Newsletters

The 2014 AIAA Board of Directors Election is now open. As a voting member, you can help determine AIAA’s future direction. An outstanding slate of candidates has been nominated. We urge you to learn about each candidate and then vote for those you consider the best qualified. The complete Election Booklet includes the candidates’ full statements and can be accessed at www.aiaa.org/BODvote, where you can also vote electronically, which is faster, more cost-effective, and more secure than paper balloting. If you want a paper ballot, or a printed copy of the candidates’ statements, contact us at 800.639.2422, 703.264.7500, or custserv@aiaa.org. The polls are open through 24 March 2014 – vote now to make sure your voice is heard! Thank you for your continued support of AIAA!

www.aiaa.org/BODvote >

More than 3,000 individuals from more than 1,600 institutions in 44 countries participated in the AIAA Science and Technology Forum and Exposition (AIAA SciTech 2014) – the largest event for aerospace research, development, and technology in the world. Keynote speakers Congressman Chaka Fattah, Richard F. Ambrose, executive vice president of Lockheed's Space Systems Company, Frank Kendall, undersecretary of defense for acquisitions, technology and logistics, and C. D. Mote Jr., president of the National Academy of Engineering addressed the effects of future government R&D funding, the increasing cost and complexity of design, and the challenges of maintaining an educated workforce in a rapidly-changing, technology environment. Discover what you missed in 2014 and mark your calendar for AIAA SciTech 2015, 5–9 January 2015 in Kissimmee, Florida.

(Pictured: SciTech 2014 attendees network in the exhibit hall.)

SciTech 2014 - What Did You Miss? (video)
AIAA SciTech 2014 Headlines >

Every year, Engineers Week is held during the third week of February. It is observed by more than 70 engineering, education, and cultural societies, and more than 50 corporations and government agencies. The purpose of Engineers Week is to call attention to the contributions to society that engineers make. It is also a time for engineers to emphasize the importance of learning math, science, and technical skills. The celebration of Engineers Week was started in 1951 by the National Society of Professional Engineers in conjunction with President George Washington's Birthday. President Washington is considered as the nation's first engineer, notably for his survey work.

(Pictured: AIAA staff recently gathered for this photo thanking its members and all engineers. Click image for larger version.)
Letter from AIAA Executive Director to AIAA Members >
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AIAA encourages you to contribute your workplace and career experiences to a study (www.nsfengage.org) designed to systematically document what engineers enjoy most (and least) about their jobs, workplaces, and ultimately, the engineering profession. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee researchers behind this groundbreaking study, "Stemming The Tide: Why Women Leave Engineering," are conducting this nation-wide survey of women and men currently working as engineers. It will help engineering professional societies, policy makers and educators to more thoughtfully craft initiatives that optimize engineers' engagement in technical careers and workplaces. Please consider taking 25 minutes of your time to contribute your insights and experiences to this project that aims to provide the impetus for change. Please complete the survey by 10 March 2014.

Take the Survey >

On 14 January 2014, Dr. Sandy Magnus, executive director of AIAA, testified before the Unites States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, speaking on, "Examining Conference and Travel Spending Across the Federal Government." In her testimony, Dr. Magnus requested consideration of changes to the guidance for and implementation requirements of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Memorandum M-12-12 Section 2 regarding federal employee participation in conferences.

(Pictured: AIAA Executive Director Sandy Magnus.)
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AIAA congratulates seven of its members who have been elected as members or as a foreign associate of the National Academy of Engineering.

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The X-51A WaveRider team has won the 2014 AIAA Foundation’s Award for Excellence. The team will receive the award on April 30 at the AIAA Spotlight Awards Gala at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. The team is being honored “for the demonstration of the feasibility of sustained air breathing hypersonic flight by achieving a 300 second flight at Mach 5.”

(Pictured: The X-51A WaveRider test team gathered for a group photo before the fourth and final flight of the X-51A Waverider program. Credit: U.S. Air Force Photo by Ethan Wagner. Click image for larger version.)
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AIAA mourns the death of AIAA Honorary Fellow Richard H. “Dick” Battin. Battin created the guidance and navigation concepts for the Apollo spacecraft’s on-board flight computers. Battin passed away on February 8, in Concord, Mass.; he was 89 years old.

“We mourn the passing of Richard Battin, whose genius made precision navigation in space possible, and whose tireless efforts to perfect the Apollo spacecraft’s navigation and control systems made the triumph of the Apollo 11 lunar landing a reality,” said AIAA President Mike Griffin.

