News

A team led by University of Washington engineers has developed a new tool that could aid in the quest for better batteries and fuel cells. Although battery technology has come a long way since Alessandro Volta first stacked metal discs in a “voltaic pile” to generate electricity, major improvements are still needed to meet the energy challenges of the future, such as powering electric cars and storing renewable energy cheaply and efficiently. The key likely lies in the nanoscale.... Read more at UW Today.

Congratulations to Professor Uri Shumlak, whose ZaP Flow Z-Pinch project received the “UW Greenest Lab Award”. This is a particularly fitting award for a research project that seeks to develop a carbon-free effectively-limitless energy source - fusion energy - that has applications for space power and propulsion. The UW Green Laboratory Certification Program recognizes laboratories at UW that operate and behave sustainably within their laboratory space. The ZaP Flow Z-Pinch Lab received the highest ranking score which demonstrates excellence in their efforts to reduce the environmental impact at the UW. Learn more about what it takes to get the UW Green Laboratory Certification: https://green.uw.edu/green-laboratory/certification

Professor Jim Hermanson received a three-year Fulbright Award to work at the Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity at the University of Bremen in Germany. Hermanson will work there with Dipl.-Eng. Christian Eigenbroad, head of Aerospace Combustion Engineering, on a study of combustion behavior of oxygen droplets under cryogenic conditions.

Graduate student Pablo Trefftz Posada has received a 2016 Aviation Week '20 Twenties' Award. Pablo was one of 20 students selected nationally in recognition of his academic acumen, the value of his research and his contribution to the broader community. Pablo, who works with Professor Antonino Ferrante, will be honored at the Aviation Week annual Laureate Awards banquet on March 3rd in Washington, D.C., where he will be highlighted to the leaders of the world's top aerospace companies and agencies. He will also be featured in  the February 29th digital and print publication of Aviation Week & Space Technology.

Dalton Waldock, a senior from Briarcliff Manor High School in New York was just selected as an Intel Science Talent Search semi-finalist. Dalton spent last summer working as an intern in Professor John Slough’s Plasma Dynamics Laboratory as part of a College Science Research class. Dalton worked with his mentor, A&A graduate student Jordan Neuhoff, to measure the energy of plasma emitted from a Pre-Ionizer, which destabilizes atoms to create plasma and free electrons. This experiment has real-world implications for space travel by potentially enabling a space probe to reach its destination efficiently and have enough fuel to return to Earth. Dalton was selected as an Intel semi-finalist based on the strength of his research and his paper, titled, “Spectroscopic Measurements Versus Langmuir Probe Analyses of RF Plasma.” 

Congratulations to Professor Anshu Narang-Siddarth, who has just received a National Science Foundation CAREER award. The $500,000, five-year grant is for her project "CAREER: Breakthroughs in Dynamical Modeling and Control for Reduction of Catastrophic Aviation Accidents." Read more.

The Society for Advanced Rocket Propulsion (SARP) is a student rocket engineering team at the University of Washington. Our mission is to design, build, test, and launch an advanced hybrid sounding rocket. We are looking to raise $15,000 to cover materials for building the rocket, testing, and travel expenses to launch this year’s rocket to 25,000 feet at the ESRA Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC) this June. We are also partnering with Neighborhood House in West Seattle to help K-12 students build a scientific payload to be launched on our rocket. Help SARP Launch into the Future! Support this project today.

Professor and Chair Anthony Waas has been selected to receive the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials Award for 2016. This award is presented to an individual who has been responsible for an outstanding recent technical or scientific contribution in aerospace structures, structural dynamics, or materials. Professor Waas was recognized for his pioneering contributions to the development of the innovative, experimentally validated, computational methods for progressive damage analysis of polymer and hot ceramic composite materials and structures. He will be honored at the AIAA Science and Technology Forum and Exposition held January 4-8, 2016 in San Diego, California.

Isaac Statnekov’s passion for aerospace began early. His grandfather, who worked on the Saturn Rocket at McDonnell Douglas Corp., encouraged Isaac to pursue engineering. Isaac studied aerospace books as a child, and in high school, wrote a 40 page paper on the history of aeronautics in the twentieth century. He began a research project in his first quarter in A&A, working with Professor Carl Knowlen on the Ram Accelerator, and later on fabrication of a prototype shock wave reactor, work that continued through his senior year. Read more...

DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) announced $30 million in funding for nine groundbreaking new projects aimed at developing prototype technologies to explore new pathways for fusion power, and one of the recipients is the team led by Uri Shumlak, Associate Chair for Research and Professor in Aeronautics & Astronautics. Prof. Uri Shumlak received $4.8 million for “Development of a Compact Fusion Device based on the Flow Z-Pinch".