Fall 2016 newsletter

TRANSFORMING ENGINEERING EDUCATION

FALL 2016

AEROSPACE ENGINEERING NEWS A publication of the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University

LETTER FROM THE DEPARTMENT HEAD

Dear Aggie Aerospace Network, 2016 has been another outstanding year in College Station.

First, I had the pleasure of meeting a group of former students from the Aggie aerospace class of ’66 on their 50th anniversary campus visit. I truly enjoyed the conversations, stories and their hearty interest in the future of aerospace engineering at Texas A&M University.

We discussed visions and strategies on expanding our education and research programs to better serve our students and the field. It was encouraging to see that the Aggie aerospace spirit truly lasts a lifetime.

Table of Contents Aerospace Engineering at a Glance

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Team to study birds in hopes of creating shapeshifting aircraft wings

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Retired NASA Astronaut joins Texas A&M Engineering

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Dr. Robert Skelton joins Texas A&M Engineering

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Faculty Awards

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TAMU Aerospace Hyperloop team hard at work on pod design

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In the same vein, I would like to take a moment to say “thank you” to our alumni, friends, industry and faculty for your support, which comes in a variety of ways. Because of your generosity, for the first time all of our juniors and seniors were invited to attend the Aerospace Engineering Annual Awards Banquet for free. Over 220 students, alumni, friends and faculty members joined in the celebration of outstanding accomplishments. Fortyfive future Aggie aerospace engineers were recognized with scholarships, 12 aerospace faculty members received major awards and honors and 12 alumni were inducted into the Distinguished Aerospace Engineering Academy. This was a truly special event.

Zachry Leadership Program inspires student to lead by example

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Secondly, once again this year, our students rose to the top, receiving numerous awards, scholarships and fellowships. One of our undergraduate students, Maura Cadigan, was named a 2016 Barry Goldwater Scholar by the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program, as well as receiving the 2016 Astronaut Scholarship awarded by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.

Alumni News

Finally, I ask that you join me in welcoming eight new faculty members to the aerospace family. These faculty bring new strategic areas of expertise, which translates into new educational and research opportunities for our undergraduate and graduate programs. We are proud to have them with us as we continue to chart the exciting future of aerospace engineering at Texas A&M. I hope you enjoy reading just a few of the highlights from this year, and I look forward to seeing some of you during visits or at the banquet.

Best wishes,

Rodney

Bowersox Professor and Department Head

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Student Achievements

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2016 Scholarships

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Student Organizations

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Donor Recognition

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FALL 2016

AEROSPACE ENGINEERING

At A Glance

US News & World Report Rankings

7

th

Undergraduate

7

th

Graduate

Rankings among public institutions

2014-2015

Fall 2016

Degrees Awarded

Fall 2016

Enrollment Data

Faculty Statistics *

524

110

Bachelor’s

Undergraduates*

17

135

Master’s

Degrees awarded

15

Ph.D.

643

Enrolled students

41 Total faculty

46

National Academy of Engineering Members

Masters

5

3 Distinguished Professors

73 Ph.D.

Endowed Chair Holders

6

4 Endowed Professorships

*Freshmen not included in count

*21 Professors 8 Associate Professors 5 Assistant Professors 7 Non-tenure track Faculty

Credits Published by the Department of Aerospace Engineering in the College of Engineering at Texas A&M University to keep current and former students, industry and trade organizations, and friends of the department informed on the accomplishments and discoveries achieved by one of the nation’s most prominent departments of its kind.

Contact us: Editor, Jan McHarg Department of Aerospace Engineering 3141 TAMU 701 H. R. Bright Building College Station, TX 77843-3141 979.845.0516 janmcharg@tamu.edu engineering.tamu.edu/aerospace

Media:

Information in this newsletter may be used for further distribution in its entirety or in part for print publication or on the web.

Please attribute Aerospace Engineering Newsletter. Additional questions can be directed to Jan McHarg at janmcharg@ tamu.edu.

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Team to study birds in hopes of creating shapeshifting aircraft wings

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FALL 2016 Dr. Darren Hartl, assistant professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University, and a team of researchers is using extensive data on avian biological systems in the hopes of creating unmanned aircraft with wings that morph and change during flight, much like a bird.

A five-year, $6 million grant sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research teams, Hartl with engineering researchers from the University of Michigan, Stanford, and UCLA in hopes of dramatically transforming aerodynamic performance. Dr. Daniel Inman, chair of the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan, will serve as the Principal Investigator for the project.

By delving deeper into avian neurology and musculature, the team hopes to create unprecedented efficiency and flight longevity in small aircraft and UAVs. To this end, the team will work closely with bird biologists from the United Kingdom’s Royal Veterinary College, the University of British Columbia and Stanford to closely examine the complex systems birds use to alter their wings for flight control. Research will delve into multiple aspects of bird flight: control, aerodynamics, structure and adaptive structures, looking at the muscularskeletal structures and how bird wings move and adapt in flight.

Although previously studied morphing wings have been inspired by avian biology, the grant will be the first to examine the biological systems in such depth. Modern airplanes use drag-inducing flaps and slats for control, but birds manipulate individual feathers or clusters of feathers on their wings, adjusting them to create a fluidly morphing, reduced-drag surface suited to their needs. It has long been a goal to recreate such a flight system, and cuttingedge technology has been developed to examine these mechanisms of flight.

Extending the paradigm of the “muscular-skeletal” structure of birds, the grant will also focus on using distributed multifunctional materials to drive morphing.

Hartl will leverage years of experience in shape memory alloy (SMA) aerospace actuators to develop new “muscular” architectures, focusing on the active material that could be Dr. Darren Hartl Assistant Professor Texas A&M University darren.hartl@tamu.edu

used to affect the morphing. Henry Sodano (University of Michigan) will explore new piezoelectric material forms and functions. Piezoelectric materials generally move at higher speeds with lower strengths and smaller motions, while SMAs are slower and have higher strength and larger motions.

Both systems will be needed depending on whether the wing needs to morph slowly versus when it needs to move quickly.

New distributed sensing systems (Fu-Kuo Chen of Stanford) and neuromorphic computation for control (Yong Chen of UCLA) will also be part of the discovery and implementation process. A parallel effort on bio-inspired evolutionary structural design approaches has also been initiated within the Air Vehicles Division of the Aerospace Systems Directorate at the US Air Force Research Laboratory, where Hartl also holds a position as a contracted research scientist.

