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Highflight

2026 Edition

Highflight archive

Pilot in a jet cockpit flying upside down over a landscape with forests and fields.

Professor Jim Hermanson flies with the Blue Angels

Q&A with Professor Hermanson on his ride of a lifetime with the Blue Angels.

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Gary Lai portrait

Leading into the third space age: Gary Lai named 2025 A&A Distinguished Alum

Gary Lai (BSAA '99), architect of Blue Origin's New Shepard and lunar resource innovator, named 2025 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient.

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streak of light made by a rocket in a twilight sky

The SOC-i CubeSat is now orbiting Earth

Students designed and built SOC-i, a shoebox-sized satellite now orbiting Earth after NASA selection.

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Eye-tracking for tailored autonomy: Karen Leung receives NSF grant

NSF funds eye-tracking research to help us create autonomous systems that can adjust to individual comfort levels.

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Nature's shock absorbers

Seabird-inspired aerospace adaptations can raise resilience upon impact.

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The perfect angle: Using sunlight to better track space objects

Ph.D. student Aditya Deole designs spacecraft paths that optimize sunlight angles for better tracking of objects in space.

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Bacteria-inspired nanoengines

Professor Taghvaei studies bacteria to build efficient, nature-inspired nano-sized engines with support from the NSF.

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Alum prepares to make space history

Alexis Harroun (BSAA ‘17) will be first to launch a rotating detonation rocket engine for an orbital flight.

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Charlie Higgins' legacy of aviation safety

Charlie Higgins (BSAA '71) transformed aviation safety through industry collaboration, from wind shear to 9/11.

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His story to tell

Professor Emeritus Reiner Decher chronicles his family history as part of a post-WWII technological migration.

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Digital tools to combat rain erosion captures Varanasi Fellowship

Ph.D. student Mira Tipirneni develops computational models to predict and combat aircraft surface damage from rain.

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John Berg named Condit Fellow for holistic aircraft controls research

Ph.D. student's research on holistic aircraft control systems earns prestigious fellowship for advancing aviation safety.

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Karen Leung wins NSF CAREER Award to build autonomous systems with enhanced human-like social skills

This award will support building autonomous systems with enhanced human-like social skills.

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Ed Habtour wins NSF CAREER Award to develop ultra-efficient ultra-fast biomimetic robots

This award will support developing ultra-efficient ultra-fast biomimetic robots.

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Highflight 2026 edition cover
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Issues published before April 24 2026 are archived and no longer being updated. If you need assistance, please contact us.

About

Highflight is the department's alumni newsletter. Published annually, it features stories about students, faculty, research, alumni and more.

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Editor: sprag@uw.edu

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