AIAA at Illinois hosts successful regional Conference; achieves largest turnout in history

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Region III Student Conference held April 1-2 at the University of Illinois was an outstanding success, bringing together students from 18 universities across the Midwest.

“The conference blew away the expectations of everyone involved. Our final attendance of 102 is the largest in Region III history,” said organizer Michael Miller of the AIAA at Illinois student organization.

Attendees traveled to the Urbana campus from these universities:

• Cleveland State University
• Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis
• Miami University
• Ohio Northern University
• Ohio State University
• Rose-Hulman
• Western Technical College
• Purdue University
• University of Cincinnati
• University of Dayton
• University of Illinois - Chicago
• University of Kentucky
• University of Kentucky - Paducah
• University of Michigan
• University of Notre Dame
• University of Wisconsin
• Wright State University

Conference highlights included the keynote talk by Todd Barber, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Senior Propulsion Engineer. He spoke on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Curiosity Mission to Mars in his presentation, “Red Rover, Red Rover: Send Curiosity Right Over.”

A Blimp Racing contest in which four-member teams designed and flew a lighter-than-air vehicle was another highlight. The teams had access to helium, several sizes of helium vessels, a scrap pile of building materials, and two blimp control modules. They were given 1½ hours to build the fastest blimp and race them against other teams’ creations.

Participants also gained the opportunity to network during a corporate mixer – a casual career fair that took place at Papa Dels restaurant.

The primary focus of the conference was presenting student research for technical review. Participants from Illinois fared well, sweeping first, second and third places in two categories.

Here are the prizes Illinois students won for presentations:

Undergraduate Category

• “Microvascular Carbon Fiber Composites for Laptop Cooling;” Third Place; Author, Philip R. Barnett; Faculty Advisor, Scott R. White

Team Category

• “In-Situ Space Tool Design;” First Place; Authors, Steven J. Macenski, Alexander W. Case and Paul A. DeTrempe
• “Development of a Near Earth Object Exploration SmallSat Baseline;” Second Place; Authors, Alexander W. Case, Arthur B. Ding, Zachary T. Fester, Sarosh A. Hussain, Steven D. Kohn, and Keenan Murabit
• “Production of Wax Fuel Grains for a Hybrid Rocket Motor;” Third Place; Authors, Ian Charter, Jose De Lara, Paul A. DeTrempe, Christine Mehr, Samantha Paige, and Lui Suzuki

Community Outreach Category

• “Illinois Space Day – Igniting a Passion for Space and Science in K-12 Students;” First Place; Author, Kelsey White
• “Illini Aerospace Outreach at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign;” Second Place; Author, Philip Barnett

Underclassmen Category

• “Homebuilt Aircraft and the Aerospace Industry;” First Place; Author, Kevin Burns
• “The Influence of Rapid Prototyping within the Aerospace Industry;” Second Place; Authors, Sai-Aksharah Siraman and Ying Chien Lee
• “The Investigation of the Air Intake Techniques of Scramjet Engines and a Conceptual Design of a Turbine Based Combined Cycle Engine;” Third Place; Author, Jianqiao Xiao

Design Competition – Blimp Races

• Team C Squared; Second Place; Member, Christopher Miller
• Team Finless Purple Shark; Third Place; Member, Jianqiao Xiao

View photos on the AIAA Facebook page!