2017 Q2 Council of Directors Newsletter

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2017 Q2 Council of Directors Newsletter

Table of Contents

 

Message from Your Speaker, Council of Directors......................................Allen Arrington

Message from Your AIAA Managing Director, Products & Programs.............Megan Scheidt

Meet Your Council Team............Julie Van Kleeck – Director, Corporate Membership Group

IOC of the Quarter – Society and Aerospace Technology.......................... Amir Gohardani

TC of the Quarter – Applied Aerodynamics....................................................Carl Tilmann


Current Affairs & Upcoming Events

 

Highlights from 2017 AVIATION.......................................................................Fay Collier

Millennials in AIAA............................Janice Gong, Matthew Cannella, and Brian Pomeroy

In Memoriam: AIAA Fellow Laurence D. (Larry) Leavitt ..........................................John Lin

 

Message from Your Speaker, Council of Directors

Allen Arrington PHOTOThis is an exciting time for AIAA.  In May we stood up the new governance model that has been under development for the past three years and was made possible due to the resounding approval of the updated Institute Constitution during the 2016 election.  The new elements of the governance model, specifically the Board of Trustees and the Council of Directors are now up and running, but there is still plenty of work to be done in terms of the details.  There are still challenges ahead for AIAA, but the new governance structure should provide us with the flexibility to address those challenges.  Our new Board of Trustees was designed to develop a strategic vision while the Council of Directors provides a home for all members and a place to develop great ideas from across the membership.

So what exactly is the Council of Directors?  I guess, in the simplest terms, the Council of Directors (the Council) is the voice of the AIAA membership.  The Council is where the member-driven ideas are born and developed.   Per the Bylaws, the "Council of Directors shall have the right and responsibility to advise the Board of Trustees regarding any matter of importance to AIAA."  We will be helping to develop the Board's strategic vision by providing the perspective of the members to the Board.  But the Council is also the body that will be working to implement the strategic vision.  We are responsible for the technical excellence of the Institute.  The expertise and the drive to organize a conference, develop a standard or conduct a workshop resides within the members in the Sections, the Technical Committees and the committees like Corporate Members or Young Professionals.  It is the Council's job to bring those groups together so that we can best address each project.  So we are providing the input on what is important to the members as well as shaping that input into the products and services that are most valuable to the members.

Since the Council is the voice of the members, we needed a structure that provided a place for every member. The Governance Working Group developed the overall new governance model which was refined by the Governance Transition Team.  I think that these groups did a fine job by pulling good ideas from the old model and adding missing elements to form a structure that will allow for cooperation and flexibility. There are three primary divisions within the Council:

 

  • Sections and Regions Activities Division - the geographically-based way for members to engage.
  • Technical Activities Division - home of the Technical Committees.
  • Integration and Outreach Division - bringing together the rest of the member committees and providing the systems-level perspective.

 

Each Division is led by a Chief.  A Division is made up of Regions or Groups that are led by a Director.  The chart shows the leaders who make up this initial seating of the Council of Directors.

Council of Directors Org Chart

As we are working through the transition to stand up the new Council of Directors, we'll make sure to get articles from all Divisions for the next issue of the newsletter. If you have any questions about the Council of Directors, governance in general or how you can get more involved, please let me know.

 

Allen Arrington
Speaker – Council of Directors

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Message from Your AIAA Managing Director, Products & Programs

 

AIAA is moving into the e-learning realm with the acquisition of a Learning Management System (LMS).  This kind of system will allow AIAA to easily administer, document, track, report, and deliver educational courses or training programs. Based on an assessment of AIAA’s educational offerings by an external consultant and feedback from the internal Short Course Ad Hoc group comprising representatives from various Technical Committees, the decision was made that it was time for AIAA to explore online learning formats to deliver contents to a larger audience.

The objectives of an LMS are to:

  • Provide enhanced educational programming in a more accessible format to AIAA members and other aerospace professionals
  • Give AIAA a new communications tool for volunteer training and interactive communications
  • Increase AIAA’s relevance in the aerospace industry as a provider of high-quality technical courses
  • Provide value to underserved constituencies (e.g., young professional members, non-U.S. members)
  • Experiment with new educational content offerings from AIAA’s product portfolio and growth areas
  • Develop new products

 

It is envisioned that the system will deliver different types of content including: 

  • Technical short courses
  • Career development and soft skill presentations
  • Volunteer training
  • Virtual sessions
  • Hot topics in policy and emerging technologies

 

We offered our first live webcast through the LMS in April.  This was focused on the topic of aerospace cybersecurity and was an interview between Executive Director Dr. Sandy Magnus and cybersecurity expert Richard Clarke.  About 100 people participated in the live webcast; the webcast is also available on demand.

