AIAA Aviation and Aeronautics Forum and Exposition 2015 to Explore Pushing the Boundaries of the Imaginable: Leveraging the Aviation Ecosystem Written 27 May 2015

May 27, 2015 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) will hold its Aviation and Aeronautics Forum and Exposition (AIAA AVIATION 2015), June 22–26, at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, Texas. The theme of the event is “Pushing the Boundaries of the Imaginable: Leveraging the Aviation Ecosystem.”

“Aviation is one of the world’s great industries – with hundreds of thousands of workers and tens of thousands of commercial, civil and military flights every day bringing the world closer together and keeping it safe,” said AIAA President Jim Albaugh. “The experience and knowledge of those who attend AVIATION 2015 will allow for a robust discussion across a broad range of areas."

Featuring 16 discussion tracks and 1,500 technica presentationsby attendees representing nearly 600 companies, organizations, and agencies in 37 countries, AVIATION 2015 is an international forum that will bring together leading minds from industry, academia, and government to provide actionable insights into the critical challenges and opportunities facing aviation and aeronautics. Specific discussion topics include: aircraft design, cybersecurity, globalization’s effect on aerospace, Next Generation Air Traffic Control (NextGen) implementation, the future of aerospace technology, and the integration of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) into international airspace.

"All aerospace innovation begins with a person asking ‘what if…?’,” said Sandra Magnus, AIAA executive director. “AVIATION 2015 will bring together over 3,000 aerospace professionals to ask that question in areas ranging from cybersecurity and globalization to aircraft operations and the future of flight technology. Attendees at AVIATION 2015 will foster, and facilitate the collaboration and exchange necessary to inspire each of us to keep asking ‘what if…?’ thus ensuring an innovative, productive, and robust future for our global community.”

Tom Enders, CEO of Airbus Group, will deliver the forum’s opening keynote address, “Are We Moving Fast Enough?,” on 22 June. Other notable speakers include: Bill Ayer, chairman and CEO, Alaska Air Group (retired); Charles F. Bolden Jr., administrator, NASA; Edward L. Bolton Jr., assistant administrator for NextGen, FAA; Kurt Erbacher, vice president, G650 Aircraft Program, Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation; Janet Kavandi, center deputy director, NASA Glenn Research Center; David McBride, center director, NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center; Jaiwon Shin, associate administrator, NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate; and Gregory J. Touhill, deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Cybersecurity and Communications, Department of Homeland Security.

AIAA AVIATION 2015’s panel discussions will include: “NACA to NASA: Embarking on the Next 100 Years of Excellence and Innovation in Aeronautics and Beyond”; “Supercomputing: Roadmap and its Future Role in Aerospace Engineering”; “The Challenges of Green Aviation”; “The Impact of Particle Image Velocimetry on Aerospace Technology”; “International UAS Integration Forum”; and “Whatever Happened to the Four-Year Airplane?”

On Thursday, 25 June, Pablo Gonzalez II, UCAS-D program manager, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, Manhattan Beach, California, will present the Wright Brothers Lecture in Aeronautics. The lecture honors the memory of Orville and Wilbur Wright and commemorates their achievements in flight. Gonzalez’s lecture is entitled: “Development & Testing of the X-47B.” AVIATION 2015 also will feature award lectures in the areas of Aeroacoustics, Aerodynamics, and Thermophysics.

AIAA AVIATION 2015 will feature two recognition luncheons. The first, on 23 June, will celebrate achievements in the aerospace sciences, and will present the following AIAA awards: Aerocoustics Award; Aerodynamics Award; Fluid Dynamics Award; Ground Testing Award; Losey Atmospheric Sciences Award; Plasmadynamics and Lasers Award; and the Thermophysics Award. The second luncheon on 25 June, will celebrate achievements in aircraft and atmospheric systems with the presentation of the AIAA Aircraft Design Awardand the 2015 Elmer A. Sperry Award. The Elmer A. Sperry award is the only transportation engineering honor sponsored jointly by six engineering societies, including: ASME, ASCE, AIAA, IEEE, SAE International, and SNAME.

The premier sponsor for AVIATION 2015 is Airbus. Other sponsors include: Bastion Technologies, The Boeing Company, Crean & Associates Aerospace Consultants, Dunmore Corporation, HondaJet, Lockheed Martin, TMAC and XFlow CFD. The media sponsors is Aerospace America.

For more information on AIAA AVIATION 2015, please contact Duane Hyland at 703.264.7558 or duaneh@aiaa.org. Conference registration is complimentary for credentialed members of the press.