Hampton Roads Section - AIAA Info - American Institute of ...

AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF AERONAUTICS AND ASTRONAUTICS
Hampton Roads Section Blue Ridge Chapter May/June 2008
Chair’s Message
We had a great 45 th Anniversary
Awards Banquet of the Hampton
Roads Section (HRS) on May 20,
2008, where over 100 HRS members
and guests gathered to honor Section
members for their outstanding
services, technical accomplishments,
or continuous membership.
Kurt Severance
HRS Chair
We were especially glad to recognize, in their presence,
Donald Baals for 70 years of Continuous Membership,
Harvey McComb and Don Riley for 60 years of Continuous
Membership, Col. George Hanson for 50 years of
Continuous Membership, and Jarrell Elliott for 40 years of
Continuous Membership, as well as Dr. Damodar Ambur
for being selected as the new AIAA Fellow.
We gave special tributes in memory of Dr. Robert
Mitcheltree, for whom the HRS Young Engineer of the
Year Award is now named, and Dr. Thomas Gates, the
recipient of the 2008 Allan H. Taylor Memorial Award.
We are proud to honor the AIAA HRS and Region I 2008
Engineer of the Year, Dr. Robert Hall, and the 2008
Robert A, Mitcheltree Young Engineer of the Year, Jill
Prince.
I want to congratulate Karen Berger, Bobby Berrier, and
Dr. Paresh Parikh, who each received an AIAA National
Special Service Citation at the awards banquet. Ms. Berger
was recognized her outstanding service in the FIRST Lego
League Tournament. Mr. Berrier was recognized for his
outstanding service in developing the Scholarship
Guidelines. Dr. Parikh was recognized for his outstanding
service as the Chair of the HRS Scholarship Committee.
I also want to congratulate the four Section Award winners
(Melissa Carter, Brad Crawford, Dr. John Lin, and Lee
Rich) as well as the eleven recipients of the HRS Certificate
of appreciation (Steven Bauer, Jan-Renee Carlson, Dr.
Phil Drummond, Jeff Flamm, Dr. Sungwan Kim, John
Paulson, Gary Price, David Reubush, Dr. Chris Rumsey,
David Throckmorton, and NIA Student Chapter). Details
of their citations are shown on page 2 of this newsletter.
Finally, I want to congratulate our Section’s newly elected
officers and council members for 2008-2009. They are:
Officers
Chair Jeffrey D. Flamm
Vice-Chair Bradley L. Crawford
Secretary Dr. S. Paul Pao
Treasurer Dr. Christopher Rumsey
Council members
Darrell R. Branscome Melissa B. Carter
Thomas J. Horvath Laurence D. Leavitt
Dr. Paresh C. Parikh Dr. Jeremy Pinier
Noel A. Talcott, Jr. David Throckmorton
Dr. Richard A. Wahls Bo Walkley
Brenton W. Weathered
May 31, 2008 marks the end of my term as section chair. I
appreciate the support and help I received throughout my
term from the other officers, council members, and
committee chairs. I am looking forward to serve the
Section as the Regional Advisory Council (RAC)
Representative for the coming term. Thank you again for
your interest and support during the past year.
Kurt
2007-2008 Corporate Sponsors
Analytical Mechanics Associates, Inc SAIC
Analytical Services and Materials, Inc Science & Technology Corporation
Lockheed Martin Engineering & Sciences ViGYAN, Inc.

