Maryland Aerospace Students Win First Place in Four Categories

Old Dominion University hosted the AIAA Mid-Atlantic Regional Student Conference on April 3-4, 2009 in Hampton, Virginia, where 39 students and 5 student teams from eight regional universities (Carnegie Mellon, George Washington University, Old Dominion, Penn State, University of Maryland, University of Virgina, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia University) presented conference papers on their research and development projects.

The Department of Aerospace Engineering sent 24 students to compete for Student Paper Awards in three distinct categories: Team, Graduate, and Undergraduate. Thirty judges from industry and government scored the written manuscripts and oral presentations, and determined First, Second, and Third Place finishers in each category. Clark School of Engineering students made a great showing and earned the following awards:

The University of Maryland earned first place in the Team category:

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

Maryland also placed first and third in the Graduate category:

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

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

Lastly, Maryland earned the trifecta in the Undergraduate category:

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

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

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

The First place winners from the University of Maryland earned a $500 cash prize. 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, Florida. The Second place winners earned a cash prize of $300, and Third Place winners a cash prize of $250.

The campus' Maryland 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.

Published April 11, 2009