Clarkson Students Compete in AIAA Regional Student Conference
The 2023 Northeast Region 1 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Regional Student Conference was held recently at the University of Buffalo and four Clarkson students made the trek across the state to present for the event. They are Mechanical Engineering majors and graduate students Huijing Dong ‘23, Stephen Monroe ‘22, 24, and undergraduate students Russell Hankey ‘24, Mechanical Engineering, and Melanie Orzechowski ‘23, Aerospace Engineering.
Huijing and Stephen presented in the Masters category while Russell and Melanie competed in the Undergraduate competition. When the dust settled, both Stephen and Melanie won third place in their respective groups, each receiving $250. The students were graded on their presentation, oral skills, and they had to submit a technical paper which was graded before the competition began. All three components contributed to their final score.
The objective of the conference is to provide student members with an educational experience that prepares them for their future as practicing aerospace engineers. Students attend and present their technical work as they would at an AIAA Forum. In addition, they establish relationships, learn from others, and hone their communication skills. Their work, both written and oral, is evaluated by professional members serving as judges, with the primary intent of providing qualitative feedback on the quality of their work. This is also the first year that they can publish their papers with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Sponsors for the conference included Moog, Calspan, Cubric, and the US Air Force.
The event included a dinner in the Calspan hanger followed by an evening at the Niagara Aviation Museum. Guest speaker Alice Bowman, the Mission Operations Manager for the New Horizons mission to Pluto, gave a talk at the luncheon on the exploration results and the students even got to see the jet pack developed and used in the James Bond 007 movie “Thunderball.”