2008 HRS Section Service Award Winners
Allan H. Taylor Memorial Award Dr. Thomas S. Gates
The Allan Taylor Award is our Section’s highest service honor. It is given to members who are not currently on the council
"in recognition of many years of sustained and significant volunteer contributions to the AIAA Hampton Roads Section."
Section Awards
Melissa B. Carter “for dedicated service to the Hampton Roads Section by providing outstanding events and
opportunities for Young Professionals.”
Bradley L. Crawford “for significant and sustained volunteer efforts in support of Hampton Roads Section events
throughout the year.”
Dr. John C. Lin “for exemplary service and dedication to the Hampton Roads Section as Newsletter Chairperson
and PEC Representative.”
Lee R. Rich “for providing outstanding public policy programs to the Hampton Roads Section, in collaboration
with Virginia Air and Space Center.”
Certificate of Appreciation
Steven X. S. Bauer “for outstanding service to the Hampton Roads Section as RAC Representative and LEGO
Tournament volunteer.”
Jan-Renee Carlson “for dedicated service to the Hampton Roads Section as Chief Judge of the Laurence J. Bement
Young Professionals Paper Competition.”
Dr. J. Philip Drummond “for outstanding service to the Hampton Roads Section by facilitating nominations to
AIAA Technical Committees.”
Jeffrey D. Flamm “for outstanding service to the Hampton Roads Section as organizer of the annual Oyster
Roast.”
Dr. Sungwan Kim “for outstanding service to the Hampton Roads Section as Honors and Awards Chairperson.”
John W. Paulson “for outstanding service to the Hampton Roads Section as organizer of the annual golf
tournament.”
A. Gary Price “for outstanding service to the Hampton Roads Section as HRS delegate to Congressional Visits
Day.”
David E. Reubush “for outstanding service to the Hampton Roads Section as Chairman of the Virginia AIAA
delegation for Congressional Visits Day.”
Dr. Christopher L. Rumsey “for outstanding service to the Hampton Roads Section as Career Enhancement
Chairperson.”
David A. Throckmorton “for outstanding service to the Hampton Roads Section by organizing Associate Fellow
nominations.”
NIA Student Chapter “for significant and sustained volunteer efforts in support of Hampton Roads Section events.”
Young Professionals Paper Competition Winners
Winner: Dr. Jeremy T. Pinier, for paper titled “Proportional Closed-Loop Feedback Control of Flow
Separation"
1 st Runner-up: Dr. Eric J. Nielsen, for paper titled “Using an Adjoint Approach to Eliminate Mesh
Sensitivities in Computational Design”
2 nd Runner-up: Dr. Adam Przekop, for paper titled “Dynamic Snap-Through of Thin-Walled Structures
by a Reduced-Order Method”
“Futures in Aerospace” Scholarship Winners
Tina A. Wang of York High School, Yorktown, VA
Sydney A. Giblin of Jamestown High School, Jamestown, VA
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Scenes from HRS Awards Banquet --
Dr. Jonathan Ransom (right) and Mrs. Allan Taylor (left)
present Allan H. Taylor Memorial Award to the family of
Dr. Thomas Gates.
Dr. Robert Hall (center), AIAA HRS & Region I 2008
Engineer of the Year, poses with Dr. John Anderson,
Program Speaker (left), Kurt Severance, HRS Chair (2 nd
left), Dr. Paul Pao, HRS Treasurer (2 nd right), and Dr.
Sungwan Kim, HRS Honors & Awards Chair (right).
Section’s scholarship award winners pose with judging
committee members. Left to right: Jan-Renee Carlson
(Evaluator), Sydney Giblin (Jamestown High School), Tina
Wang (York High School), Bobby Berrier (Guidelines Chair),
and Dr. Paresh Parikh (Scholar Committee Chair). Other
scholarship evaluators (not pictured) are Noel Talcott, Stan
Smeltzer, and Richard White.
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Jill Prince (left) receives the Robert A. Mitcheltree
Young Engineer of the Year Award from NASA
LaRC Associate Director, Cindy Lee.
Young Professionals Paper Competition Winner, Dr.
Jeremy Pinier (2 nd left), and 2 nd Runner-up, Dr. Adam
Przekop (2 nd right), pose with HRS Chair, Kurt
Severance (left) and contest’s Chief Judge, Jan-Renee
Carlson (right).
Program speaker (center), Dr. John Anderson, Curator of
Aerodynamics for Smithsonian Institution receives an X-
43 commemoration plaque form aviation artist and author,
Joe Chambers (left), and HRS Chair, Kurt Severance
(right).

Three HRS Members
Helped Design
Phoenix Mars Mission
Three AIAA HRS members Prasun Desai, Jill
Prince, and Eric Queen of the Atmospheric Flight
and Entry Systems Branch at NASA Langley
Research Center (LaRC) helped design the Phoenix
robotic lander that arrived safely on Mars on May 25.
The three engineers were part of the entry, descent
and landing team for the spacecraft and each put four
years of work into NASA's Phoenix Mars mission.
Though the mission revolves around a search for
evidence that Mars was once hospitable for organic
life, the three HRS members were tapped for one of
the most crucial aspects of the mission — getting the
solar-powered lander to the surface in Mars' northern
polar region.
Above: Phoenix lander protected by aeroshell entering
the Martian atmosphere.
Above right: Phoenix gliding towards Mars surface just
after its parachute is deployed.
Right: Phoenix firing its thrusters before touchdown.
Below: Phoenix conducting its surface operations phase
of the mission.
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Phoenix plunged into the Martian atmosphere at more
than 12,000 mph after a 10-month, 422-million-mile
trip through space. It did a choreographed dance that
included unfurling its parachute, shedding its heat
shield and back-shell, and firing thrusters to slow to a
5 mph touchdown (see artistic renditions below). The
radio signal confirming the landing came at 7:53 p.m.
Desai, Prince, and Queen celebrated the successful
landing at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in
California where they followed the lander's every
move.
Phoenix is equipped with an 8-foot-long arm capable
of digging trenches in the soil to get to ice that is
believed to be buried inches to a foot deep. Then it
will analyze the dirt and ice samples for traces of
organic compounds, the chemical building blocks of
life. The lander will also study whether the ice ever
melted at some point in Mars' history when the planet
had a warmer environment than the current harsh, cold
one it currently has.