“It used to be that a biologist would just go out in the field with a pair of binoculars,” said Inman, “but the technology has advanced drastically in recent years.”

Hartl added, “We plan to go far beyond simple qualitative imitation; we will quantify effects at the platform scale and muscular-skeletal configurations at the structural scale to develop new solutions to the morphing aircraft problem.”

While Inman works on the whole bird, or the plane, Hartl will drill down into the bone and muscle and focus on the structure of the wing, particularly the parts needed to move the structures.

Using new kinematics and dynamics data from avian researchers, the engineering team aims to make small airplanes and UAVs lighter, faster and more efficient, enabling longer flights. Drawing on bird biology and recent advancements in active materials, the team will research 5

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engineering.tamu.edu/aerospace

Research officially began with a meeting in Ann Arbor, Michigan on May 13. Hartl’s research started in the fall when he joined the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M as a tenure-track assistant professor.

His team at Texas A&M will include two graduate students and three undergraduate students. Hartl is in the process of building a dedicated space for the project, including a new experimental wind tunnel test section in the basement of the H.R. Bright Building on the Texas A&M campus. The test section will allow the team to test the muscular solutions with some kind of wing-type structures before integrating them with testing to be done at Michigan.

Ultimately the team of collaborators hopes to create a new morphing wing structure capable of dramatically altering aerodynamic performance, allowing for planes that should be lighter, faster and dramatically more maneuverable than today’s stiff-winged aircraft.

a morphing wing structure with distributed actuation and sensing that is capable of independent deflections throughout the wing.

Hartl will start with ideas that are bio-inspired, including looking at novel energy circuits for active material actuation, much akin to the supply of energy via the bloodstream to the muscles in birds.

“We’re looking at supplying electrical energy to shape memory alloy muscles using liquid metals, and then using that same liquid metal to flow the waste heat away,” said Hartl. “We’ll start researching that concept as we await the quantitative data corresponding to observation of the birds.”

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FALL 2016

New Faculty Dr. Bonnie Dunbar, NAE

Dr. Richard Miles, NAE

TEES Distinguished Research Professor Director of TEES Institute for Engineering Education and Innovation (IEEI)

Professor and TEES Distinguished Research Professor

January 2016

Human Exploration of Space

February 2017

Optical Diagnostics, Remote Detection, and High-Speed Flow

Dr. Kentaro Hara

Dr. Alexei Poludnenko

Assistant Professor

Associate Professor

Space Propulsion and Gas Dynamics

Aerospace Combustion and Propulsion

Dr. Darren Hartl

Dr. Robert Skelton, NAE

Assistant Professor

Professor and TEES Distinguished Research Professor

July 2016

August 2016

September 2016

August 2015

Morphing Aerospace Structures Systems Engineering and Tensegrity Structures

Dr. Manoranjan Majji

Dr. Nathan Tichenor

Assistant Professor

Research Assistant Professor

Aerospace Robotics and Controls

High-speed Aerodynamics

January 2017

August 2016

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engineering.tamu.edu/aerospace

Retired NASA Astronaut Dunbar joins Texas A&M Engineering Dr. Bonnie J. Dunbar, retired NASA astronaut, engineer and educator, has joined Texas A&M Engineering as a Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering. She also has a joint appointment as the director of the TEES Institute of Engineering Education and Innovation (IEEI).

Dunbar, who is a member of the prestigious National Academy of Engineering, comes to Texas A&M from the University of Houston where she provided leadership in the development of a new integrated university science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) center. She was an M.D. Anderson Professor of Mechanical Engineering and she developed a new innovative course for the introduction of engineering to freshmen students.

She also directed the SICSA Space Architecture graduate program. She has devoted her life to furthering engineering, engineering education, and the pursuit of human space exploration.

Dunbar worked for The Rockwell International Space Division Company building Space Shuttle Columbia and worked for 27 years at NASA, first as a flight controller; then as a mission specialist astronaut, where she flew five space shuttle flights, logging more than 50 days in space; and then as member of the Senior Executive Service (SES).

Her executive service included assistant NASA JSC director for university research; deputy director for Flight Crew Operations; and as NASA headquarters deputy associate administrator for the Office of Life and Microgravity Sciences and Applications (OLMSA).

Museum of Flight in Seattle, where she established a new Space Gallery and expanded its K12 STEM educational offerings. She has also consulted in aerospace and STEM education as the president of Dunbar International LLC, and is an internationally known public speaker.

Dunbar holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in ceramic engineering from the University of Washington and a Ph.D. in mechanical/biomedical engineering from the University of Houston.

She is a Fellow of the American Ceramic Society, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the Royal Aeronautical Society. She has been awarded the NASA Space Flight Medal five times, the NASA Exceptional Leadership Medal and the NASA Distinguished Service Medal.

After retiring from NASA, Dunbar became president and CEO of The 8

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Dunbar was inducted into the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and in 2002 was elected to the US National Academy of Engineering. In 2013, she was selected into the Astronaut Hall of Fame.

FALL 2016

Dr. Robert Skelton joins Texas A&M Engineering After serving as a Faculty Fellow for the Texas A&M University Institute for Advanced Study, Dr. Robert Skelton has joined the Department of Aerospace Engineering as a TEES Distinguished Research Professor.

For more than 50 years, Skelton’s research has focused on integrating system science with material science to create new material systems.

His contributions to innovative engineering serve humankind in outer space and on Earth.

Skelton joined the faculty at Purdue University in 1975, where he served for 21 years as a professor of aeronautics and astronautics. He directed the Structural Systems and Control Laboratory for Purdue’s Institute for Interdisciplinary Engineering Studies from 1991 to 1996.

In 1996, Skelton moved to the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), where he founded the university’s Systems and Control Program and became director of UCSD’s Structural Systems and Control Laboratory. In 2006, UCSD named Skelton the Daniel L. Alspach Professor of Dynamics Systems and Controls in the Jacobs School of Engineering and professor emeritus in 2009.

Most recently, Skelton pioneered the mathematical description of tensegrity structures. Derived by combining “tension” and “integrity,” the term “tensegrity” describes materials composed of strings and rods. His papers have explained the tensegrity nature of the cytoskeleton of red blood cells and of the molecular structure

of nature’s strongest tensile material, the spider fiber.

