Flight Line
Aerospace Engineering Cal Poly College of Engineering Winter 2021
INSIDE THIS ISSUE: • Air Force Research Lab grant to fund study of UAV technology • AERO 470 class inspires engineers to be creative • Aerospace students collaborate on summer research projects
Flight Line
MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR O
bviously, everyone was excited to return to in-person classes this fall, but it’s especially significant in the Aerospace Engineering Department, which has multiple new Learn by Doing initiatives. Professor Paulo Iscold is heavily involved with one of our two partnerships with the Air Force Research Lab. Those partnerships, which also include Cal Poly Pomona, will entail research on autonomous aerial vehicles and mini satellites known as CubeSats — excellent, Learn by Doing experiences for our students that will likely have a societal impact as well. Another project to follow, which you’ll read about here, is Project Mobius, a solar aircraft students hope will travel non-stop for 24 hours. Typical of student projects in our department, this project entails teams of students conducting hands-on work that could have real-world implications. That’s a key element of the Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP), which included several aerospace engineering projects this David Marshall past year. We’re always looking for individuAerospace Engineering als and organizations willing to support Chair programs like SURP, which provides newer students with relevant experience, often with industry sponsors, under close faculty mentorship. None of the amazing examples of student work you’ll read about in this newsletter would be possible without support from industry, alumni, families and other friends of the department. Your gifts to the department discretionary fund truly make an impact. Now that students are back in person our immediate funding needs include travel expenses for senior design courses and loaner laptops for students who may not have access to personal technology. In the future, we plan to raise support for a controls lab, renovations to our Space Environments Lab, and additional physical space for our student clubs. We’re so proud of our students and alumni. But we also know that we need to play an active role in building a diverse workforce. And we’re happy to announce that one of our professors, Kira Abercromby, will play an important role in helping to encourage more women — particularly women of color — to pursue engineering faculty careers. As you’ll read here, more diverse faculty will lead to more diverse students, which will ultimately better prepare our students for a multi-cultural workforce. There’s a lot going on. But we’re so happy to be back — and we can’t wait to launch all these new efforts. n
COVER Clement Y. Cheung talks to Paulo Iscold, associate professor, during an aerospace engineering class held at the San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport. The department hopes to do more classwork and research at the airport as part of a partnership with the Airforce Research Lab. (Photo by Joe Johnston/Cal Poly)
BLASTING OFF IN AERO 121
Aerospace engineering students in AERO 121 compete in a rocket competition. The students make rockets that carry an egg and try to keep the egg intact through the launch and landing.
AROUND AERO
Two Aerospace Graduates Named Honored Alumni Two aerospace engineering graduates, who have both enjoyed long careers with Lockheed Martin, were celebrated as Honored Alumni for 2021. Ed L. Burnett (’83, ’85) joined Lockheed Aeronautics, Co. through a co-op his sophomore year and, after 38 years, continues to serve as a Lockheed Martin Senior Fellow, emeritus. Kelly McInerney (’91) currently works as a senior project manager with Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company and has been with the organization 28 years. Burnett was honored through the College of Engineering while McInerney, a former catcher on the softball team, was honored through Cal Poly Athletics. Burnett was also a student athlete, having played on the 1980 championship football team. Along with his wife, Abra Flores, Burnett stayed in close contact with Cal Poly as an alumnus. He served on both the Electrical Engineering and Aerospace Engineering advisory boards and the College of Engineering Advisory Board from 2014 until 2019. He has also facilitated grants from Lockheed Martin that support many projects in the Aerospace Engineering Department, enhancing the skills of Cal Poly graduates, and follows a long-running record of philanthropy within the university. McInerney has also remained involved with Cal Poly, both as an advocate for women in STEM and as a supporter of the softball program. On the diamond, she was a 3-year starter, whose future teams would include admirals and captains she worked with while supporting flights tests.
