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Next-generation aerospace research on display

Amy Sprague
June 17, 2024

The annual A&A Graduate Research Showcase highlighted cutting-edge projects, with awards for work on plasma modeling, hypersonics, and more.

A collage featuring individuals gathered in a room for a lightning talks and poster sessions event

Scenes from the graduate research poster presentations, including Joshua Cheng (left) showing how April Tags work and Kuang-Ying ("Eddie") Ting (center) with his poster on flutter suppression.

A&A held its annual Graduate Research Showcase on May 20th as part of SHARC Week 2024. Graduate students presented 15 projects through lightning talks and poster sessions, displaying the cutting-edge work happening in our labs. The posters presented a wide range of research in the department. Four presenters received awards from our Judges Panel and the People’s Choice.

Showcase winners

First place: Landon Bevier

Helicon Mode Transition Scaling Laws

Landon Bevier presented research out of SPACE Lab on radio frequency plasma coupling in electric propulsion systems. Bevier developed and validated a model to predict the transition between different energy coupling modes based on electron temperature, density, and plasma radius. Direct wave measurements using specialized probes confirmed the model's accuracy.

Second place: Paul Medina

Analysis of Jets in Hypersonic Crossflow using Focused Laser Differential Interferometry (FLDI)

Paul Medina presented his work out of the Williams Turbulence Lab on using focused laser differential interferometry (FLDI) to analyze jets in hypersonic crossflow. FLDI provides high spatial and temporal resolution density measurements non-invasively. Medina's goals are to measure turbulence statistics with FLDI and optimize the optical components for multi-point measurements.

Third place: Jiacheng Chen and Collins Davis

Development of Novel Thermoplastic Orthotic Springs Made From Repurposed Materials

Collins Davis and Jiacheng Chen presented their work out of the MAMS Lab to create lightweight, affordable orthotic springs from recycled composite fibers in a thermoplastic Nylon-6 matrix through compression molding. Detailed material and thermal modeling is key to achieving uniform properties.

People’s Choice: Thijs Masmeijer

Displacement Estimation with Directional DIC with Automatic Feature Selection

Thijs Masmeijer presented his work out of the Illimited Lab to develop an enhanced digital image correlation (DIC) technique that enables full-field displacement measurements on surfaces without an applied speckle pattern. This is enabled by using a pre-defined displacement direction to overcome the aperture problem. The method includes an approach for automatic selection of trackable features making the method more accessible.

"Our students continue to impress with the quality and innovation in their research projects," said Professor Antonino Ferrante who hosted the event. "We're proud of their achievements and excited to see how their work shapes the future of aerospace."

Congratulations to all the participants in making the 2024 A&A Graduate Research Showcase a success! A special thanks to our judges, Professor Amir Taghvai and alumni Lauren Jones from Alaska Airlines, Taylor Reynolds from Amazon Prime Air and Danny Crews from Zap Energy.

Explore all of our graduate research posters