Tensegrity materials can change shape by altering their string tension. This ability to adapt allows tensegrity to produce materials systems that can modify their acoustic, electromagnetic or mechanical properties.

In addition, tensegrity structures may include builtin actuators, sensors and power-storage devices. This versatility makes tensegrity an attractive alternative to conventional design.

Skelton earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Clemson University in 1963, a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Alabama, Huntsville, in 1970 and a doctorate in mechanics and structures from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1976.

Skelton received the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Award in 1986, the Humboldt Foundation Senior US Scientist Award in 1991, the Norman Medal from the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1999, and the Humboldt Foundation Research Award in 2011. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration recognized Skelton in 1974 with the SKYLAB Achievement Award and again in 2005 with a NASA Appreciation Award for his service to the Hubble repair missions.

Skelton became a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2012. He is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and a life member of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, a non-profit foundation in Germany established to promote cooperation in international research.

He has published four books: Model Error Concepts and Compensation (1986), Dynamic Systems Control (1988), A Unified Algebraic Approach to Control Design (1996), and Tensegrity Systems (2009).

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Dr. Richard Miles to join Texas A&M Engineering Texas A&M University is the top beneficiary in a major new initiative announced by Gov. Greg Abbott that resulted in attracting 10 distinguished researchers to the state. The Governor’s University Research Initiative (GURI) aims at bringing the best and brightest researchers in the world to Texas.

One of those researchers recruited through GURI, Dr. Richard Miles, will join the Departments of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanical Engineering in February 2017 as a professor and TEES Distinguished Professor.

Miles will establish and lead a Center of Excellence in Interdisciplinary Optical and Laser Detection Systems for National Security and Safety at Texas A&M. As a Robert Porter Patterson Professor Emeritus with the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University, Mile’s research focuses on the use of lasers, electron beams, microwaves and magnetic devices to observe, control, accelerate, extract power and precondition gas flows for supersonic and hypersonic fluid dynamics, combustion, propulsion and homeland defense applications.

His research group is widely recognized for inventing new linear and nonlinear optical diagnostics, developing new understanding of plasma aerodynamic interactions and exploring new concepts for hypersonic ground test facilities.

One such application of his innovative research is the development of stateof-the-art instrumentation for remote detection that will identify hazardous gases and dangerous contaminants

such as anthrax or the Ebola virus, hidden explosives such as IEDs, and/or greenhouse gases and pollutants. His teaching of undergraduates and graduate students will begin in the fall of 2017 on optics, spectroscopy and thermodynamics.

Miles received his B.S. in 1966, M.S. in 1967 and Ph.D. in 1972 in electrical engineering from Stanford University. While at Stanford, he was a Fannie and John Hertz Fellow. He joined the mechanical and aerospace engineering faculty at Princeton University in the fall of 1972. From 1980 to 1996, he served as Chairman of Engineering Physics and as acting Department Chair in the spring of 2002. He was named Robert Porter Patterson Professor in 2011 and retired from academics on June 30, 2013. He continues to run his research group as a research staff member and Robert Porter Patterson Professor Emeritus.

Miles is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He is a member of the board of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, the Board of Directors of the Fannie & John Hertz Foundation, the Board of Directions of Precision Optics Corporation, Inc., and the Board of Trustees of Pacific University (Forest Grove, OR). He is an AIAA Representative to the Elmer A. Sperry Board of Award and a Fellow of the AIAA and the Optical Society of America. He was the recipient of

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the AIAA Aerodynamics Measurement award and medal in 2000 and the AIAA Plasma Dynamics and Lasers award and medal in 2012.

FALL 2016

Texas A&M Foundation honors first recipient of Partner in Philanthropy Faculty Award The Texas A&M Foundation recognized Dr. John Junkins, distinguished professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University, as the inaugural Partner in Philanthropy Faculty Award recipient for his outstanding commitment to enhancing the efforts of fundraising. Junkins received the award at a reception February 23, 2016.

participation and commitment to creative leadership and philanthropy.

“John was the obvious choice as the inaugural recipient of this award,” said George Hickox, chairman of the Texas A&M Foundation Board of Trustees and a 1980 graduate of the university.

“The Texas A&M Foundation trustees selected him because he embodies the philanthropic spirit and demonstrates an unwavering desire to extend Texas A&M’s ability to solve great global challenges.”

A distinguished professor of aerospace engineering and a Regents Professor, Junkins serves as the founding director of the Texas A&M Institute for Advanced Study (TIAS), a program that recruits eminent scholars to collaborate with Texas A&M faculty and students.

By identifying and attracting national academy and Nobel-caliber academic talent, TIAS aims to make Texas A&M a distinctive university measured by world standards for academic excellence.

The award was established to celebrate an individual faculty member who has provided dedicated and lasting participation, commitment and creative leadership to philanthropy at Texas A&M. This accolade acknowledges an individual faculty member’s effort to build long-term productive relationships between the university, former students and other private partners in philanthropy.

The Partner in Philanthropy Faculty Award will honor a different faculty member each year. To be selected, faculty must be nominated by a member of the Texas A&M Foundation development staff. Recipients will be chosen based on their lasting

Junkins has worked steadfastly to support a culture of philanthropy at the university through ongoing efforts to develop philanthropic partnerships in support of TIAS, Hickox added. During his time at the helm of TIAS, Junkins has developed relationships with potential donors and demonstrated a deep understanding of the value of private support.

In addition, Junkins has made gifts to support the university from his personal estate. In 2012, he and his wife gave $2 million to establish the John and Elouise Junkins Chair in Aerospace Engineering.

As he watched TIAS enrich the academic environment at Texas A&M, Junkins was inspired to create his own gift to support that initiative as well.

He committed $1 million for the John and Elouise Junkins Director’s Chair to benefit TIAS.

“By promoting TIAS to potential fellows and donors, and by supporting it through our endowment, I am doing all that I can to ensure that the institute doesn’t end as just a wonderful experiment that ran out of money,” said Junkins.

As holder of the Royce E. Wisenbaker Chair, Junkins has a first-hand understanding of the power of an endowed gift and its impact on his career. His gifts are the result of his effort to pay it forward, and he hopes others will do the same.

“My career and indeed the quality of my family’s life has been greatly enhanced by the Wisenbaker’s generosity and other endowments,” said Junkins. “Elouise and I reflected on this truth and we feel it is only fitting that we invest our estate to enhance the future of our academic home.