Outstanding Staff! Kendra Bubert, the administrative coordinator for the Aerospace Engineering Department, received the Engineering Student Council’s Outstanding Staff Award during the past academic year. Bubert, who has been with the department since 2011, received her bachelor’s degree from Cal Poly with a degree in liberal studies and received a multi-subject teaching credential. Prior to joining Cal Poly’s Aerospace Engineering Department, she taught first grade at Harloe Elementary School in San Luis Obispo.
Aerospace engineering graduates Ed Burnett, left, and Kelly McInerney spoke to students on campus at a open forum in October. Both were named Cal Poly Honored Alumnus for 2021.
Faz Receives DEI Award Alan Faz, who completed his blended bachelor’s-master’s degree in June, was honored with the College of Engineering’s Diversity Equity and Inclusion Award. Faz served as a graduate assistant for the CrossCultural-Centers and volunteered with the Engineering Possibilities in College (EPIC) program. He also served as vice-chair of the ASI Board of Directors and as a Student Director for the Cal Poly Corporation. With ASI, he co-authored a resolution through the ASI Board of Directors and Academic Senate to change the class attendance policy to allow students with dependents the opportunity to make up missed classwork when their dependents are sick or injured. The policy’s last amendment was in the 1970s. Faz earned bachelor’s degrees in aerospace engineering and Spanish and a master’s degree in engineering management. Beyond Cal Poly, he has served as an intern with American Red Cross and as an outreach officer with the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. n
Kendra Bubert
Alan Faz
aero.calpoly.edu | 3
Flight Line
Outside Their Orbit
Aerospace students collaborate with other disciplines during the 2021 Summer Undergraduate Research Program
I
nside the PolySat lab, Nathaniel Gilman is working with a computer model of a CubeSat, which is displayed on a desktop monitor in multiple, changing colors. “This animation is just showing the different places on the satellite – how hot it gets as it goes around,” he says, his fingers clicking laptop keys. The project he’s working on for the Summer Undergraduate Re4 | AEROSPACE ENGINEERING
search Program entails designing a small satellite with an advanced power system that will be part of NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative. “I had no idea I was going to be able to do this sort of stuff as an undergrad,” said the aerospace engineering major. “I’m super grateful to work on something that’s going to go into space and be on the ISS (International Space Station).” The SURP program pairs students new to research with faculty
Summer Undergraduate Research Program students are working on thermal analysis of a 3U spacecraft and testing of maximum power point tracking based electrical power subsystem for the handling of 100W. Below, aerospace engineering students Patrick Jackson, left, and Kevin Nottberg test solar panels.
Working on teams allows students to also learn from each other. “The first skills they get is to talk to each other, with their different backgrounds — the different education they have been receiving so far at Cal Poly, whether it’s from mechanical engineering or electrical engineering or software engineering — and putting all of that together to create that beautiful space system,” said Pauline Faure, an aerospace engineering professor and faculty advisor to multiple SURP projects. While the SURP students work in small teams, they also work closely with their faculty mentors during the 8-week program. “I feel I get to learn from Dr. Faure on a deeper level,” said Mizuki Small, another aerospace engineering student, who worked on the PowerSat. While Cal Poly classes and labs demonstrate the university’s Learn by Doing approach, SURP allows for hands-on work in an even smaller setting, allowing students to take advantage of faculty knowledge. “There’s a reason why they say you should have a low studentteacher ratio,” said aerospace engineering major Callan Whitney, who is the lead on the PowerSat project. “We have this constant flow of feedback.” Having the opportunity to work on a satellite that will be launched into space also gives students a significant resume entry. “It’s like a leg up,” Gilman said. “The stuff I’m doing now is what employees at actual companies making CubeSats are doing.”n
mentors to work on relevant research. This year’s SURP program included multiple aerospace engineering projects related to CubeSats, mini-satellites that can be launched into space for research purposes. At Cal Poly, CubeSats are designed and created in the PolySat club. Many of the students participating in the CubeSat SURP projects are also members of the club, which includes students from a variety of majors. “This is one of the projects in PolySat that has had a big emphasis on power electronics, and that’s a field of electrical engineering that I want to go into,” said Patrick Jackson, an electrical engineering student, who worked on the PowerSat project with Gilman. aero.calpoly.edu | 5
Flight Line
Reflecting on aviator Amelia Earhart’s inspiring visit to Cal Poly 85 years ago, Professor Kira Abercromby says the battle to get more women in the field continues. Following page: Earhart visited the Cal Poly Aeronautics Department in 1937.