We are in the process of developing online courses based on suggestions received from various Technical Committees.  Visit www.aiaa.org/onlinelearning/ for more information and to see what’s new in this area.

 

Megan Scheidt
Managing Director, Products & Programs
megans@aiaa.org

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Meet Your Council Team: Julie Van Kleeck – Director, Corporate Membership Group

 

Julie Van Kleeck PHOTOJulie Van Kleeck is Vice President, Advanced Space and Launch Programs and Strategy for Aerojet Rocketdyne (AR). She is responsible for space and launch propulsion and power, research, technology development and product development programs. Her program and technology responsibilities include the company’s Space Launch System (SLS) propulsion, Orion propulsion, Commercial Crew propulsion and power, advanced electric propulsion, International Space System (ISS) power system, and AFRL and DARPA programs as well as AR’s additive manufacturing, advanced materials, nontoxic propellant, Bantam engine technology, modular small satellite and nuclear propulsion and power technology efforts.

Ms. Van Kleeck joined Aerojet in 1981 and was appointed to her present position in June 2013.  Prior to this assignment, she was Vice President of the Space and Launch Business Unit for Aerojet, responsible for all the company’s in-space and launch propulsion technology, development and production programs.

From 1994 to 2007, she served in a number of management positions including program director of a multi-national commercial launch vehicle project, during which she interfaced extensively with foreign launch vehicle companies (1998-2001) and affiliated governmental agencies as well as the chief engineer for the company’s key missile defense programs (1990-1992).

Ms. Van Kleeck earned her Bachelor of Science degrees in Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering from the University of California.  She has received numerous technical awards from Aerojet Rocketdyne, GenCorp and outside organizations.  She is active in Aerojet Rocketdyne’s STEM and Women in Aerospace outreach and advocacy efforts.  She is also the executive sponsor of AR’s “Women in Network” (WIN) organization, an AIAA Associate Fellow, Chair of the AIAA Corporate Member Committee, a Propulsion and Energy Executive Steering Committee member, a past member of the Aerospace Museum of California board and a current member of the European Space Propulsion board.

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Integration & Outreach Committee of the Quarter – Society and Aerospace Technology

 

Michelle Rouch PHOTO Michelle Rouch, a SAT IOC committee member and artist interfaces with Advanced Science Engineering Program students at Fairmont High School.

 

The Society and Aerospace Technology Integration and Outreach Committee (SAT IOC) has actively engaged in a number of different activities linked to AIAA's mission to inspire and advance the future of aerospace for the benefit of humanity.  As a diverse IOC, this committee enables new bridges between technology and society by supporting conference sessions and by enabling new ways to establish the aerospace technology impact.  With a wide range of interesting aerospace activities, SAT IOC has also paved the path for a new cross-disciplinary approach and even engaged the magic of arts in its core activities.

Most recently, SAT IOC collaborated with the AIAA Tucson Section for a joint booth at the Phoenix Comic Con that was attended by over 100,000 people.  Another successful endeavor of the committee was its instrumental role in the formation of a panel discussion on future Mars exploration. The Comic Con effort marks a successful endeavor of breaking through new frontiers that would enable the members of the general public to gain unprecedented insight into AIAA activities. Teaming up with the International Association of Astronomical Artists (IAAA) is yet another testament to SAT IOC’s engagement with new organizations to exhibit the connections between aerospace activities and art.

One of the strengths of this IOC is the diverse interest of its membership which ranges from Astrosociology to more traditional perspectives of measuring the societal impact of aerospace activities. With 28 members, SAT IOC regularly engages in information sharing with respect to the Institute’s annual key issues and the Aerospace Impact Initiative.  Highlight articles published in Aerospace America and the SAT IOC Newsletter are examples of communication platforms this committee utilizes to reach out to the AIAA membership and the general public.

During the AIAA forums, SAT IOC generally supports the Space History, Society, and Policy Track examining the history of our time in space, space law and policy, international cooperation, the societal impacts of aerospace technologies and an educated and trained workforce, and the evolution of our spacefaring society.  Conclusively, collaboration efforts with other IOCs and technical committees remain a priority for the committee.  

Amir S. Gohardani
Chair, Society and Aerospace Integration & Outreach Committee

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Technical Committee of the Quarter – Applied Aerodynamics

 

The AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Technical Committee (APATC) sponsors a wide array of technical activities for the benefit of the Institute, its membership, and the broader aerospace community.  Besides organizing and hosting over 90 technical sessions each year at the SciTech and AVIATION forums, the APATC operates several discussion groups (DGs) intended to facilitate dialogue in various technical areas of current interest.  These discussion groups have initiated many technical activities, including many special/invited sessions at conferences, multiple AIAA workshops, and special journal issues.  The DGs are intended to engage not only APATC members, but non-members as well.  All healthy DGs enjoy participation from across AIAA and other government, industry, and academic entities.

