ODU Hosts AIAA Region I : Mid-Atlantic Student Conference
On Friday April 3rd and Saturday April 4th, ODU hosted the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics 2009 Region I - Mid-Atlantic Student Conference. 83 students from across the region registered, representing ODU, the University of Maryland, Penn State, the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, West Virginia University, George Washington University, and Carnegie Mellon University. A total of 44 presentations were made in four categories - undergraduate (26), graduate (7), team (5) and exhibition (non-competing, 6). On Friday evening, attendees had the opportunity to visit the Military Aviation Museum (aka Fighter Factory) in Virginia Beach. On Saturday, attendees toured the Langley Full-Scale Tunnel (LFST) in Hampton, or an assortment of on-campus labs (Maglev, microfluids, wind tunnel & flight simulator). On Saturday evening, we were greatly entertained and inspired by Dr. Joel Levine, who gave a talk on "Exploration of Mars - Why Humans, Why Now?". Pictured right (L-R) are Dr. Levine, Mark Lewis (AIAA Region I Education Director), Dr. Colin Britcher (ODU AIAA Faculty Advisor) and Dr. Bob Ash. Those that still had energy rode back up to Hampton for "Yuri's Night" at the Virginia Air and Space Center.
The "competition" part of the conference involves judging of a written paper by three reviewers, plus judging of the presentation by a separate three-judge panel. The University of Maryland swept all categories, in fact placing first-second-third in the undergraduate division. The National Institute of Aerospace (VT) took second in the graduate division, with Maryland third. Penn State took second in the team division with Virginia Tech third.
The ODU Student Chapter is lead by Thomas Johnson (President), Matt Wells (Vice President) and Stargel Doane (Treasurer). Five other students (Erin Blass, Irfan Zardadkhan, Jerry Chen, Eric DeLeon, and John Miller) acted as Session Chairs. Tom Johnson, Sumanth Velma, and Robert Melton (U/G) made presentations. Next years' conference will be at Virginia Tech, tentatively scheduled for April 9-10th.