Hampton Roads Section
Southeast Virginia is represented by the Hampton
Roads Section (HRS) of AIAA, which has a
membership of approximately 1070. The
membership is made up of employees and
contractors of NASA Langley Research Center,
aerospace industry professionals, retirees, as well
as student chapters at the Old Dominion University
in Norfolk, National Institute of Aerospace in
Hampton, and Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. The
Hampton Roads Section actively participates in
AIAA national initiatives and programs. Local
programs are held throughout the year and cater to
the needs of the entire membership including
young professionals and retirees. The Section
annually awards two scholarships to graduating
high school seniors planning careers related to
aerospace engineering. The Section has a very
active program in pre-college education. Please
visit the Section website at
http://www.seva.net/~aiaa for more information.
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Membership Information
In an effort to reach all HRS members we are
updating our e-mail mailing list once a month.
To help us reach you with news and information
on upcoming programs, please verify that your
contact information is accurate in the AIAA
database, especially your e-mail address. This can
be done by accessing your account at the AIAA
website, www.aiaa.org under the topic “My
Information”. Something as simple as an e-mail
“typo” could prevent you from receiving Section
information. Student members should keep their
record current, especially seniors, to take
advantage of AIAA’s offer of one free year of
Professional membership (2nd year 1/2 price).
AIAA encourages students to transition into
professional members and to become active in
AIAA at the Section, Regional & National levels
in order to take advantage of all the benefits
AIAA has to offer.

COUNCIL
CHAIRMAN
Kurt Severance
VICE-CHAIRMAN
Jeffrey D. Flamm
SECRETARY
Bradley L. Crawford
TREASURER
Dr. S. Paul Pao
REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVE
Steven X. S. Bauer
COUNCIL MEMBERS
Darrell R. Branscome
Melissa Carter
Thomas J. Horvath
Laurence (Larry) D. Leavitt
Dr. Paresh C. Parikh
Dr. Stanley S. Smeltzer III
Noel A. Talcott
Dr. Richard A. Wahls
Bo Walkley
Brenton W. Weathered
Sharon S. Welch
TECHNICAL REPRESENTATIVE
Dr. J. Philip Drummond
COMMITTEE CHAIRS
BLUE RIDGE CHAPTER LIAISON
Dr. William Mason
Dr. Craig Woolsey
CAREER ENHANCEMENT
Dr. Christopher L. Rumsey
EDUCATION/PRECOLLEGE
Karen T. Berger
Robert Powers
HISTORICAL
Dr. Colin Britcher
HONORS & AWARDS
Dr. Sungwan Kim
MEMBERSHIP
Latunia P. Melton
NEWSLETTER
Dr. John C. Lin
PEC REPRESENTATIVE
Dr. John C. Lin
PROGRAMS
Jeffrey D. Flamm
PUBLIC POLICY
Lee Rich
RETIREES
Richard J. Cologgi
SCHOLARSHIP
Dr. Paresh C. Parikh
STUDENTS - ODU
Dr. Colin Britcher
YOUNG PROFESSIONALS
Melissa Carter
WEB MASTER
Victor Lessard
The World’s Forum for Aerospace Leadership
Member Referral Program
The AIAA continues its popular Member Referral Program. Not only will you help AIAA
by bringing in new members, you will also receive a $5 bonus to spend at the AIAA
online store for each new member that you recruit! Apply this bonus to conference and
course registrations, publications and journal subscriptions, or your own membership
renewal. Details can be found at http://www.aiaa.org/content.cfm?pageid=238.
Email Announcements
If you are not receiving your Section Newsletters or event announcements via email
regularly, please see page 3 of this newsletter under “Membership
Information” for details on how to validate and/or update your AIAA e-mail
information. If you cannot or choose not to receive any e-mail from AIAA HRS,
but still want to receive Newsletters/announcements from the Section via postal
mail, please mail us such a request to: AIAA HRS Secretary, P.O. Box 7392,
Hampton, VA 23666.
More Scenes from HRS Program --
Aerospace News is published for the members of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics — Hampton Roads Section and Blue Ridge Chapter
Editor: John Lin, (757) 864-5556 or e-mail at john.c.lin@nasa.gov
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LaRC Director, Lesa
Roe (2 nd right), chats
with HRS Young
Professionals (YP)
during an YP Social
on May 15.
“Report on Capitol
Hill Day” lunchand-learn
program
by David Reubush
(standing, right) and
Gary Price
(standing, left) on
April 24.