There are currently eight operating discussion groups, spanning topics across the broad area of applied aerodynamics.  These are in rotorcraft simulations & performance predictions, aerodynamic design optimization, missile & projectile aeroprediction, low boom, collaborative experiments & computations, aeropropulsive interactions, flow control applications & impacts, and transition modeling for computational fluid dynamics.  We continually investigate the creation of new DGs, assess the activity of current DGs, and retire inactive ones.

The APATC has also been active in formulating and hosting many prominent AIAA workshops.  The most recent workshops have been the 6th AIAA CFD Drag Prediction Workshop at the 2016 AVIATION Forum, the 2nd AIAA Sonic Boom Prediction Workshop at the 2017 SciTech Forum, and most recently the 3rd AIAA CFD High Lift Prediction Workshop at the 2017 AVIATION Forum.  These workshops each engage 50-120 likeminded researchers who are interested in testing and advancing the state of the art in aerodynamic prediction methods.

Another recently initiated APATC production has been a series of invited sessions on Historically Significant Papers in Applied Aerodynamics.  The intent is to organize an invited session at every Applied Aerodynamics Conference (at the AIAA AVIATION Forum), inviting authors who have published – through AIAA – one or more seminal papers that have greatly impacted the applied aerodynamics community.  One-hour presentations are typically given by the author.  When this is not possible, a presentation is given by a colleague who has worked closely with the author.  These invited sessions have been offered at the last three Applied Aerodynamics Conferences.

 

Carl Tilmann
Chair, Applied Aerodynamics Technical Committee

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Recent Developments & Upcoming Events

Highlights from 2017 AVIATION

 

Hello, this is Fay Collier, General Chair for the 2017 AIAA AVIATION Forum, and I would like to share a few highlights from last month’s meeting in Denver, CO.

First, a few statistics. There were over 2,750 aerospace professionals in attendance, including around 600 students.  We had five plenary sessions featuring national and international visionaries from industry and government and nine Forum 360 panels with a wide range of experts covering critical and emerging topics of current interest to all of us.  Issues and challenges associated with cybersecurity and increasing use of autonomous operations, as well as exciting developments associated with more electrified aircraft were covered in three symposia.  Over 500 technical papers were presented during the course of the week.

On the first day of the event, AIAA hosted a Young Professionals (YPs) speed networking event that gave about 40 YPs access to seasoned veterans of the aerospace community.  Mentors in attendance included Executive Director Dr. Sandy Magnus, and President-Elect Dr. John Langford.

Hannes Ross delivered the Wright Brothers Lecture in Aeronautics, entitled “Around the World with Solar Power:  An Overview About the Solar Impulse Program,” focusing on the exciting Solar Impulse 2 airplane development program, and the incredible around-the-world flight using no fuel, being powered only by solar energy.

The forum finished with bang.   Coincidently, newly announced Astronaut Candidate and AIAA member Warren “Woody” Hoburg, a professor at MIT, was in attendance to present a paper, and was recognized prior to the start of the Friday plenary with a standing ovation.  Woody is one of 12 candidates selected from over 18,000 applicants, and is a two-time recipient of the AIAA Aeronautics and Astronautics Teaching Award.

Dr. Mark Moore, Director of Aviation Engineering at Uber, and a former colleague at NASA, was the Friday morning plenary speaker, presenting the technical challenges and approach Uber is taking to develop and deploy urban, on-demand aerial ride sharing. It is clear this capability will totally transform how we negotiate congested morning commutes.

In the last Forum 360 session, Dr. Jaiwon Shin and his staff from the NASA Aeronautics Directorate presented updates to the NASA X-Plane strategy, highlighting the eminent start of the low boom flight demonstrator, and forecasting the start of the Ultra Efficient Subsonic Transport X-Plane effort shortly afterward in 2020.

Clearly, the week at this year’s AVIATION Forum highlighted an exciting time in aviation, with many opportunities for contributions from all.

 

Fay Collier
General Chair, 2017 AIAA AVIATION Forum

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Millennials in AIAA

 

What impact do millennials have in the aerospace industry? More than you may expect!

In AIAA alone, many millennials make a difference every day in their volunteer positions across our organization.  Millennials within AIAA fall under the Young Professionals category. A Young Professional (YP) is defined by AIAA as an early-career professional member who is 35 years old or younger, and is no longer a full-time undergraduate student.

