SDSU Undergraduate Papers Appear at 2022 AIAA SciTech Meeting

Pictured L-R: Shaan Heugly, Jarod Heise, Angel De La Cruz, Thomas Ridgeway, Cade Walton, Riley Jacobsen

In at the 2022 AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics) SciTech Forum, thirteen SDSU undergraduate student authors presented seven research papers in the areas of aerospace history, ground test technology, and machine learning, respectively. Out of these thirteen SDSU undergraduate students, eleven are from the Department of Aerospace Engineering.

AIAA SciTech Forum is the largest and most influential professional meeting for aerospace research, development and technology in the world. Every year, about 5,000 individuals, including scientists, engineers, industry leaders, policy makers and students from countries around the world, come to attend the forum. Within the week-long conference, usually more than 2000 papers are presented in more than 500 technical sessions each year.

The 2022 AIAA SciTech Forum was held in San Diego, California from January 3 to 7. According to AIAA, the 2022 forum explored the science, technologies, and policies that are shaping the aerospace industry’s future and enabling sustainability.

Among the seven undergraduate papers, five are in the area of aero history. These include:
 “The History of the Low-Speed Wind Tunnel at San Diego State University”, co-authored by Alfonso Acosta, Kendall Miller, Bradley Zelenka and Xiaofeng Liu;
 “The History of Design/Build/Fly at San Diego State University”, co-authored by Jeremy C. Johnson, Roberto Marquez and Xiaofeng Liu;
 “The History of SDSU Rocket Project”, co-authored by Cade Walton, Thomas Ridgeway, Xiaofeng Liu, Ahmad Bani Younes and Carl Tedesco;
 “Albert Adams Merrill” by Daniel J Black and Gary Fogel; 
 “Maxine Dunlap and the California Glider Club of 1928-1930 “ by Madison Cicchitto and Gary Fogel.

The undergraduate paper titled “An Experimental Study of the Heat Balance in a Subsonic Wind Tunnel”, coauthored by Evan Pruitt, Chandara Heng, John King, Amaury Reed and Xiaofeng Liu, was be presented in the technical session on ground test technology in the Forum.

Mentors of these student papers include Dr. Xiaofeng Liu, Dr. Gary Fogel, Dr. Ahmad Bani Younes and Mr. Carl Tedesco from the Department of Aerospace Engineering.

In addition to the aforementioned six papers, Riley Jacobsen, an SDSU AE senior undergraduate student, presented his paper based on his internship work at the Aerospace Corporation co-authored with his industrial mentors, with the title “Machine Learning: Paving the Way for More Efficient Disaster Relief” in the Forum.