“I also believe faculty involvement in philanthropy will strike a powerful chord and help motivate other donors to give. They will see that we faculty truly believe in what we are doing and have personally bought into moving the university to the next level.”

The Foundation hopes the Partner in Philanthropy award will encourage other faculty members to embody this spirit of service and philanthropy so evident in Junkins.

“It is imperative that faculty not only understand the role of philanthropy in their academic pursuits but that they actively participate in the philanthropic process,” said former Texas A&M Foundation president Ed Davis, who worked alongside Junkins to seek private support for TIAS. “In this way, John is the exemplar. His dedication to seeking support for TIAS demonstrates his deeply held faith in the academic value of endowments for TIAS and for broadly advancing Texas A&M’s quality and stature.”

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Faculty Awards Terry Alfriend Professor

2016 Texas A&M University Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award for Research

John Junkins

Distinguished Professor of Aerospace Engineering, Regents Professor, Holder of the Royce E. Wisenbaker Chair, Director - Land Air and Space Robotics Laboratory, Director - Texas A&M University Institute for Advanced Study (TIAS)

Partner in Philanthropy Faculty Award (Texas A&M Foundation)

Moble Benedict Assistant Professor

François-Xavier Bagnoud Vertical Flight Award (AHS)

Daniele Mortari

Professor, Chief Space Scientist - ASTRO Center

IEEE Fellow 2016 Dirk Brouwer Award William Keller Memorial Award

Diego Donzis

Associate Professor

2016 McElmurry Teaching Excellence Award

Helen Reed

Professor and Holder of the Edward “Pete” Aldridge ‘60 Professorship, Regents Professor, Presidential Professor for Teaching Excellence, Director - AggieSat Lab Satellite Program, Director - Computational Stability & Transition Lab

2016 Kate Gleason Award (ASME)

Bonnie Dunbar

Professor, Director of TEES Institute for Engineering Education and Innovation (IEEI)

Robert Skelton

TEES Distinguished Research Professor

TEES Research Professorship

TEES Research Professorship International Honor Society for Systems Engineering

Sharath Girimaji

General Dynamics Professor of Aerospace Engineering, Joint Faculty - Mechanical Engineering, Interim Department Head Ocean Engineering, Chief Scientist - ASTRO Center, Faculty Advisor - High Altitude Balloon Club

Ramesh Talreja Tenneco Professor

International Committee on Composite Materials (ICCM) Scala Award

TEES Senior Fellow

Darren Hartl

TEES Research Assistant Professor

Gary Anderson Early Achievement Award (ASME)

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Srinivas Rao Vadali Professor

American Institute of Aernautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Mechanics and Control of Flight Award

FALL 2016

Texas A&M hosts sixth IIMEC summer school Story by Shraddha Sankhe, Communications Coordinator, Texas A&M University

Leading researchers and graduate students from institutions across Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and North America attended the sixth International Institute on Multifunctional Materials for Energy Conversion (IIMEC) School on Computational Materials Science Across Scales at Texas A&M University.

IIMEC is a National Science Foundationfunded International Material Institute, established at Texas A&M, in partnership with participating U.S. institutions (Texas A&M, University of Houston, Pennsylvania State University) as well as international research collaborators at universities around the globe.

The summer school served as part of IIMEC’s mission to facilitate a platform for students and faculty from the United States and participating countries to exchange knowledge and to be involved in a global research and international leadership experience.

Dr. Amine Benzerga, associate professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and an affiliated faculty member in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, led the summer school with the support of Dr. Raymundo Arróyave, associate professor in materials science and engineering, the college of engineering, the college of science and the Office of the Associate Vice Chancellor for Engineering Research.

“We continued with the theme of multi-scale computational materials science, as we have done for the past five instances of the school,” said Arróyave. “The big difference this time, though, was that we dedicated an entire day of the school for students to get more in-depth experience with

specific computational tools of their choosing. This enabled them to pursue activities that better resonated with their research interests.”

The school boasted instructors from Texas A&M, Georgia Tech, Purdue University, National Institutes for Standards and Technology, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Centre des Matériaux MINES Paristech (France), Arts et Métiers ParisTech (France), University of Cambridge (England) and The University of Duisburg-Essen (Germany).

Summer school participants included students from more than a dozen institutions, including seven of the top universities in the United States, as well as universities and research institutes in, France, Greece, Qatar, Egypt and Germany.

materials simulation tools ranging from continuum to the electronic structure level. Hands-on computational laboratory activities were part of the class structure.

Students had access to Linux Cluster consisting of several hundred nodes/ cores. State-of-the-art computational codes such as VASP, ABAQUS, LAMMPS, ParaDis, MatCalc, VPSC and MATLAB were used to illustrate the concepts covered in the school. Software and hardware infrastructure was facilitated

by Dr. Lisa Perez, manager of the Laboratory of Molecular Simulation under Dr. Michael B. Hall, executive associate dean of the college of science and professor of chemistry.

Over a period of 10 days, students were exposed to theory and practice sessions focused on different computational 13

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Summer Checkup: Texas A&M students continue work on Hyperloop pod This story by Steve Kuhlmann first appeared on July 26, 2016 in The Bryan-College Station Eagle.

Even as many college students are home enjoying their summer break, members of Texas A&M University’s Aerospace Hyperloop team have stayed in town to help build a half-scale pod model.

With SpaceX recently delaying the pod competition, the team now has until Jan. 27 — the one-year anniversary of the Hyperloop Pod Design Competition held at Texas A&M — to complete its work on the project. The team earned its place as one of the 23 teams to move on from the design phase to testing on the mile-long SpaceX test track in California.

“I think we’re making progress,” said Moble Benedict, one of the faculty advisers for the team. “We are confident. ...

Our goal is to have a working pod. In the first year of the competition, that should be the goal of any of the teams, to be able to successfully go through the track.”

Thanks to the help of the Engineering Innovation Center, the department of engineering and the financial support of donors, Benedict said the team has been able to move forward with its final design in ways that would have been impossible on its own.

The pod is about 60 percent complete, with the majority of the work left being a matter of waiting on the necessary parts and finishing the assembly.

One of the greatest challenges facing the project, Benedict said, is the lack of technical skills held by the students — through no fault of their own — and the necessity to rely on others to fabricate the parts they need.