(Pictured: AIAA Honorary Fellow Richard H. “Dick” Battin)
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The 2014 AIAA Congressional Visits Day program is set for 12 March 2014 in Washington, DC. Attendees will have the rare opportunity to engage congressional decision makers on many topics related to critical issues in civil aeronautics, civil astronautics, and defense.

As always, our goal is to educate members of Congress, congressional staffers, key administration officials, and other decision makers about the long-term value that science, engineering, and technology brings to the Unites States. Only your participation, enthusiasm, and passion remind our lawmakers that aerospace is a key component of an economically strong and secure nation. If you are interested in the future of your profession, the advancement of technology, the furthering of scientific research, and the strengthening of our nation’s security, this event is for you! Register Today!

2014 Key Issues >

Do you want to learn more about the AIAA Public Policy program or the Congressional Visits Day program? Then join us on Saturday, 22 February, from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. EST, for a discussion on these two vital Institute programs. AIAA Executive Director Sandra Magnus will offer her perspective on the need for committed public policy advocacy to get the discussion started.

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The annual AIAA Fellows Dinner is set for Tuesday, 29 April 2014 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City, VA. This event honors persons of distinction in aeronautics or astronautics and who have made notable and valuable contributions to the arts, sciences or technology thereof. Please join us to celebrate the induction of 3 Honorary Fellows and 25 Fellows. This must-attend event is for all Fellows and Honorary Fellows only. Tickets are $140. Please register online at www.aiaa.org/FellowsDinner2014.

(Pictured: 2013 AIAA Fellows.)

AIAA ignites and celebrates ingenuity and collaboration and ensures aerospace professionals are recognized for their contributions to making the world safer, more connected, more prosperous—from the major missions that reinvent our national uses of air and space, to the inventive new applications that enhance everyday living.

Join us on Wednesday, 30 April 2014, at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC for the AIAA Aerospace Spotlight Awards Gala as we celebrate the accomplishments of preeminent individuals who have long and highly contributory careers in aerospace.

(Pictured: Michael Griffin, AIAA president, congratulates the 2013 AIAA Fellows.)
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To purchase a table or individual seats, please visit www.aiaa.org/gala2014.

We are pleased to be able to offer NASA funding support, in the form of a partial scholarship, to cover the student registration fee ($600) for students presenting a paper at SpaceOps 2014. We can support up to 15 U.S. students. View the eligibility requirements.

About SpaceOps 2014: Join colleagues from around the world to "Explore Innovation" at the 13th International Conference on Space Operations, set for 5–9 May 2014 in Pasadena, CA. It’s your opportunity to share your experiences, challenges, and innovative solutions with colleagues from around the globe, and take home new ideas and new connections. Hosted by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and organized by AIAA, SpaceOps 2014 will bring together the space operations community to address state-of-the-art operations principles, methods, and tools.

Follow us at #spaceops2014.

View the program or register at www.spaceops2014.org.

Since 1989, this symposium has provided a forum for executive discussions on how the aerospace industry is progressing from both government and corporate perspectives. This event, with anticipated attendance of approximately 100 aerospace executives, and no media, will allow for information exchange between aerospace executives in a casual atmosphere. The 2014 symposium will focus on aerospace leadership in the world.

Aerospace is the leading technology export for the United States, a key element in our balance of trade globally and a major source of high-wage engineering and manufacturing jobs. The symposium will also explore the stewardship role for aerospace and its impact on the U.S. economy, jobs, and education.

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“The variety of information presented, from the higher-level plenaries down through the technical sessions; there was something for everyone.” – AVIATION 2013 attendee

Aviation’s Global Promise – Challenges & Opportunities

Aviation is an essential component of the U.S. and global economy and of our national security. The foundations of aviation success are built on the innovations that have provided an unprecedented level of capability, capacity, and efficiency to our society.

AVIATION 2014 will stimulate thought-provoking conversations among industry leaders and the engineering and technical professionals that develop and operate aviation systems. In addition to cutting-edge technical research presentations, the program will feature panel discussions and keynote presentations addressing some of the pressing opportunities and challenges that impact the future of aviation and aeronautics.

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Recognize the achievements of your standards colleagues by nominating them for the Excellence in Aerospace Standardization Award! This biennial award honors contributions by individuals who advance the health of the aerospace community by enabling cooperation, competition, and growth through the standardization process. Such individuals may have been committee chairs, project leaders, or industry executives; the award is intended to recognize substantive accomplishment.