6 | AEROSPACE ENGINEERING
Waiting in the Wings Amelia Earhart, who visited Cal Poly 85 years ago, was an inspiration, yet women are still underrepresented in STEM
W
hen Amelia Earhart visited Cal Poly 85 years ago, she was an international celebrity, a record-breaking pilot at a time when most women didn’t even dream of pursuing aviation careers. “She must have been amazingly strong and confident to do what she did all those years ago,” said Kira Abercromby, a professor in the Aerospace Engineering Department. “What I really hope is that people looked at her like the amazing pilot and adventurer she was.” Yet, decades after the Purdue University faculty member dropped by Cal Poly’s aeronautics program, women are still significantly underrepresented in STEM — both in industry and at universities. “We are fighting an uphill battle,” Abercromby said. “However, that is not to say that we can’t figure it out.” In an effort to win that battle, Abercromby will participate in a federally-funded program aimed at increasing the number of female faculty in engineering colleges across the CSU. Abercromby hopes more female STEM faculty will also lead to more female STEM students. “I think when more people can see others that look, sound, and feel like them, the greater success we will have in all areas of STEM,” she said. “It won’t seem like they are the only ones trying to make it in the field.” The program is funded by a $1.25 million grant from the National Science Foundation. Led by Fresno State, with several CSUs participating, the program seeks to improve gender parity for engineering faculty and add more women of color to the field. The program will entail collecting and analyzing data about existing female engineering faculty while also establishing a systemwide mentoring and peer support network to foster retention and recruitment. In 2019, only 17 percent of tenure/tenuretrack faculty in U.S. colleges of engineering were women, according to the American Society for Engineering Education. “We’re going to look at how women progressed through the faculty ranks — how they went from assistant to associate to full professor — and how much time it takes to
get promoted compared to men,” said Eric Mehiel, the College of Engineering’s associate dean for diversity and student success, who is also a professor of aerospace engineering. “And then we’ll use that information to think about what kinds of policies we have and what kinds of support we have for faculty to have them be promoted and successful in an equitable way compared to men.” The social deterrents for females to pursue STEM careers begin at an early age, Abercromby said. “NASA shirts are only sold in the boys section of clothing stores,” said Abercromby, who will serve as faculty coordinator for expanding research across the four campuses. “Girls get rainbows and unicorns.” As a child, Earhart craved female role models for inspiration – and kept newspaper clippings about successful women in predominantly male-oriented fields. When she reached milestones as an adult, she shared her expertise during a lecture tour in the 20s and as a member of Purdue’s Department of Aeronautics in the 30s. She was still at Purdue – and preparing for a historic flight around the world –when she landed at Cal Poly in June of 1936. “Earhart came up to SLO because a friend of hers was friends with the Aeronautical Engineering Department head,” said Glen Thorncraft, a mechanical engineering professor, who has researched the visit. “They came up to check out the campus and SLO.” When she arrived at Cal Poly, posing for a photo near what is now the Frank E. Pilling
Building, there were no female teachers in sight. In fact, it was an all-male school then. “One thing this school and other schools of its kind lack is the fact they have no enrollment of girls,” she told a local reporter. “And I believe there should be no restriction on aeronautics or any kind of education.” Women would begin to enroll at Cal Poly two decades later, but they are still significantly underrepresented among STEM
faculty and majors — typical of universities nationwide. The NSF will also provide mentorship for female and underrepresented faculty. Having been one of just two females out of 70 in an aerospace, aeronautical and astronautical engineering masters program at the University of Colorado Boulder, Abercromby understands the need for mentors. Like the young Earhart, who sought female role models, female STEM faculty members need to identify with peers, she said. “I think having someone to talk to that has likely been in a similar situation is an important step toward understanding you aren’t alone in the process,” she said. n aero.calpoly.edu | 7
Flight Line
Beyond Engineering: AERO course Inspired Students to Create Art Professor Pauline Faure encouraged students to explore various facets of aerospace engineering in her virtual course Aerospace Beyond Engineering.
