MIT Aeronautics and Astronautics Department
enews Vol 2, #8
June-July 2006
In this issue:
- Leveson to chair Safety Committee
- Welcome to new faculty
- People news
- NSBRI funding new Space Life Sciences program at
MIT
- Report to president available
- Tech Review profiles Hall project
- Department Annual now in print/online
- SSL "Imagine Mars" program for kids a great success
- New web profile pages coming for faculty
(Editor's note: Beginning this fall, we will expand distribution of enews
to more than 3,000 Aero-Astro alums. Be sure to send us notice of your special
events, awards, activities, and other items of interest to use so we can ensure
our alums are treated a rich, comprehensive compilation of department news.
Send to Bill Litant at wlitant@mit.edu)
1. LEVESON TO CHAIR SAFETY COMMITTEE
Professor Nancy Leveson will chair the International Association
for the Advancement of Space Safety's Technical Committee on Space
Systems Safety. IAASS is a new group that is established internationally,
and includes leadership from the European
Space Agency and participation
by NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Professor Leveson
will be the first TC chair, which, she reports, automatically makes
her a member of the IAASS Board.
2. WELCOME TO NEW FACULTY
An early "welcome" to new Aero-Astro professors
Paulo Lozano and Emilio Frazzoli, who will join the department in
September. Professor Lozano has been a resident of Bld. 37 for some
time as a research scientist. Professsor Frazzoli is an assistant
professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at UCLA. Also,
Hamsa Balakrishnan will join us as a dual AA/ESD assistant professor
next January. She is currently gaining valuable experience while
performing research at the NASA Ames Research Center. More on these
three, and other faculty updates, in our next enews.
3. PEOPLE NEWS
Afreen Sidduqi, a former Ph.D. candidate, has joined the department
as a post doctoral associate under Professor Oli de Weck.
Welcome back to administrative assistant Julie Finn, who is recuperating
from an illness. All are glad to see her back in building 33.
Professor Jeff Hoffman is continuing his work as an interviewer/commentator
for BBC, this time for the World Service Discovery series, with a
three-part series on space astronomy. These and other programs to
which Professor Hoffman has contributed may be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/discovery.shtml
Col.
Pete Young reports that the MIT Chapter of the AIAA has named its
executive board for 2006-2007. Officers are: co-presidents, Kathleen
Voelbel and Rachel Ellman; publicity chair, Ashley Cousineau; social
chairs, Viviana Serra and Valentina Lugo. Links and info for AIAA
and other Aero-Astro student groups may be found at http://web.mit.edu/aeroastro/about/groups.html
4. NSBRI FNDING NEW SPACE LIFE SCIENCES
PROGRAM AT MIT
The National Space Biomedical Research
Institute has funded
an innovative Graduate Education Program in Space Life Sciences to
be conducted jointly at Texas A&M University and MIT through
the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, reports
Professor Larry Young. He will be the program's MIT lead investigator.
The program will develop modules to augment current graduate curricula
at these two institutions, enabling students to experience advanced
courses in biomedical science and engineering, specifically as these
fields relate to the space program. The program is expected to enroll
students within three to six months. It is anticipated that the program's
educational modules will be applicable to many accredited doctoral
programs across the nation.
5. REPORT TO THE PRESIDENT AVAILABLE
The department has forwarded its 2005-06 Annual Report
to the President to President Susan Hockfield's Office where it will
be added to reports from the other departments and schools. The report
includes information about department research, student demographics,
award winners, and more. The report is available for downloading
on the Aero-Astro Web site at http://web.mit.edu/aeroastro/about/index.html Past
reports dating back to 1994-95 may be downloaded at http://web.mit.edu/annualreports/
6. TECH REVIEW PROFILES HALL PROJECT
Professor Steve Hall and his work with Professor
Yet-Ming Chiang of MSE on battery electrode-actuated morphing rotor
blades are featured in the July-August issue of Technology Review.
Hall and Chang have built a morphing model that's a short cross section
of a helicopter rotor blade with a series of rectangular lithium-ion
batteries inside. When, at the flip of a switch, the batteries are
discharged or charged, they move a few millimeters and exert force
on a strut that deforms the rotor's shape. The technology may have
applications in improving flight efficiency of fixed wing aircraft
and helicopters. Read the article online at the
Technology Review web site.
7. DEPARTMENT ANNUAL NOW IN PRINT/ONLINE
The 2005-2006 issue of the department's annual magazine,
Aero-Astro, is now in print. The glossy 64-page publication is packed
with photos and articles about interplanetary transportation research
(de Weck), 16.62x (Greitzer and Craig), aviation environmental impact
research (Waitz), the flying car project (Dietrich), computational
engineering research and education (Darmofal, Peraire, Radovitzky,
Willcox), a profile of Professor Mark Drela (Clark), a profile of
astronaut/alumna Janice Voss (Silver), a tribute to Gene Covert (Litant),
and reports from the department's labs. Copies are being distributed
to all faculty, MIT leadership, aerospace industry leaders, students' parents,
and to graduate alumni in their annual fundraising appeal packages. Faculty
are welcome to obtain extra copies and encouraged to pass them on to colleagues,
sponsors, and others interested in Aero-Astro. For copies, contact Bill Litant
wlitant@mit.edu. The articles are also posted on the department Web site
at http://web.mit.edu/aeroastro/news/magazine/index.html where they may be
read online or downloaded.
8. SSL "IMAGINE MARS" PROGRAM FOR KIDS A
GREAT SUCCESS
SharonLeah Brown, the Space Systems Lab manager & and
Educational outreach coordinator, reports that the Lab organized
an exhibit titled "Imagine
Mars" recently at the New Academy
Estates Neighborhood Networks Community Center in Roxbury. "We
are excited about the local and national support we have received
so far. This project was more than a year in the making," she
reports. "We had more than 100 visitors total enjoy the trip
to Mars, with seven stations, ranging from the hydro garden, to the
fitness center, and the Command Control Stations, and even a first
aid center. The students, ranging in age from 8-15, worked hard to
see this dream come to life with many dedicated volunteers who worked
closely, with them." The exhibit included simulations of what
it may be like to work, play, and live on Mars. Also on hand was
a prototype eight-wheeled Mars rover and authentic space suits.
9. NEW WEB PROFILE PAGES COMING FOR FACULTY
The development of Phase 2 of our project to enhance Aero-Astro's
online information materials, now receiving its finishing touches,
involves designing a template for individual profile pages that will
then be created for every Aero-Astro faculty member. Visitors to
Aero-Astro's new Web site will be able to click a faculty member's
name and view brief information about that individual. Links from these
pages will lead to faculty's personal Web sites (if they have them), lab
sites, or anywhere else they designate. A template has also been designed
for faculty who would like full Web sites developed for them. More information
will be emailed in coming weeks as the project progresses. For those
who would like take a look at beta versions, Professor Ian Waitz volunteered
to have us prototype for him the single page profile, which will
be created for everyone http://web.mit.edu/aeroastro/people/waitz.html and the complete Web site, which we will build/customize by request,
http://web.mit.edu/aeroastro/people/waitz/ Stay tuned for more.
Please share your news with the rest of the Aero-Astro community by contributing to the e-news. Awards, events, new research - it's all of interest. Send your suggestions to wlitant@mit.edu.
