Engineering Student Earns Prestigious Astronaut Scholarship

KU Aerospace Engineering Student Earns Prestigious Astronaut Scholarship

by Andy Hyland

KU aerospace engineering senior Julian Moreno is one of two KU students to earn a prestigious scholarship from the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation for the 20212022 academic year. Moreno and KU chemistry major Jonah Stiel will each receive an award of up to $15,000.

The foundation’s Astronaut Scholarship was founded in 1984 by the six surviving members of the seven astronauts who were part of the Mercury program as a means to encourage students to pursue scientific endeavors. Astronauts from the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs have also joined the foundation.

Moreno holds a NASA Undergraduate Fellowship through the Kansas Space Grant Consortium and conducts research with the KU Flight Research Lab with Shawn Keshmiri, professor of aerospace engineering. He said he intends to go on to graduate school and continue his work on the guidance, navigation, control and dynamics of unmanned aerial systems. He said while the financial award was helpful, he particularly looked forward to the networking opportunities the scholarship provided.

“I’m looking forward to getting involved with the other scholars,” he said. “I’m ready…to meet everyone and get a chance to talk with them and see what they’ve done.”

Moreno is the husband of Eriyonna Moreno and the father of Mya Moreno. He is a five-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and a graduate of Lee’s Summit Senior High School.

This year, the foundation awarded 60 scholarships to students from 44 different universities across the nation. Astronaut Scholarships are awarded to students in their junior and senior year of college studying science, technology, engineering or mathematics with the intent to pursue research or advance their field upon completion of their final degree.

KU AEROSPACE ENGINEERING STUDENTS EARN ACCLAIM IN INTERNATIONAL DESIGN COMPETITION

by Joel Mathis

HERE’S A LOOK AT THE THREE AWARD-WINNING KU STUDENT TEAMS:

Team Road Runner won second place in the missile design competition. The teams were challenged to design a supersonic aerial target drone capable of representing a variety of supersonic airborne cruise missile threats — a tool to aid the U.S. military in its training exercises. Historically, similar missiles have required booster rockets for ground launch; Team Road Runner proposed using a railbased launch system instead. The team was led by Max Johnson, and included Jacob Gorman, Justin Matt, Steven Meis, Andrew Mills and Nathan Sunnarborg.

Team FREEDOM (Fast Response Enemy Emulating Defense Operations Missile) took third place in the same category. The proposed design featured a two-stage missile to be launched from the trailer of a truck. Team members are Nicholas Stefan, who served as leader, as well as Mehdi Pedari, Jacquelyn Rech, Kylie Crawford and Kyle Herda.

Team Super Aerial Bros won third place in the aircraft design competition. Competitors were tasked with designing a general aviation training aircraft to train the next generation of airline pilots. Team members are Grant Godfrey, Brio Ratzlaff, Francisco Caceres, Thomas Kennedy and Tyler Schwallie.

Three student teams from the KU Aerospace Engineering Department won prestigious design awards from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) in fall 2020, adding to KU’s rich history of recognition in AIAA competition.

Students in the program have won more first-, second- and third-place aerospace design awards in the competition than any other university in the world. “This is fantastic,” said Ron Barrett-Gonzalez, a professor of aerospace engineering who advised the winning teams. “First of all, it’s visibility — we’re visible on the international stage. But it’s also the mark of an extremely high level of quality our program maintains.” The 2020 honorees won awards in competitions for graduate students.