A
Alessandra Capotosto created this digital art piece: “Aerospace is for Everyone.”
8 | AEROSPACE ENGINEERING
t the beginning of John Grimes’ video short, three students lie on the grass, gazing at the stars. “Doesn’t it ever make you wonder what’s going on up there?” one of them wonders aloud. “All the stories and adventures that could be happening?” Then, a fantasy sequence illustrates some of those possibilities, including an enemy soldier fleeing a laser-shooting spacecraft and a couple of aliens who groove to — why not, really? — Marvin Gaye’s sultry “Let’s Get It On.” “The idea was that people throughout time have always looked up at the stars and imagined different worlds that are based on the reality of their lives,” Grimes said. His video, “Other Worlds,” was one of multiple projects posted to an online art exhibition created for Aero 470 – Aerospace Beyond Engineering. The virtual course was created by Assistant Professor Pauline Faure, who wanted students to explore
Elliot Kane drew a Sopwith Pup single-seater biplane using colored pencils.
non-engineering aspects of the aerospace industry that are critical to the development and sustainment of aerospace systems. “I wanted to create a place where students can learn about aerospace much more than the engineering aspect, whether it’s about ethics, the regulatory aspect, or how we even got to where we are right now,” Faure said.
Multiple friends assisted John Grimes for his video short “Other Worlds.” Here friends pose as unusual aliens.
The twice-offered course explored those topics, plus aerospace in media, business, policy and more. Going into class, students were most familiar with aerospace depictions in art. Yet, in aerospace engineering coursework, the industry’s contributions to popular culture are more of a side note. “As an artist myself, I am often frustrated by the dryness of material and lack of art in the curriculum,” Grimes said. “Art and Alejandro Navarro wrote a song, “Choosing Aerospace,” about being engineering coexist, and this is a point that is never mentioned the first in his family to pursue higher education, and recorded an a in any STEM class I have ever taken.” cappella version for the class. After American astronauts landed on the Artwork: Scan to see art encourage the next generation to be inspired into various STEM moon in 1969, songwriters like Elton John, created by students fields.” the Byrds and Harry Nilsson were inspired to in AERO 470 While students in her class also had the option of creating a record songs about space, David Bowie practically creating a rock sub-genre with his spacey business plan or aerospace journal, several embraced the art Ziggy Stardust persona. While early rock songs project, creating drawings, paintings and songs. Justin Rodriguez wrote and recorded “Galaxy Love,” which about space explored the loneliness and isolapaired jazzy chords and relationship lyrics to create a catchy tion of space, movies like the “Star Wars” fran“love song for the galaxy.” chise often portrayed other galaxies as more “I wrote this song by brainstorming different words that came populated, though often fraught with conflict to my mind when I thought of ‘space’ and ‘love,’” said Rodriguez, — an extension of war after an imagined destruction of Earth. who took the course to learn about influences on aerospace Artists have historically used plenty of artistic license to portray space, Faure said, though collaborations with engineers have engineering. “After that, I started jamming on my guitar until I found some tune that I liked and applied chords to the tune.” provided more realism in recent years. Creative thinking not only leads to enjoyable art, Faure said — And in some cases, real astronauts have created art. it also helps with STEM work. Cal Poly graduate Robert “Hoot” Gibson’s gorgeous 1984 “Throughout our education we often learn at school there’s photo of fellow astronaut Bruce McCandless during an untethonly one solution to the problem — 2 plus 2 equals 4 — and ered spacewalk is one of NASA’s most popular images. The techthat’s it,” she said. n nically proficient image doesn’t show McCandless’s face, hidden behind his sun visor, which, McCandless said, allowed people around the world to imagine themselves in the suit. Meanwhile, half the image’s background features the darkness of space contrasted by the bright blue and white earth in the bottom half. Similarly, when Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield