MIT Aeronautics and Astronautics Department
enews
January 2009

In this issue:

1. Welcome to Youssef Marzouk
2. GA^s '09 Exec Committee Announced
3. Club Bestows Intro Flight Scholarships
4. AA Contributes to Future of Human Spaceflight Report
5. 16.83 NanoSat Proposal a Winner
6. AA Alumni Named Science Advisor
7. Nano-Work in AIAA Wrapup
8. Widnall Apollo Talk Added to Video Gallery
9. Inauguration Screening in 33-206

1. WELCOME YOUSSEF MARZOUK

A warm welcome to Youssef M. Marzouk, our new Boeing Assistant Professor, who has taken up residence in 33-305 (formerly Missy Cumming's office; she has moved to 33-311). Youssef holds S.B., S.M., and Ph.D. degrees, all from MIT, and spent four years at Sandia National Laboratories before joining us. His interests include energy conversion and propulsion, chemically reacting flows, transport processes, fluid mixing, vortex dynamics, chemical kinetics, computational mathematics, uncertainty quantification, data assimilation, inverse problems, and bayesian inference (just to name a few!). You can view his Aero-Astro profile page at http://web.mit.edu/aeroastro/people/marzouk.html

2. GA^3 09 EXEC COMMITTEE ANNOUNCED

The Graduate Association of Aeronautics and Astronautics has announced the GA^3 executive committee for 2009:

Co-Presidents: Chelsea He, Holly Jeffrey
Vice-President: Jon Gibbs
Treasurer: Chris Dorbian
Academic Chair: Hiten Mulchandani
Social Chairs: Allie Anderson, John Richmond
Student Involvement Chair: Alex Stimpson
International Student Chair: Sydney Do
GSC Reps: Paul Grogan, Justin Kaderka, Jared Krueger

At the time of the announcement, GA^3 was seeking representatives for several department labs. Aero-Astro grad students interested in volunteering should email ga3-comm@mit.edu.

3. CLUB BESTOWS INTRO FLIGHT SCHOLARSHIPS

Kostas Speridakos, president of the MIT Flying Club, tells us that the club has distributed its first 10 introductory flight scholarships. Aero-Astro students receiving the scholarships are Kai Liao, Danielle DeLatte, Manal Habib, and Meng Heng Touch. Each scholarship includes a ground school lesson and one hour of flight time with an instructor (thank goodness) at a local flight school. "The purpose of the scholarship program is to provide young people with the firsthand experience of piloting an airplane. Recipients are determined in a lottery, so no lengthy application is required," Kostas says. He adds, "The club appreciates the support of the department for the scholarships." People interested in joining the MIT Flying Club (free) and applying for one of 10 scholarships that will be offered next spring, visit http://web.mit.edu/mitflying/ or email csperi@mit.edu.

4. AA CONTRIBUTES TO FUTURE OF HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT REPORT

A team led by MIT researchers has produced what is being hailed as the most comprehensive independent review of the future of the nation’s human spaceflight program undertaken in many years." The report, titled "The Future of Human Spaceflight," (download at http://web.mit.edu/mitsps/), recommends setting loftier goals for humans in space, focusing research more clearly toward those goals, and increasing cooperation with other nations and private industry. The report was prepared by the MIT Space, Policy and Society Research Group, which includes among its members Aero-Astro professors Jeffrey Hoffman, Larry Young, Dava Newman, and Annalisa Weigel. A news article about the report is posted at http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/mindell-space-1216.html

5. 16.83 NANOSAT PROPOSAL A WINNER

Professor Dave Miller reports that the 16.83 class developing a 2.0 kilometer/sec, 50 Kg micro-satellite has written a winning proposal to the AFOSR University Nanosatellite-6 Program. Congratulations to the 16.83ers. More on the program at http://www.vs.afrl.af.mil/UNP/

6. AA ALUMNI NAMES SCIENCE ADVISOR

Yet another Aero-Astro alumn in the news: John Holdren, Aero-Astro S.B '65 and S.M. '66, has been named Assistant to the President for Science and Technology in the new administration. The position is more commonly known as the president’s science advisor. President-elect Obama called Holdren "one of the most passionate and persistent voices of our time about the growing threat of climate change." Holdren is a professor of environmental policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and director of the Science, Technology, and Public Policy program in the School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. He currently sits on several MIT thesis committees.

7. NANO-WORK IN AIAA WRAPUP

Professor Brian Wardle's group's nano-engineered composite work is mentioned on pages 98-99 of the year-end AIAA Aerospace America issue. It includes an image of the group's hybrid nanoengineered composite concept, aligned carbon where nanotubes are grown on the surface of existing advanced fibers (such as carbon) to reinforce a composite.

8. WIDNALL APOLLO TALK ADDED TO VIDEO GALLERY

Aero-Astro's growing TechTV gallery now includes a video of Dr. Bill Widnall speaking to Aero-Astro students about heading the MIT/Draper team in the ‘60s that developed Apollo’s guidance, navigation, and control system. Taped on Dec 12, the video is featured on the Aero-Astro Web site video page http://techtv.mit.edu/collections/aeroastro. For those who don't know: Bill is the husband of Aero-Astro Professor Sheila Widnall. Other available Aero-Astro videos include the late Prof. Bob Seamans and Neil Armstrong on the development of manned spaceflight, the late Prof. Raymond Blisplinghoff on chairing the FAA committee that investigated the May 1979 DC10 crash at O'Hare, testing Aero-Astro Space Systems Lab's SPHERES microsatellites on the International Space Station, and more. Visit http://techtv.mit.edu/collections/aeroastro.

9. INAUGURATION SCREENING IN 33-206

Room 33-206 has been reserved all day on the January 20th for viewing the presidential inauguration on the big screen. All who are free to do so are welcome to join us on this historic occasion.

If you know of events, honors, activities, or other information you'd like to see in the next issue of Aero-Astro enews, please send to wlitant@mit.edu - we'd be pleased to include it!