While the students have the ability to produce designs, Benedict said the team has run into issues where the parts produced by a third party did not match the designs in ways that were reconcilable for the project.

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“The biggest challenge is that the students are not fully trained to build something like this,” Benedict said. “We have to depend on the machinists on campus to make what we need and sometimes, it doesn’t pan out in the way we anticipate and you have to go back and rebuild it. ... It’s not something we can build on our own, so we have to depend on other people.”

Benedict said the team has made mostly small improvements through the continuing design and build process over the past six months.

The biggest advantage Benedict said the team has is its air-bearing system — something he is confident is one of the best levitation systems in the competition.

“That was a key innovation,” Benedict said. “Its orders of magnitude better than any of the other air bearings out there.”

While there have been some changes made to the composition of the team, Benedict said he is proud of the dedication shown by the students as they work on a near daily basis to move the project forward.

FALL 2016

Zachry Leadership Program inspires student to lead by example Story and photos by Kim Foli, Communications Coordinator, Texas A&M University “They didn’t push me to be an engineer though,” he said.

“They were going to support me with whatever I did.”

At age 12, Simon took a flight from St. Louis to Houston.

That’s when he knew he wanted to become an aerospace engineer. When it was time to apply to college, he chose Texas A&M because of its renowned aerospace program, he said.

Zachry Leadership Program Simon said he didn’t know what to expect when he first applied to the Zachry Leadership Program. What he’s learned, however, has been much more than he ever would have imagined.

To Roger Simon, becoming a leader means more than simply adding some extra zeros to his future salary. It means being able to make a difference and be an example for others to follow. That’s why the Texas A&M University sophomore aerospace engineering major decided to apply for the Zachry Leadership Program.

The Zachry Leadership Program is a collaborative effort between the Dwight Look College of Engineering and Zachry Group. The program aims to empower engineering students to become future leaders who are well versed in the free enterprise system, collaborative in their decision-making and humbly self-confident in their behaviors.

Simon is one of 32 students who are part of the first cohort of future engineers to make their way through the fivesemester program. The application opens April 15 for the next cohort, which will begin January 2017.

Simon’s Journey Ever since his parents bought him a radio controlled helicopter for Christmas when he was 8-years-old, Simon knew he wanted to be an engineer.

“That made me curious about what made it fly and how it worked,” he said. “I knew then I wanted to be an engineer and learn how to build things and make people’s lives better.”

His parents knew very early on their son would likely be an engineer.

The program officially kicked off in January with a four-day retreat at Camp Allen in Navasota, Texas. Through teambuilding activities and one-on-one collaborations, Simon said the retreat fostered an inclusive environment.

“It built a lot of trust between different people,” he said.

“You saw people getting close who didn’t know each other. It built camaraderie.”

That’s a lesson Simon said he hopes to take with him after he graduates from Texas A&M. “I think it has a really good correlation to when you go out to the workforce,” he said. “Let’s say that I’m a manager and I’m going to have people under me who I don’t know a lot about, but I trust that they’re going to follow through and trust them to actually complete the job.”

That kind of environment fosters a successful environment, he said.

“I feel like it gives people more pressure to not disappoint the person that you’re trusting,” he said.

Simon and his classmates are also learning about business principals they might not gain from other engineering classes.

The class meets once a week to work on group projects and learn from industry leaders and professors. It’s an opportunity for the students to gain something beyond mathematic equations and engineering concepts.

These are all lessons Simon hopes to use later in life. His goal is to one day own his own engineering business, though he’s not sure yet if he’ll go into manufacturing or research.

One thing he does know is he will be a leader.

To learn about the Zachry Leadership Program, see http:// engineering.tamu.edu/academics/certificates/zachryleadership-program.

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Student Achievements Cadigan named a 2016 Barry Goldwater Scholar

Runco wins 2016 AHS Robert L. Lichten Award

Maura Cadigan, a third-year engineering honors student in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been named a 2016 Barry Goldwater Scholar by the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program.

Carl Runco, a graduate student in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University, was named the international winner of the American Helicopter Society’s (AHS) 2016 Robert L. Lichten award competition for his paper, “Development and Flight Testing of a Meso-Scale Cyclocopter.”

Runco was honored at the annual Grand Awards Banquet at the 72nd AHS Forum in Palm Beach, Florida.

The Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program was established by Congress in 1986 to honor Senator Barry Goldwater, who served his country for 56 years as a soldier and statesman, including 30 years of service in the U.S. Senate.

The Foundation awards undergraduate scholarships to outstanding students, to be known as Barry Goldwater Scholars, in the spring to be used during the following academic year. The award is given to students who will be juniors and seniors who have outstanding potential and intend to pursue research careers in mathematics, the natural sciences, or engineering and foster excellence in those fields.

Cadigan’s goal is to pursue a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering.

She would like to conduct research in advanced space propulsion systems for a government agency and teach at a university later in her career.

Runco works with Dr. Moble Benedict in the Advanced Vertical Flight Laboratory (AVFL) and his project involves design, development and systematic flight testing of a 29 gram meso-scale cyclocopter, which is the smallest cycloidalrotor based aircraft ever built.

The Robert L. Lichten Award was established in 1976 to recognize new and innovative research in the area of vertical flight. Each of the 10 AHS regions around the world is eligible to select a regional winner, from which an overall international winner and runner-up are selected.

Harris selected to join the AIAA Intelligent Systems Committee Joshua Harris, Ph.D. student and graduate research assistant in the Vehicle Systems and Control Laboratory (VSCL) in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been selected to join the AIAA Intelligent Systems Technical Committee (ISTC).

The ISTC addresses the application of Intelligent System (IS) technologies and methods to aerospace systems, the verification and validation of these systems and the education of the AIAA membership in the use of IS technologies in aerospace and other technical disciplines.

Members of the ISTC have experience in developing and managing aerospace systems involving knowledge engineering, knowledge acquisition, verification/validation of knowledge based systems, neural networks and expert systems, as well as the use of artificial intelligence concepts/techniques to support natural language interfaces, image understanding, planning/ scheduling and data fusion.

Harris, a student under Dr. John Valasek, professor in aerospace engineering, has been a VSCL researcher since 2010. His research investigates intelligent systems in the realm of flight dynamics and controls. Harris’s interests include the use of intelligent and adaptive systems for robust flight control, intelligent systems identification methods, cooperative and multiagent control and integrated systems health management for aircraft and spacecraft.

