the classroom, the students are encouraged to participate and take leadership roles in studentled extra-curricular activities. Most of these involve hands-on design/ build/fly projects, including the US Launch Initiative, the NASA-sponsored lunar robotics competition, the Space Grant rocket contest, the UAV challenge, the AIAA remote controlled airplane design competition, the Student Aircraft Builders project, etc. These hands-on courses and projects are the topic of our cover story on page 14. The newsletter is also an opportunity for the department to report on some of the research activities of our faculty members and students over this past academic year, from the recently announced DOE Center on Plasma Assisted Combustion (page 4), to recent advances in battery technology (page 10), and applied aerodynamics (page 6). Please make sure to read also about some of the accomplishments and awards of our students and alumni, including another first and second place finish in the AIAA Undergraduate Space Design Competition (page 24), and the trip of alumnus Michael Hopkins to the International Space Station (page 32). I invite you to discover these and the many other stories presented in this newsletter, and, as always, look forward to your comments. Our contact information can be found on the department’s web site at www.aerospace.illinois.edu, together with the many other stories on our alumni, students and faculty members that could not fit in this newsletter. Let me end my introductory words by wishing farewell to our colleague, Mike Bragg, who, after a very successful career in our department as faculty member and Head, and at the College of Engineering as Executive Associate Dean and Interim Dean, recently became Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle. We thank him for his years of service and wish him good luck in his new position.
Department of Aerospace Engineering Faculty Joanna M. Austin Lawrence A. Bergman Daniel J. Bodony Michael B. Bragg Timothy W. Bretl Ioannis Chasiotis Huck Beng Chew Soon-Jo Chung Bruce A. Conway Victoria L. Coverstone Steven J. D’Urso J. Craig Dutton Gregory S. Elliott Jonathan B. Freund Grace Gao Philippe H. Geubelle Thomas L. Jackson John Lambros Cedric Langbort Michael McFarland N. Sri Namachchivaya Marco Panesi Michael S. Selig Petros G. Voulgaris Scott R. White
Emeritus Faculty John D. Buckmaster Rodney L. Burton Harry H. Hilton Ki D. Lee John E. Prussing Kenneth R. Sivier Wayne C. Solomon Shee Mang Yen
Affiliate/Adjunct Faculty Joseph Bentsman David Leon Carroll Kenneth T. Christensen Naira Hovakimyan Eric Loth Arif Masud George H. Miley James W. Phillips Srinivasa M. Salapaka Nancy R. Sottos Alexander Vakakis
Administrative Staff Lee A. Booher Timothy A. Cochrane Laura A. Gerhold Diane E. Jeffers Kendra Lindsey Stephen S. Mathine Gregory S. Milner Susan K. Mumm Staci L. Tankersley
Shared Services Lori A. Rairden Paul Redman Caitlin M. Bruning
Sincerely, Philippe H. Geubelle Bliss Professor and Head
On the cover: Students in AE Prof. Greg Elliott’s UAV Course built three different unmanned aircraft.
2013 Newsletter
AE Faculty Listed As Excellent AE faculty recently included on the List of Teachers Rated as Excellent by Their Students have been: Spring 2013, Daniel J. Bodony; David L. Carroll; J. Craig Dutton; Owen T. Kingstedt (graduate student); John Lambros. Fall 2012, Phillip J. Ansell (graduate student); Bodony; Conway; Timothy W. Bretl; Bruce A. Conway; Steven J. D’Urso; Dutton; Gregory S. Elliott; Philippe H. Geubelle.
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