Oleg Yakimenko Naval Postgraduate School

I have had the honor of serving AIAA in a variety of capacities and have developed a strong understanding of the composition, challenges, and opportunities within our region. With 15 local sections, Region VI spans the nine westernmost U.S. states and two provinces of Canada. Our region is highly diverse: one state contains nine local sections, while a single section spans four states. We include very small, small, medium, large, and very large sections.

This diversity also extends to our more than 30 student branches. One local section helps coordinate activities across seven student branches, while two sections currently have no affiliated student branches. Among our student branches, two have over one hundred members each, while about a dozen are struggling to maintain even minimum membership levels.

If re-elected, I will continue working to leverage this diversity by identifying and sharing best practices that foster interest in aerospace careers and promote the values of AIAA. Within the region, we will continue efforts to recruit new student members and retain them as young professionals through stronger interaction between student branches and local sections, as well as deeper integration of local sections with AIAA’s technical communities.

This includes increased participation in the AIAA technical domains to help accelerate innovation and progress in the 21st century. We will also seek to create more opportunities for senior members to share their experiences, insights, and passion, while ensuring that every member of our region sees AIAA as a connected whole, remains engaged and active, and takes pride in being part of a strong professional community.