Any AIAA member in good standing may be a nominator; please review the award guidelines for nominee eligibility, letters of endorsement, and page limits here. AIAA members may submit nominations online after logging in with their username and password, where you will be guided step-by-step through the process. Paper entries are also acceptable. For more information, please contact Carol Stewart, Manager, AIAA Honors and Awards, at carols@aiaa.org.

The theme of the 2014 competition is How are standards and conformity assessment critical components in addressing emerging business challenges? All full- and part-time students currently enrolled at the associate, undergraduate, or graduate level at an academic institute of higher learning are eligible to enter the contest.

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AIAA has announced the 2014 recipients of its most prestigious awards. Presentation of these awards, and the recognition of the newly elected Fellows and Honorary Fellows of the Institute, will take place on April 30 at the AIAA Aerospace Spotlight Awards Gala at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC.

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Abraham E. “Abe” Karem, president, Karem Aircraft Inc., Lake Forest, Calif., has won the Daniel Guggenheim Medal. Karem will receive the medal on Wednesday, April 30, during the AIAA Aerospace Spotlight Awards Gala at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, DC.

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Now is the time to start thinking about who in your Region/Section or Technical Committee is eligible for Associate Fellow, Fellow, and Honorary Fellow. Associate Fellow nominations are due 15 April 2014 and references are due 15 May 2014. Fellow and Honorary Fellow nominations are due 15 June 2014 and reference forms are due 15 July 2014.

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AIAA invites you to nominate candidates for the Walter J. and Angeline H. Crichlow Trust Prize. The Prize is presented by AIAA every four years for excellence in aerospace materials, structural design, structural analysis, or structural dynamics for a specific achievement or body of work (perhaps extending over a period of years) that became significant during the immediate past 15 years. The maturity, universality and usefulness of the innovations and the perfection of application are key requirements of the Prize.

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AIAA is paying special tribute to its 2012–2013 Section Award winners, something that the Institute will do every year moving forward. The Section Awards annually honor particularly notable achievements made by member sections in a range of activities that help fulfill the Institute’s mission. The Institute believes that vital, active sections are essential to its success. Section awards are made in five categories based on size of membership. Each winning section receives a certificate and a cash award. Visit our Section Award Winners page to learn more about AIAA’s first-, second-, and third-place winners for this past year.

The member spotlight swung west this month, falling on Lancaster, California, and focusing on Lockheed Martin Skunk Works’ Ben Marchionna, winner of AIAA SciTech’s inaugural Twitter contest in January. Marchionna, selected to be part of Lockheed Martin’s Engineering Leadership Development Program (ELDP), is currently on a rotational assignment as a Flight Test Engineer and Test Conductor for the F-35 program at Edwards Air Force Base, California, and will return to Skunk Works in 2015 for his final ELDP rotation. Prior to his selection for the ELDP program, Marchionna worked in aircraft design at Skunk Works. He has also worked as a systems engineer on the F-35 program at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in Fort Worth, TX, and interned in systems engineering on the C-5M Super Galaxy program in Marietta, GA.

(Pictured: AIAA member Ben Marchionna)
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Serious Accidents and Human Factors proposes an original and structured approach to aviation accident prevention. In an interesting and readable collection of accounts of major accidents, drawn mainly from the aviation industry, Masako Miyagi investigates incident reports analytically and reveals the critical information hidden therein that could avert a full-blown accident or disaster.

During the space shuttle Challenger's STS-41B mission, 3–11 February 1984, American Astronauts Bruce McCandless and Robert Stewart successfully performed a feat in space never accomplished before. What was it?

Trivia Answer >

The February 2014 issue of Aerospace America is now available online for AIAA members. Don’t miss this month's feature article, “Target: Climate Change,” by Natalia Mironova, which discusses how NASA, in collaboration with other agencies, will launch satellites in the next two years to study the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere with unprecedented detail and ensure there is no break in two decades of precise ocean level measurements from space. “The question,” Mironova writes, “is whether these satellites can cool the political debate and set the stage for a verifiable carbon treaty.”



To access the February issue of Aerospace America visit www.aiaa.org/myaiaa, log in, and navigate to “Access Publications & Materials” to select “Aerospace America.”

7 February 2014
AIAA Associate Fellow Brandon Wegge Named to St. Louis Business Journal's 40 Under 40 List
St. Louis Business Journal – 40 Under 40: Brandon Wegge

6 February 2014
AIAA to be Sponsor of Florida Space Day
Parabolic Arc –Florida Space Day Set for 12 March

More AIAA in the News >

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