, and the description of your research interests in the area of Strain Field Analysis for Human Movement to Inform Medical Device Design."

• Nova's "Science Now" premier January 19 featured a segment on Professor Dava Newman and her next generation "Biosuit" spacesuit. The Biosuit was also subject of an interview with Dava on CNN's "Big I" with grad student Allie Anderson modeling the suit.

2. AA undergrads intern at Kennedy

Eight AeroAstro students spent three weeks at Kennedy Space Center as part of the NASA MIT January Operational Internship Experience. The students learned about the operational aspects of space flight, and the relationship between design and operations.

The students examined Orion capsule fire and rescue procedures, and fire/rescue's involvement in the design of the Ares' launcher fire protection and suppression systems. They also learned about NASA systems engineering and integration, and studied guidance, navigation, and control; launch processing systems; and design impacts on operations decisions.

Participating students were Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski, Adam Fuhrmann, Nnaemeka Opar, Cecily Joujon-Roche, Andrew Jacob Wimmer, DeLatte Danielle, and Manal Habib. They were funded by the Space Grant Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. Thanks to Raji Patel, Massachusetts Space Grant Consortium codirector, for this report.

3. New controller minding the ISS

Amy Brzezinski '05, SM '08, a former student of Professor Miller, writes, "I'm sitting here in ISS Mission Control in Houston watching Scott Kelly work with (Space Systems Lab's microsatellites) SPHERES. It's pretty cool to see an MIT experiment in space – SPHERES has come a long way. I'm a flight controller for ISS. I manage the computers that fly the station. There are over 40 of them. This is actually my first week on console (we train for about 2.5 years), so seeing a bit of MIT on the screen is particularly cool."

4. Winging it with the Navy

When we heard from alum LT David Tarr SM '08 in October he was undergoing his training as a Naval aviator. David now writes, "I am happy to report (on) my successful completion of flight school! After my carrier qualification, which was the most thrilling fun I've had yet, I spent a month out in the desert of California learning different types of weapons delivery and low-level formation reconnaissance/attack. Back in South Texas, the final push through Air Combat Maneuvering got me up the magic date of November 19 when I earned my wings of gold and my designation as Naval Aviator. I was fortunate enough to earn my first choice of assignments — flying F/A-18E/F Super Hornets out of NAS Oceana, VA. I am now out in Virginia Beach beginning my training in the Super Hornet with the VFA-106 Gladiators." Good show, David!

A happy David Tarr has just learned he's been selected as a Naval Strike pilot.

Julian Lemus and Giulia Pantalone with their bagel booster.

5. Water, not LOX, fuels Unified's bagel rockets

Professor Dave Darmofal reports that the fall term Unified Water Rocket Competition was held on November 15 and all teams achieved the design requirements. The student teams had to design a water rocket to launch a bagel (yes, a bagel) to 40 meters while minimizing the amount of water used for propulsion. The score in the competition was based on not only the water mass used by the team's rocket but also the team's accuracy in predicting the water mass. Peter Ortez and Jed Storey won the competition using only 230 grams of water (having predicted 210 grams would be needed). Dave noted that a key in the victory was Peter and Jed building and flight testing their rocket prior to the competition allowing them to improve the accuracy of their analysis. Congratulations to everyone!

Professor Darmofal looks on as 2010 Unified Water Bottle contest winners (from left) Elizabeth D'Arienzo, Chelsie Librun, Peter Ortez, and Jed Storey hoist their official "(Water) Rocket Scientist, First Grade" certificates.

Erika Wagner is heading for Seattle.

6.Comings and goings

Welcome to our new postdocs: Alejandra Uranga, with Professor Greitzer; Ankur Srivastava and Jinglai Li, with Professor Marzouk; Rebecca Masterson and Jaime Luis Ramirez Riberos, with Professor Miller; and Nabiko Yamamoto, with Professor Wardle.

Joe Aylward has joined AeroAstro as a financial assistant. He's assisting Jennie Leith and Ping Lee.

Robert Malina has arrived in the department as a visiting scientist working with Professor Waitz.

Sophia Hasenfus is our new administrative assistant, supporting Professors Leveson, Marzouk, Roy, and Williams.

Former AeroAstro lecturer, Erika Wagner SM '02 PhD '07, is heading west for new adventures. Building on her experience as X PRIZE Lab@MIT founding executive director, she will be helping in Seattle with the newer cousin X PRIZE Lab@UW, as well as working directly with X PRIZE on its next generation of innovation competitions. Erika says that with her husband working on the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the whole family is ready to explore "Jet City."

Kent Kresa

7. Kresa talk video posted

If you missed the December 1 lecture by AeroAstro alum Kent Kresa '59, '61 M.S., '66 E.A.A., former chief executive and chairman of the board of the Northrop Grumman Corporation, you can catch it now on MIT World. Kresa's talk "An Engineering Career -- 50 Years Out," starts with his student days when he worked in Boeing's wind tunnel, covers his time with Lincoln Lab, Avco, DARPA, his time as Northrop chief, and culminates in his appointment by President Obama as GM interim director. The talk was the 2011 AeroAstro Lester D. Gardner Lecture and the School of Engineering Distinguished Lecture series.

8. MIT acronyms: add yours

Two of MIT's most prolific products are acronyms and initialisms. How many times have you nodded sagely as colleagues drop a string of letter combinations when, in fact, you have no idea what they're referring to?

If you're confronted with a mystery abbreviation, there's help available — the MIT Acronyms website. From "A" ("After subject number- subject approved for graduate degree") to "Zeta Psi," there are hundreds of acronyms explained.

There's been a major change to the acronym site since we first reported on it in 2006; it's now a wiki so anyone with an MIT certificate or Kerberos identity can make additions and changes. Take a moment, visit the site, and make sure your DCL is represented. And, maybe soon there'll be an app so you can halt your colleague in mid-conversation, pull out your smartphone, and grab that MIT acronym on the spot.

Follow AeroAstro

Don't wait for your enews and emails — keep up with AeroAstro news as it happens — follow the department on Twitter and Facebook.

If you know of events, honors, activities, or other information you'd like to see in the next issue of AeroAstro enews, please send to wlitant@mit.edu — we'd be pleased to include your submissions.

© 2011 MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. All rights reserved.