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FALL 2016

Student Achievements Bielefeldt receives SMART Fellowship

AVFL students win top prizes at regional AIAA Conference

Brent Bielefeldt, graduate student in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University, has received the Science, Mathematics, & Research for Transformation (SMART) Fellowship through the Department of Defense (DoD). The SMART Fellowship is a highly competitive scholarship for students pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. The fellowship pays for awardees’ tuition and fees, provides a monthly stipend and guarantees employment for an awardee at a sponsoring DoD facility.

Bielefeldt received his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from The University of Alabama in May 2014.

For the past two years, Bielefeldt has worked with Dr. Darren Hartl (Texas A&M) in collaboration with Dr. Jacob Hochhalter (NASA Langley) on the numerical analysis of shape memory alloy sensory particles for structural health monitoring applications. Dr. Amine Benzerga (Texas A&M) has served as co-chair. After graduating with his master’s degree in August, Bielefeldt will remain at Texas A&M and begin working on his Ph.D. in aerospace engineering with Hartl, focusing on developing high bandwidth distributed shape memory alloy actuators as well as computationally efficient methods of analyzing avian-inspired morphing air vehicles.

Bielefeldt interned this summer at the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.

The SMART Fellowship will sponsor Bielefeldt in working with the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center Armament Directorate located at Eglin Air Force Base in Valparaiso, Florida. He will intern on site during summers beginning in May 2017, with a view to a permanent position after the completion of his doctoral degree.

Students from the Advanced Vertical Flight Laboratory (AVFL) in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University won first and second place at the 2016 AIAA Region IV Student Conference. Students from 13 different schools took part in the competition.

Carl Runco, a graduate student under Dr. Moble Benedict, professor in the aerospace engineering department, placed first in the graduate category. Runco’s project, “Development and Flight Testing of a Meso-Scale Cyclocopter,” involved design, development and systematic flight testing (in hover) of a 29 gram meso-scale cyclocopter, which is the smallest cycloidal-rotor-based aircraft ever built.

He received $500 and will advance to the final round to present his work at the 2017 AIAA Science and Technology Forum and Exposition (SciTech).

Brett Himmelberg and Adam Kellen, undergraduates in aerospace engineering under Benedict, took first and second place, respectively, in the undergraduate category. A junior in the department, Himmelberg’s project, “Performance Measurements of Meso-Scale Cycloidal Rotors in Hover,” focused on conducting thrust and power measurements on meso-scale cycloidal rotors (weighing less than three grams) using a custom three-component force balance, which he developed. He received $500 and will advance to the final round to present his work at SciTech.

Kellen’s project, “Design, Development and Performance Measurements of a UAV-Scale Cycloidal Rotor,” earned second place in the undergraduate category. A senior in the department, Kellen’s research focused on understanding the upward scalability of the cycloidal rotor concept to be used on large-scale vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). His paper focused on the design/ fabrication of a cycloidal rotor for a 10 pound UAV and preliminary performance measurements. He received $300.

Runco and Himmelberg will attend SciTech to be held in Grapevine, Texas, courtesy of AIAA due to their achievements in the student conference. They will present their papers at the International Student Conference.

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Student Achievements AVFL students win top prizes at regional AIAA Conference

Cadigan to receive 2016 Astronaut Scholarship

Aerospace engineering graduate students Mauricio Coen, Benjamin Morrell, Austin Probe and Julie Read won the Best Student Paper Award at the AIAA 14th International Space Operations Conference (SpaceOps) in Daejeon, South Korea.

Maura Cadigan, a senior in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University has been selected to receive the 2016 Astronaut Scholarship awarded by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.

Dr. Greg Chamitoff, professor of practice in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University, and Dr. George James, structural engineer at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, were co-authors on the paper.

The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation was created by the Mercury 7 astronauts to ensure the United States retains its position of leadership in science and technology by encouraging students to pursue advanced educations and careers in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. This is done by awarding scholarships to the best and brightest minds and by building a mentoring network that allows the Astronaut Scholars to connect with astronauts, each other and innovative technology leaders throughout the nation.

The paper, “Future Mars Exploration Operational Simulation: Research Outcomes and Educational Benefit,” highlighted lessons learned from a Human Spaceflight Operations class directed by Chamitoff and Dr. Rao Vadali, professor in the department.

Experts from various NASA centers across all disciplines gave lectures throughout the semester, with the final class project involving a planning-based simulation for a future Mars human exploration mission.

The lessons learned during the class simulation, and the basis for the paper, were the need for close feedback between technology development and operational capabilities for future missions, as well as flexibility in operations scheduling.

The paper also showcased the educational and research benefits derived from these types of simulations, which are complex in scope but simple to perform in a group setting.

Coen and Morrell attended the SpaceOps conference and presented the paper. Hosted by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) and sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), SpaceOps 2016 was a technical forum of the space operations community that addressed state-of-the-art operations principals, methods and tools. With the Best Student Paper Award, both Coen and Morrell received KARI scholarships to cover the registration fee for the conference.

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Cadigan is the first Aggie to be selected as a technical consultant for the Stanford US-Russia Forum. She was the mechanical team lead for the Women in Engineering’s VEX robotics team and a teaching assistant for ENGR 112. She plans to continue her eduction with a Ph.D., and will pursue a career with NASA or a government research laboratory.

The prestigious Astronaut Scholarship is known for being among the most significant scholarships awarded to undergraduate STEM students. Cadigan joins former aerospace graduates Emily Boster and Daniel Araya as individuals who have received this honor.

FALL 2016

2016 Scholarship Recipients The Department of Aerospace Engineering held its 2016 Aerospace Engineering Annual Awards Banquet in April. The banquet is a time for donors to be recognized for their contributions and continued support of the department’s mission. During the banquet, the department awards scholarships to those students who have excelled in the program. Below are the coming year’s scholarship recipients.

