24HTECH Asia reports that Hyundai Motor Group appointed Dr. Jaiwon Shin “as executive vice president and head of its newly established Urban Air Mobility Division.” Dr. Shin is a “Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society of Britain.”
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Tag: Jaiwon Shin
Convergence of Existing Technologies Propelling New Era of Aviation
Speaker: Rafael A. Garcia, director, Propulsion Directorate, Air Force Materiel Command
By Lawrence Garrett, AIAA Web Editor
The convergence of existing and rapidly advancing technologies has set the stage for a 21st century industrial revolution and a new era in aviation, said Jaiwon Shin, associate administrator for NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate.
During the “New Era of Aviation” session July 11 at the 2017 AIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum in Atlanta, Shin noted the 20th century was host to three industrial revolutions: steam power and electrical power; the division of labor and mass production; and the digital revolution. He said all brought and continue to bring tremendous societal benefits.
The major difference with 21st century innovation, Shin said, is that many of the disruptive innovations today are not the result of one leading technology but rather the result of the convergence of existing, disparate technologies. One such example is drones.
“If you look at [drones], there was no new invention,” Shin said. “All of those technologies existed before drones came to the world, so that’s the very big distinction and unique characteristic in the 21st century innovation.”
Shin cited the smartphone as another example of 21st century innovation.
“Some smart people started pulling these disparate technologies together, and voila, you have a smartphone,” he said.
Shin said it’s important for members of the aviation industry to really start thinking about this concept of the convergence of technologies, noting that although the aviation industry has always served as “the pinnacle of modern engineering and science,” it could benefit by capitalizing on what other industries are doing.
Tesla is one example of a 21st century innovative company, Shin said, because it works in multiple sectors and has a clear mission involving sustainable energy. Shin said that in looking to the future, innovative organizations will succeed not necessarily with products but, like Tesla, with a clear mission and core technology.
Manufacturing is also important, Shin said, especially with the emergence of artificial intelligence and automation and the potential impact of those innovations.
“A lot of people are talking about AI and robots and so on,” he said. “Well, who’s going to make robots, and who’s going to make chips going into all that?”
Shin maintained that sustainable and profitable innovation requires manufacturing, adding that additive manufacturing is going to make it that much easier to manufacture a multitude of designs.
Ultimately, the convergence of technologies and learning from different industries is critically important, he said.
“There is enough innovation using convergence of technologies, and that’s what I’m presenting that we should in the aviation industry as well — not just dwelling in what we have and holding onto what we have, but building upon what we have and moving into the next phase of aviation,” Shin said.
But, he cautioned, the industry needs to be leading the charge.
“The aviation industry needs to be in the driver’s seat to open up this possibility,” Shin said. “We don’t want to be in the passenger seat, or worse yet, in the backseat, and watching IT-based companies opening up this world. Our industry should be leading the pack to bring this revolution in aviation.”
Video
Aerospace: Collaboration Makes It Soar
Panelists: Moderator: John Tracy, chief technologist, The Boeing Company; Morteza Gharib, California Institute of Technology; Dana “Keoki” Jackson, chief technology officer, Lockheed Martin Corporation; Sandy Magnus, AIAA executive director; Darryll Pines, Dean, Clark School of Engineering, University of Maryland College Park; Jaiwon Shin, associate administrator, aeronautics research mission directorate, NASA; Steve Walker, deputy director, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
By Duane Hyland, AIAA Communications (2008–2017)
Collaboration and cooperation are critical to driving future growth in aerospace science and technology, according to a Jan. 7 panel of experts at the 2016 AIAA Science and Technology Forum and Exposition in San Diego.
The panel, “Aerospace Frontiers — Strengthening Collaboration for Continued Progress,” looked at how nexuses are built among professional, government, industry and academic organizations and how these collaborations drive growth in the industry.
Sandy Magnus, AIAA executive director, explained that professional organizations like AIAA provide a platform for the aerospace community to come together to allow the discussions to advance the industry.
“We use conferences such as this to do that,” Magnus said.
The other panelists expressed appreciation for what professional societies do and highlighted what their organizations do to promote communication and collaboration across boundaries.
Darryll Pines, Farvardin professor and dean of the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland, also said that now is a great time for engineering.
“Over 500,000 engineers are working in the U.S. today,” he said, stressing that platforms like conferences and professional societies are vitally important to the exchange of ideas.
The representatives of industry on the panel highlighted the importance of the academic community in providing the future workforce as well as opportunities for vital research and development partnerships.
“We need the ideas that come out of university research programs, and those are the people who will continue to generate these ideas,” said Keoki Jackson, chief technology officer at Lockheed Martin.
Each of the panelists identified the same barriers to professional growth for today’s engineers: budgets; burdensome government regulations; resistance from middle-management in industry to allow conference attendance; and a misunderstanding of the nature of science and technology conferences.
Steve Walker, deputy director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, said that one of his unique barriers is obtaining capable program managers that can leave their academic careers for two to five years to run DARPA’s programs.
Ongoing communication with lawmakers and others would eventually help erode these barriers, panelists said.
In the end, all of the panelists agreed that what AIAA and other professional societies do is extremely vital to the entire science and technology enterprise.