MIT Aero Astro -
 

May 2016

In this issue:
1. Promotions
2. Honors, awards
3. Welcome
4. In the picture


Barrett


Marzouk

1. Barrett and Marzouk promoted

Professors Steven Barrett and Youssef Marzouk have been promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure. Barrett heads the Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment. "Steven is a world leader in the study of environmental impacts of aviation." said AeroAstro head Jaime Peraire. "He has made important and original contributions to clarifying and understanding a number of aviation environmental impact pathways." 

Marzouk is the Uncertainty Quantification Group Principal Investigator. "Youssef is a leading developer of methods for uncertainty quantification and statistical inference for systems governed by partial differential equations" Peraire said. "He has proposed fundamentally new ways to look at the long-standing problem of statistical inference. In addition, he has demonstrated tremendous leadership and excellence as a mentor and educator."

 

 


Shah


de Weck


Willcox


Zolnik

2. Honors, awards

Harvard University has accepted Professor Julie Shah as a Radcliffe Fellow for the coming year. She says she will spend the year "explor(ing) novel methods for blending the unique decision-making strengths of humans and machines."

Collaborative Design in the Sustainable Infrastructure Planning Game, a paper co-authored by Professor Oli de Weck, was selected as best paper at this spring's Annual Simulation Symposium.

The University of Auckland has presented Professor Karen Willcox with its 2016 Distinguished Alumni Award. She received her BE degree at UA in 1994.

AeroAstro space manager Anthony Zolnik will receive a 2016 Infinite Mile Award for Excellence. "We are fortunate to have Anthony in the department. I am delighted that his contributions are being recognized," said department head Jaime Peraire.

A paper recounting the Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment's study linking Volkswagen emissions to premature U.S. deaths was awarded "Best Article of 2015" by Environmental Research Letters. Professor Steven Barrett was the lead author.
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Award recipients

At a special May 11 lunch, annual AeroAstro department awards were presented to the following individuals: (from left) Elizabeth Zotos (Wings Award), Anne Maynard (Vickie Kerrebrock Award), Jacques Matthieu (Spirit of XVI Award), David Robertson (Simon Award), James Letendre (Simon Award), Jei Lee Freeman (Spirit of XVI Award), Todd Billings (Simon Award). The Simon Award is new for 2016 and is awarded by the department head for "exceptional contribution to the department."

At a May 9 AeroAstro dinner, the following students were presented with the departments' annual student awards: Yngve K. Raustein Memorial Award — Maya Nasr; Apollo Program Prize — Johannes Norheim, Aaron Ashley, Guillermo Bautista; Andrew J. Morsa Prize — Joseph Kusters, Derek Barnes; Thomas B. Sheridan Prize — Evie Kyritsis, Margaret Reagan; Leaders for Manufacturing Undergraduate Prize — Julia CrowleyFarenga, Raichelle Aniceto, Rachel Weinberg; Rene H. Miller Prize for Excellence in Systems Engineering — Annie Marinan; Admiral Luis De Florez Prize — Andrew Liotta, Kelly O’Brien; James Means Award for Excellence in Flight Vehicle Engineering — Patrick Lowe; James Means Award for Excellence in Space Systems Engineering — Eduardo Maristany, Timothy “Curtis” Shoyer; SuperUROP Research Project Award — Michael Burton; AeroAstro Graduate Teaching Assistantship Award — Mohammad Islam, Roedolph Opperman; Henry Webb Salisbury Award — Michael Burton, Andrew Liotta, Martin York.
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On April 27, the MIT AIAA Student Chapeter presented its annual awards to (from left) Professor Wes Harris (Advising Award), Professor Raul Radovitzky (Teaching Award), and grad student Ben Couchman (Undergraduate Teaching Award).

Senior research engineer Chuck Oman reports that Aaron Johnson (AeroAstro SM '10, PhD '15) won the Aerospace Human Factors Association's Stanley N. Roscoe Award for the best doctoral dissertation during the past year. Aaron's thesis was titled "Analyzing the Effects of Dynamic Task Allocation on Human-Automation System Performance."

 

3. Welcome

Welcome to two new postdoc associates: Nikhil Galagali with Youssef Marzouk, and Yue Zhou with Brian Wardle.

 

4. In the picture

16.00 class
Holding aloft their certificates, 2016 Flight Competition competitors are joined by their classmates following the award presentation on May 12. Winners were: first place team — Deepti Ajjampore, Alejandro Cabrales Hernandez,Lillian Clark, Michael Picchini; second place team — Alexander Queen, Jeremy Stroming, Samir Wadhwania; third place team — Robert Reed, Chloe Sackier, Jonathan Zdasiuk, Emily Zhu.
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Flugtag Team
MIT Flugtag Team Monkey Ballers members (l-r) Michael Klinker, William Thalheimer, Mike Tomovich, and Hayden Cornwell in the Neumann Hangar, where they’ll be building a glider they're entering in a wacky Boston competition this summer.

AIAA with Lovell
Following his April 27 presentation about the flight of Apollo 13, Capt Jim Lovell was the guest of honor at the MIT AIAA dinner. He's pictured here with the AIAA executive committee, (from left) Kristen Murray, Julia CrowleyFarenga, Martina Stadler, Ceili Burdhimo, Olivia Makepeace, and Michael Burton.


Janelle Wellons of the MIT Space Balloon Team reports that in late April the team successfully launched a payload from Cheshire, Mass. carrying a GoPro, SPOT tracker, undeveloped film, a logo for the philanthropic cause Environmental League of Massachusetts , and other small tokens as a part of their participation in the Global Space Balloon Challenge. The payload flew approximately 80,000 ft from the Earth's surface and landed Putnam, Conn. where it was retrieved by professional tree climbers. Janelle notes that there is a webpage for their philanthropic effort.

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