Young Professionals make up about 16% of AIAA, hold many leadership positions, and contribute to AIAA at every level.  They serve their communities by volunteering to hold and support local activities, making up 34% of Region and Section leadership.  Many of them are Section Chairs and Regional Deputy Directors. They are actively engaged with many different committees, technical and program (15%), including the Young Professional Committee.  They even serve at the governance level on the Board of Trustees and as liaisons to the Board.

AIAA takes Young Professionals extremely seriously.  They work to create opportunities for career development within AIAA such as “Rising Leaders in Aerospace” programs at the forums, giving them their own standing committee, and giving recognition and awards to young professionals within AIAA.  Millennials at every level of the organization are contributing to the discussions of what AIAA is and will become.

Young Professionals in AIAA get the chance to be a part of an organization that not only gives them the best opportunities to network, but also to grow as a professional in the aerospace industry.  About to make a career change?  AIAA’s Young Professionals Committee offers resume help and professional development events to give you that leg up.  Want to make connections in your area?  AIAA’s Sections give young professionals the chance to work side-by-side with local professionals.  Want to meet that CEO or Chief Engineer? AIAA’s Rising Leaders Forum makes that happen for YPs.

So, despite the statistic that millennials will have as many as 15-20 jobs in their life and may not always feel at home at their jobs, young professionals can feel at home here because AIAA makes sure it feels that way.  So, as AIAA Shaping the Future of Aerospace, YPs will be there too—trailblazing the way through not only AIAA, but the industry as a whole.  AIAA promises to be the “...vital lifelong link to the aerospace community and a champion for its achievements.” and it looks like they’re keeping their promise.  With that:

  • Looking to get the full benefits of your AIAA Membership? - There are opportunities to volunteer to help out at every level of AIAA and increase your personal network.
  • Not interested in a leadership position? - Get involved in your area! Local Sections host professional development, social, and distinguished lecturer events.  Whether you’re attending or supporting them, these events are a great use of time.
  • Need help finding other YP’s in your area? Email us at aiaa.ypc@gmail.com and we can help you get in touch with your Section.

And as always, fill out the YP Spotlight form to be featured in an upcoming newsletter!

 

Janice Gong
Region III | Young Professionals Deputy Director

 

Matt Cannella
Chair, AIAA Young Professionals Committee

 

Brian Pomeroy
Deputy Chair, AIAA Young Professionals Committee

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In Memoriam: AIAA Fellow Laurence D. (Larry) Leavitt

 

Lawrence Leavitt PHOTOLaurence D. (Larry) Leavitt, 64, died on 21 June 2017.  A Fellow of AIAA, Larry was an active member for over 42 years serving at the Section, Region, and National levels.  Locally, he served in every office of the Hampton Roads Section (HRS) including Section Chair from 1986 to 1987 and four 3-year terms on the Section Council, most recently from 2013 to 2016.  In 2005, he was the recipient of the HRS’s highest honor receiving the Allen Taylor Memorial Award for sustained, significant volunteer contributions.

Regionally, Larry served on the Region I Advisory Committee, and most recently as the Region I Representative to the National Associate Fellow Selection Committee for 5 years ending in 2015.  At the time of his death, Larry remained active nationally as a member of the Air Breathing Propulsion Systems Integration Technical Committee and the Green Engineering Program Committee, and was serving as the National Chair of the Associate Fellows Selection Committee.

Larry earned a BS Degree in Aerospace Engineering from North Carolina State University in 1975, and an MS Degree in Fluid Dynamics from The George Washington University in 1980.

In 1975, Larry was employed as a research engineer at NASA Langley Research Center.  While working as a researcher in the Propulsion Aerodynamics Branch he was involved in research aimed at the improvement of aircraft performance, primarily military high-performance aircraft.  He worked on many technologies, but was known for his work in multi-axis thrust vectoring exhaust nozzles, thrust reversers, and propulsion simulation test techniques. Larry was involved in the development of an efficient propulsion airframe integration on the B-2 Stealth Bomber.

In 1990, he became the Assistant Head of the Propulsion Aerodynamics Branch and was responsible for the research program and operations of the Langley 16 Foot Transonic Wind Tunnel.  In 1997, he was named the Head of the Configuration Aerodynamics Branch and remained in that role for 12 years.  In 2008, Larry was selected as Chief Engineer for Aerosciences within the Research Directorate.

Prior to his retirement in 2015, he served as Acting Chief Engineer of the Langley Research Center.  Larry was an active member of the NATO Research and Technology Organization and a member of the Applied Vehicle Technology Panel from 2001 to 2013.  Larry received many individual and group awards including two of NASA’s prestigious honor awards — the Outstanding Leadership Medal and the Exceptional Service Medal.

 

John C. Lin
Co-Editor, AIAA Council of Directors Newsletter

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