performed Bowie’s “Space Oddity” at the International Space Station in 2017, the engaging video that accompanied it included shots of Hadfield at a window offering stunning views of the Earth. “On Earth, we have borders, we see them, we feel them, but when you’re looking to Earth from space, what we see is one humanity, the borders vanish,” Faure said. Such images, she said, help convey that humanity is united – something international astronaut crews at the ISS have demonstrated. “Astronauts, regardless of their education — whether The video John Grimes created includes action scenes like this one. they are engineers or scientists or surgeons — they are Earth’s ambassadors,” she said. ”So it’s part of their role to create things to connect to the general public and to communicate what is happening in space in a different manner and to aero.calpoly.edu | 9
Flight Line
Partners in Research Cal Poly receives $5 million grant from the Air Force Research Lab to conduct study of unmanned aerial vehicle technology
T
he federal government has allocated $5 million to Cal Poly’s educational partnership with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFLR), which will allow engineering students to conduct cutting-edge research on a modified general aviation airplane that will act as an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The funding represents half of $10 million appropriated to Cal Poly and California State Polytechnic University in Pomona through the Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 133) to advance UAV technology. In separate funding during the summer of 2020, the two campuses shared $5 million from the partnership to further research on small satellite technologies, including CubeSats. Rep. Salud Carbajal, whose district includes Cal Poly, secured the funding along with fellow Californians Rep. Grace Napolitano and Rep. Norma J. Torres. The AFRL is interested in research that will further the priorities of the U.S. National Defense Strategy as it relates to the Air Force’s need for a new generation of unpiloted and autonomous vehicles while creating a pipeline for future employees. The federal support will also be utilized to increase the autonomy, safety, and security of unpiloted aerial vehicles for widespread application. At Cal Poly, the money is expected to provide students experience working directly with industry experts. UAVs, sometimes referred to as drones, are aircraft without pilots onboard. For the past several years, Cal Poly’s Aerospace Engineering Department has worked with several groups to provide UAV platforms for scientific missions, said David Marshall, who chairs the department. “This includes helping survey the fire damage at Swanton Pacific Ranch this past fall,” he said. “We have been focusing on developing a high-quality UAV lab using industry standard practices to get students familiar with proper design and operation of UAV activities.” The importance of UAV technologies is growing yearly in both the commercial and government sectors, he said. By mounting new technologies to UAVs – including sensors, video cameras and radar — much data can be obtained and processed to gain a better understanding of our surroundings, Marshall said. “Using these systems to access remote, dangerous, or otherwise inaccessible locations allows for greater exploration with less risks.” With the new federal funding, Cal Poly will now purchase an airplane to test such technologies. Paulo Iscold, an associate
10 | AEROSPACE ENGINEERING
professor in the department and primary author of the proposal, said the plane will be like a laboratory in the sky. “Very few universities around the world provide this type of opportunity,” said Iscold, a pilot who has built multiple recordbreaking planes. The new, 4-seat, turbo-charged plane, he said, will be modified to be an “optionally piloted aircraft.” A pilot will always be onboard, but it will be altered by students and faculty to fly without one, simulating a UAV. The funding will also support a flight data acquisition system, a line of sight communication system and various prototyping equipment. Iscold said he expects industry to request students conduct UAV research on its behalf, providing key connections and hands-on industry
Professor Paulo Iscold, left, talks with test pilot Jim Payne, who broke multiple records flying a glider plane Iscold designed. Iscold will work with students on a new plane testing UAV technologies.