Aerospace Engineering Advisory Board Scholarship Lane Kirstein

Larry J. McQuien ‘76 “Take Flight Award” Kanika Gakhar

Aerospace Engineering Excellence Scholarship Alan Cossio, Alexa Murphy, Nicholas Page, William Young

Charles R. Overly ‘46 Memorial Scholarship Fu-Anne Wang

Joanne K. and Edward “Pete” Aldridge ‘60 Endowed Scholarship Octavio Aguayo, Ryan Brown, Jonathan Chiu, Michael Fennema, Samuel Frederes, Daniel Ghan, Alexandra Hainimann, Siri Hill, Coleman Hoff, Kyle Hollen, Sarah Kennedy, Matthew Leopard, Matthew Manella, Charles Noren, Matthew Parisis, Kerrick Ray, Tucker Roy, Hannah Stroud, Austin Varisco, Jeffrey Wilde

Terry and Bonnie Reininger Scholarship Heather Kostak Susan D. and John E. Richardson ‘71 Scholarship Ryan Reers, Shelton Stephens Rockwell Collins Scholarship James Felderhoff

Michael Stephen Ebanks Aerospace Memorial Scholarship Christopher True

Virginia and Buford W. Shipley, Jr. ‘83 Scholarship Bridget Church

Paul R. (AERO ‘87) and Michelle J. Fenley Aerospace Engineering Scholarship Award Edward Leber

Benjamin R. and Deanna J. Smith Scholarship in Aerospace Engineering Maura Cadigan, Steven Armentrout

Mary Ann and Gordon Gibson ‘55 Scholarship in Aerospace Engineering Nathan Brunner

Leland Snow Memorial Scholarship in Aerospace Engineering Jeffrey McShan, Jorge Chong

Patrick A. and Carol J. Gibson Scholarship in Aerospace Engineering Samuel McDonald, Jeffrey Pabst

Brad Worsham ‘88 Scholarship in Aerospace Engineering Zachary Jordan, Christopher Roewe

Dr. Walter Haisler ‘67 Outstanding Senior Award in Aerospace Engineering Caleb Fisher Donna and Dub Jett ‘68 Scholarship Joseph Carlson Travis and Rachel Joiner Memorial Scholarship Alexander Pages

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Student Organizations Aggie Aerospace Women in Engineering (AAWE) Aggie Aerospace Women in Engineering is a student-run Texas A&M University organization dedicated to supporting and encouraging women in the Department of Aerospace Engineering through personal and professional networking, while also providing programs that promote interest in our field. AAWE is open to students, alumni or any others interested in industry or academic careers related to aerospace engineering, regardless of major or gender.

AggieSat Lab AggieSat Lab is a student satellite program housed within the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University. The goal of the lab is to develop and demonstrate modern technologies by using a small-satellite platform, while educating students and enriching the undergraduate experience. Our lab takes an integrated approach to smallspacecraft research, design-build-fly, and education for multidisciplinary teams of freshmen through graduate students, along with industry and government affiliates.

Students are responsible for the whole design process from concept to end-of-mission.

American Helicopter Society (AHS) The American Helicopter Society (AHS) International is the world’s premier professional vertical flight society. Since its inception in 1944, AHS has been a major force in the advancement of a global rotorcraft industry, marked by rapid technical developments, expanding military capabilities, and commercial applications.

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) AIAA is the national technical society for the aerospace industry. Texas A&M University has a very active, nationallyrecognized student chapter. It brings in distinguished lecturers, organizes outreach events, and plays intramurals.

High Altitude Balloon Club (HABC) Our goals are to understand the concept of balloon flying by designing, building and launching high altitude balloons, and design experiments that operate in the near-space environment.

SAE AERO Design Team (SADT) The SAE Aero Design Competition challenges students to design, build, and fly a radio controlled airplane capable of lifting an internally stored payload within design constraints.

The university’s SADT team is student organized and run having graduate students and seniors leading the group and sophomores, juniors, and seniors as participants. The team is structured to emulate the real-world engineering environment where business and technical aspects of the design must be considered.

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Sigma Gamma Tau (SGT) Sigma Gamma Tau is the national honor society for aerospace engineering that seeks to recognize achievement and excellence in the aerospace field. The SGT chapter at Texas A&M University seeks to develop leaders of character by reinforcing excellence, integrity, leadership, loyalty, respect and selfless service - the core values of Texas A&M. This chapter is primarily a service organization that provides tutoring and mentoring for underclassmen, performs community service and provides exclusive professional networking events to help our members grow as an aerospace scholar.

Society of Flight Test Engineers (SFTE) The Society of Flight Test Engineers is a fraternity of engineers, whose principal professional interest is the flight testing of aircraft and missiles. The objective of the society is the advancement of flight test engineering throughout the aircraft industry by providing technical and fraternal communication among individuals, both domestic and international, in the allied engineering fields of test operations, analysis, instrumentation and data systems.

Sounding Rocketry Team (SRT) The Sounding Rocketry Team is a student-run organization which designs, builds and tests a high-powered rocket to compete annually in the Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition. The goal of the Sounding Rocketry Team is to provide a hands-on experience to both undergraduate and graduate students interested in the field of rocketry.

Student Advisory Board (SAB) The AERO Student Advisory Board represents the student body and strengthens communication between the students and faculty/staff of the department. Duties include: informing department members of general student opinion, mediating between the student body and staff on departmental improvements and meeting with the Industry Advisory Board to give and receive feedback about the department and recent graduates.

Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) SEDS is dedicated to expanding the role of human exploration and development of space. It seeks to educate the public in such a way as to attain this goal.

FALL 2016

Alumni News AERO Class of ‘66 returns to campus Recently, the Class of ’66 returned to campus to celebrate its 50th anniversary. The Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University had the privilege of hosting 15 aerospace class members during the three-day event. The group was treated to tours of the Vehicle, Systems and Control Laboratory, the Materials and Structures lab, the basement wind tunnels, as well as visiting the lab where 402 students were finishing their capstone design projects.

Graduate students and faculty members took the opportunity to explain their various research projects and course work.

After the tours, Dr. Rodney Bowersox, department head, hosted a luncheon for the members with current students.

Bowersox presented his vision for the department, while students were able to share what they were doing in the classroom and beyond with the former students.

College of Engineering honors outstanding alumni The College of Engineering at Texas A&M University honored six alumni during the 2016 Outstanding Alumni Awards Banquet in April. One of the recipients of the Outstanding Alumni Honor Award was aerospace alumna and advisory board member Dr.Merri J. Sanchez ‘85.

Sanchez is chief scientist for Air Force Space Command (AFSPC). She is the primary adviser to the commander on all scientific and technical matters concerning space and cyberspace, serving as the senior authority for this substantive program.

