AIAA Wichita Section October Dinner Meeting Oct. 25 – Curiosity: Exploring the Red Planet with the Mars Science Laboratory
Todd Barber from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory will be speaking about the Mars Curiosity Rover on Thursday, October 25 at the Hilton Doubletree hotel located at 2098 Airport Road. Social hour starts at 5:30, dinner at 6:30, and the presentation at 7:30. Menu choices are almond chicken, pork chop, or salmon fillet . A vegetarian option will also be available. The cost is $20 for AIAA Members, $25 for non-members, and $15 for retired AIAA members, AIAA student members, and AIAA members seeking employment.
Please RSVP to the AIAA Secretary by 5:00 p.m. on Monday, October 22.
Dr. Neal Pfeiffer will be speaking about sailplane design on Tuesday, September 25 at the Wichita Gliderport, located at 13501 E 45th Street North. Social hour starts at 5:30 and the presentation begins at 6:30. Free sandwiches, chips, soda, and cookies will be provided.
Thanks to those who did help with the AIAA Design Build Fly event in April. The competition was the same weekend as the tornado that passed through south east Wichita. Because of the storm, the competition had to end early on Saturday and was not able to resume on Sunday. The teams were judged based off the two rounds of the flight competition that were completed as well as their report. Congratulations to the winning teams.
The Wichita State University Student Section and the Wichita Area Professional Section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics are co-sponsoring:
Innovation is No Vacation
By Dr. Walt Silva of NASA-Langley Research Center
The presentation will be held on Friday, April 6, at 6:00 pm at Room 211 in Hubbard Hall on the WSU Campus
There is no charge, and no reservation is required
This seminar will present the perspective that innovation requires hard work and, most importantly, a stubborn persistence. Dr. Silva will share his personal experience with innovation and the lessons learned from those experiences. A general discussion of innovation is introduced including several examples of resistance to innovation throughout history. A discussion on the perspective that mentors (technical experts, professors) need to adopt in order to encourage and promote an innovative environment is discussed as well.
Volunteers are needed for the Cessna sponsored American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Student Design/Build/Flycompetition. The competition is at the Cessna East Field on April 13-15, 2012.Â
- More information about the event can be found here.
-To help make the event a success, volunteers are needed for the following:
Technical Inspection Judges – The R/C aircraft must be inspected for safety of flight and mission readiness. Prior experience with R/C aircraft is required.
Contest day volunteers – Flight judges and crowd control support are needed for the contest weekend. No experience required.
AIAA and SWE hosted a joint meeting with Dr. Felder, FAA, Director of William J Hughes Technical Center. Dr. Felder gave an interesting talk about the current air traffic control system and the next gen system that is currently in development. He also discussed the center where he works and its testing capabilities. This was a great networking opportunity for SWE and AIAA members, and SWE hopes to particpate in more collaborative meetings with professional engineering organizations in the area.
Dr. Felder is the director of the FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center in Pomona, NJ. The Next Generation Air Transportation system is the Nation’s response to a crisis in air transportation characterized by ineffective and expensive radar surveillance, error prone communications and antiquated airspace structures.
Cost: $25 for AIAA/SWE members; $20 AIAA/SWE Retired and Students; $30 non-members