experiences for students. While it is part of an Education Partnership Agreement (EPA), the Cal Poly proposal allows for much autonomy and flexibility, Iscold said. In turn, the AFRL can benefit from what is learned. “They’re doing an investment in Cal Poly,” Iscold said. One possibility for research is to pair UAV research with other technology, including CubeSats. “Communication between multiple assets is becoming a more important technology as scientists and engineers look at
coordinating activities between various assets, such as UAVs, land-based vehicles, and piloted aircraft, to accomplish more sophisticated tasks,” said Marshall, who worked on the proposal with Iscold and Aerospace Engineering Professor Aaron Drake. Cal Poly’s Aerospace Engineering Department, already one of the best in the nation, will continue to enhance its reputation with this initiative, said Amy S. Fleischer, dean of the college. “We’re excited that our elected officials and the Air Force Research Lab recognize and acknowledge the incredible things our students and faculty do,” she said. “While this funding will benefit Cal Poly, the work that is done with the money will ultimately advance society.” n
aero.calpoly.edu | 11
Flight Line
Soaring to Space Solar plane team leader wins SWE award, takes skills to Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company
Project Mobius team (left to right): Carolyn Flitsch, Claire Luce, Christine Stephen, Matt Nagy, Trey Chambers, JP O’Dell, CJ Farabaugh, Dr. Paulo Iscold, Luke Bughman (not pictured)
A
and each individual being a large contributor to its designing, manufacturing and testing, I got to see how design decisions would affect manufacturability, or assumptions we made which then posed challenges down the line,” she said. “In systems engineering, at a high level, you need to understand how the entire system and life cycle of designing, manufacturing, testing, and flying are all connected and Mobius taught me just that.” The project also entailed testing solar cells, working with avionics and troubleshooting – “and, ultimately how to deal with watching a project you’d put so much time into not perform as expected,” Flitsch said. While Luce has launched her career, Flitsch is confident Mk5 will soar to new heights this year. “Seeing something you helped create flying is a great feeling, and even though there was disappointment that our goal wasn’t met, I am glad that we have the opportunity this year to continue the project and learn from our mistakes. “ n
solar plane created by Cal Poly students last year gave team leader Claire Luce a valuable experience that has helped her in her job as a systems engineer with Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin. “I learned how to consider everything when designing something,” Luce said. “In class you learn the book knowledge of what equations to use or what assumptions to make, but with Project Mobius I learned that I was designing with constraints. Constraints on time, budget and manufacturability, as well as team skill. I was able to apply what I learned in the classroom and go further. Engineering became more real and tangible.” Project Mobius is an ongoing initiative, with a goal of flying non-stop for 24 hours. Sponsored by the Baker and Koob Endowment, the latest UAV iteration, Mk4, featured a composite wing and fuselage, 84 solar cells and 63 battery cells. Its wingspan was over 17 feet long, and it weighed around 15 pounds. While Mk4 ultimately crashed short of its goal, the plane did successfully launch, flying “beautifully” for about 40 seconds, 12 | AEROSPACE ENGINEERING
said senior Carolyn Flitsch. “Even though we didn’t reach our goal of building a long-endurance solar powered UAV last year, we are going to try again this year with the hope of reaching that goal this June,” said Flitsch, who has been part of the team since her sophomore year. The project, initially mentored by Assistant Professor Graham Doig, was passed on to Associate Professor Paulo Iscold, and four versions of the plane have been built. Luce was involved with the project from her freshman year. And her involvement with the project contributed to her being named one of the Society of Women Engineers’ Outstanding Women in Engineering for 2021. Upon graduating, Luce landed a job as a systems engineer with Blue Origin, a private aerospace company founded by Bezos in 2000. In addition to design considerations, Project Mobius prepared her for Blue Origin, Luce said, by teaching her how to communicate with other engineers. “With the Mobius Team being so small
Christine Stephen, one of the Project Mobius team members, prepares some of the solar cells for Mk4.
Below: Members of Project Mobius display the plane’s solar-packed wing. Students include, facing camera, left to right, Carolyn Flitsch, Claire Luce and Christine Stephen.
aero.calpoly.edu | 13
College of Engineering Aerospace Engineering Department 1 Grand Avenue • San Luis Obispo, CA • 93407
Students in Cal Poly Aerospace Engineering Professor Paulo Iscold’s AERO 425 (aircraft performance) class learn to predict the flight characteristics of the university’s RV-7 airplane. (Photo by Joe Johnston/Cal Poly)
FOCUS ON THE FUTURE Make a gift to support aerospace engineering labs, projects and clubs Click HERE to make a gift now, or contact Amy Blosser Spikes, assistant dean of advancement, at spikes@calpoly.edu or 805-756-2163