Sanchez entered government service in 1982 with NASA. Her last role at NASA was as liaison to AFSPC, Strategic Command, Northern Command and NORAD, where she advised the NASA administrator on U.S. Department of Defense space-related matters.

She has served as an increment manager for the International Space Station Program (ISS) and as the X-38 deputy project manager for operations. Prior to assuming her current position, Sanchez was senior director for the Space Systems Group at the Sierra Nevada Corporation in Colorado, where she was deputy program executive and program manager for the Dream Chaser commercial crew lifting body spacecraft.

Sanchez received two NASA Exceptional Achievement Medals, the Johnson Space Center (JCS) Director’s Commendation and two JSC Certificates of Commendation. She was also selected as a recipient of the Outstanding Aerospace Engineer Award from the aerospace engineering department.

Sanchez is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, has authored 18 publications and was an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. She currently serves on the advisory boards for both the college of engineering and the aerospace engineering department at Texas A&M. Sanchez earned her Bachelor of Science in aerospace engineering from Texas A&M. She earned two master’s degrees and a doctoral degree from the University of Houston.

She lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

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Twelve inducted into Aerospace Alumni Academy The Department of Aerospace Engineering in the College of Engineering at Texas A&M University inducted 12 individuals into the Aerospace Engineering Distinguished Alumni Academy during the Aerospace Engineering Annual Awards Banquet on April 1.

Receiving the Outstanding Young Engineer Award were Isaac Ekoto, Ph.D., Julie Parish, Ph.D. and Puneet Singla, Ph.D. This award is presented to an alumnus under the age of 40 who has shown outstanding work in their field and is a promising leader for the future. Those elected must have a strong commitment and interest in the university and the department.

The Outstanding Aerospace Engineer award is presented to an alumnus

40 years or older who has proven superior professional achievement, community service and service to the university. Those elected are role models for all to follow, and their example of distinguished professional practice deserves recognition. The alumni receiving this award were Paul Hill, Donald Ruhmann, Hanspeter Schaub, Ph.D, Kirk Shireman, and John Vassberg, Ph.D. The Aerospace Engineering Honorary Engineer Award is presented to nonTexas A&M University alumni who have made major contributions to the engineering profession and whose support of the department merits recognition. The two honorees given this distinction were Leland Carslon, Ph.D. and Donald Ward, Ph.D., Col. USAF (retired).

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Two alumni were honored with the highest distinction in the academy, the Distinguished Aerospace Engineering Alumni award. This award is presented to an alumnus who is retired or near retirement with outstanding career records. This award also recognizes sustained and meritorious contributions to engineering and engineering management. The two honorees were Dennis Ray Deel and Elaine Mendoza.

For more information on the Distinguished Aerospace Engineering Alumni Academy, see /aerospace/ former-students/alumni-academy/ members.

FALL 2016

Donor Recognition Gifts to the department may be in the form of cash, securities, real estate or personal property. Many of our supporters have contributed using planned gifts, including, but not limited to: charitable remainder trusts, lead trusts, gift annuities, bequest provisions and life insurance. These are all excellent ways to benefit Texas A&M University and the Department of Aerospace Engineering while fulfilling philanthropic goals and possibly achieving financial planning or tax benefits.

New Endowed Gifts Alicia & Ed Muniz ‘69 AggieSat Endowed Lab Fund Texas A&M Foundation Excellence Award I* Texas A&M Foundation Excellence Award II** Dr. Richard J. Matus ‘80 Endowed undergraduate scholarship

Giving to the Department Aerospace Engineering Excellence Fund This account enables the department head to enhance the mission of the department, including professional development for faculty and staff; student organization support; development activities; and award recognition.

Undergraduate Scholarships - $25,000 and above The need for undergraduate student support never ceases. In addition to giving students the extra money and time they need to excel in their studies, scholarship programs help the university recruit top students. The criteria for recipient selection may be designated by donors, and your generous contribution will provide an annual award that will be directed to a worthy aerospace undergraduate student.

Graduate Fellowships - $500,000 Endowed Fellowship help to encourage more undergraduate students to pursue more advanced degrees. Top quality graduate students are important to faculty recruiting, our research program, and the future of engineering education. The endowed funds generate annual income which will be used to attract and retain quality faculty in the department.

Barbara ‘88 & Mark Craig Endowed undergraduate scholarship Endowed excellence fund Liz & Brad Worsham ‘88*** Endowed professorship Endowed undergraduate scholarship(s) *Supports and actively employed junior or senior-level Hispanic student pursuing an undergraduate degree in aerospace engineering, that graduated from a high school in the Rio Grande Valley. **Supports an actively employed, first-generation college enrollee, that is a Hispanic student that transfers into the College of Engineering at Texas A&M University from the Look College of Engineering Academy South Texas Campus. Students graduated from a high school in the Rio Grande Valley, and a preference is designated for aerospace engineering. ***This is a planned gift via the designation of an IRA account.

Stephanie Blaney Assistant Director of Development Office: 7607 Eastmark Dr., Ste 230 Phone: 979.458.3137 Email: sblaney@txamfoundation.com

Endowed Professorships - $1,000,000 With the goal of growing the College of Engineering student body by 25,000 by 2025, we must continually strive to attract and recruit the best and brightest minds in the aerospace academic area to Texas A&M. By providing a gift to create an endowed professorship, you will make a lasting impact on the department that will result in the future education and career development of students that will ultimately shape the future of the aerospace industry.

Legacy Funds As we pause to reflect on the rich history of educational impact that our esteemed faculty have imparted upon thousands of current and former students, we cannot overstate the indelible legacy that an esteemed few have built during their career, dedicating their lives to the pursuit of academic excellence in the arena of aerospace engineering. Now is the time to honor each of these renowned scholars for their efforts by choosing to support the fulfillment of an endowed legacy fund in their honor, that will help shape the future of the Texas A&M Aerospace Engineering Department for many years to come.

Leland Carlson Undergraduate Fund John Junkins Graduate/Ph.D. Fund Walter Haisler Faculty Fund Stan Lowy Design Fund

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Department of Aerospace Engineering Dr. Rodney Bowersox, Department Head 701 H.R. Bright Building 3141 TAMU College Station, TX 77843-3141 979.845.7541

Aggie Aerospace Alumni Network - over 3,500 strong and growing

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