Aerospace Engineering Department News

May 2017

Dr. Mourtos delivered two workshops to faculty at Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat, Oman. Following a 2015 workshop on engineering course design, Dr. Mourtos was invited again this year to deliver a workshop on critical thinking skills and one on alternative teaching methods.  During the full-day workshops, faculty from all disciplines, department chairs, and associate deans, worked together in teams to re-design their courses in a way that ensures student development of critical thinking, problem-solving, design, communication, lifelong learning, team, change management, and self-assessment skills.  The workshops were very well received, opening the possibility for follow up workshops in the future. Sultan Qaboos University has grown from 500 students in 1986 to more than 7,000 students representing 38 countries and distributed over 63 majors in 9 colleges, which include medicine, engineering, agriculture, education, science, arts, commerce and economics, law and nursing.

May 12, 2017

SJSU AE Propulsion students visit NASA Ames Research Center for a first-hand look the Titan I Rocket, and the Structural Dynamics Laboratory where it was tested in 1969. The tower in the background is the SDL lab, built to study buffeting during atmosphericascent.  The tower could simulate the drop in pressure as the missile rose through the atmosphere, while an enormous shake table would simulate approaching transonic speeds of Mach 0.8 to 1.0.  Special thanks to Professor Murbach for the tour!

 

 

April 28, 2017

SJSU AE Propulsion students visit Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos, CA for a first-hand look at a Pratt & Whitney JT9D-1GT2 turbofan engine, a Westinghouse J46-WE-8 axial flow jet engine, and a variety of radial piston engines.  Special thanks to Professor Murbach for organizing the event and to Hiller volunteer and retired engine designer John for the introduction.

 

April 21-23, 2017

Team Cronus II takes 10th place in the highly competitive international design competition Design-Build-Fly organized by AIAA.

Congratulations to team members (from left) RC Pilot and SJSU Alum Norio Eda, Professor Gonzalo Mendoza, Andrew Covel, Royd Johansen, Dan Winter, Aaron Ford, Samneet Singh. 

Special thanks to superhero Professor Mendoza
for making SJSU AE a top contender in DBF for
many years and guiding this year's seniors to
another successful finish!

April 20, 2017

Graduate student Tara Samuels awarded the Scott T. Axline Memorial Student Award for Excellence in Service at the College of Engineering Awards Banquet.  Tara was also recently awarded the Society for Women Engineers Mary G. Ross Scholarship Award, an endowed scholarship in memory of Lockheed's first female engineer.

April 15, 2017

SJSU AE students successfully launched 21(!!) rockets today. Congratulations to Alexander Baek for his Level 1 High Performance Rocket certifications and to David Chau on his impressive Level 2 HPR certification.  Way to go Spartans!

 

 

March 10-12, 2017

Team Hermes represents SJSU at SAE Aero Design West in Fort Worth, TX.  The Hermes Phantom placed 6th out of 70 competitors in Presentation and flew beautifully but lost points in the Flight category due to a crash.

Congratulations to team members (left to right): Needa Lin, Allen McDivitt, Yibo Challinger, Atharv Datye, Ronald Cheng, Dat Nguyen, Team Advisor Professor Mendoza, and Pang Vang.  Look for their aircraft, The Phantom, in Eng 164.

January 9-13, 2017

Graduate students Matt Miller, Brian Graham and Eric Wahl present research papers at the AIAA SciTech Conference in Grapevine, TX. The AIAA SciTech Forum is the single most important event for anyone involved in aerospace research and development. You make us proud!

January 11, 2017

Senior Samneet Singh discusses aerospace engineering with Sophomores at Dav High Schoolin Ludhiana in Punjab, India, encouraging them to study STEM subjects.  Well done Samneet!

 

 

January 6, 2017

Senior Atharv Datye teaches kids ages 5-14 about airplanes at Hiller Aviation Museum. During this winter's aviation camp, kids learned how to fly, perform a pattern and land a Cessna 172 on flight simulators. Now they know how planes work too. Way to go, Atharv!

 

December 2016

Love is in the air.  We couldn't be happier for our alumni, Seruvizhi Maharajan (MSAE 2014) and Arvind Srilatha (MSAE 2012), who were married in a gorgerous traditional Indian ceremony in December 2016.

Seruvizhi and Arvind, we send you both our warmest wishes for a happy, healthy, and prosperous journey together!

 

December 16, 2016

NASA Ames Branch Chief, Dr. Cetin Kiris, and Engineering Servers and Services Manager and SJSU AE graduate student, Ted Bohrer, led SJSU AE students on a tour of the Ames' supercomputing facility.

The group was treated to a presentation of several impressive earth, aircraft, rotorcraft, and parachute CFD simulations, as well as Ames' world-class computing storage facility.

Thank you NASA for your continued support of SJSU AE students!

December 3, 2016
In a repeat of August's "Day at the Airport" event, AIAA's December outing paired up some of our AE undergraduate students with a private pilot for an introduction to aircraft basics.  Topics included aerodynamics, controls, systems, instruments, emergency procedures and more.

November 30, 2016
Senior Joseph Rodriguez discusses rocketry with Cristo Rey High School's STEM Club.

November 30, 2016
Guest Speaker Dr. Mark Tischler, Senior Scientist at US Army/ NASA Ames, discusses Flight Controls with SJSU AE students.

November 17, 2016
AIAA hosts SpaceX employee information session.

November 16, 2016
Senior Stephanie Hadley interviews former Lockheed Martin Corporate Astronaut Leslie Wickman.

November 16, 2016
Graduate student Tara Samuels introduces Cristo Rey High School STEM Club to AE.

October 15, 2016
Rocket Club members successfully launched 5 rockets today totaling 12,000 vertical feet. Congratulations to Ronald Cheng, Joseph Rodriguez [R], Peter Wu [L] and Jeff Zhang on their Level 1 High Performance Rocket certifications and to Atharv Datye [Center] on his impressive Level 2 HPR certification.  Special thanks to Andrew Torricelli for leading the group!

September 23, 2016
Congratulations to our AE Engineering Scholarship Award Winners!

Brandon Arias - Parisi Family Scholar
Fadi Bakour - Silicon Valley Innovation and Entrepreneurship Scholarship
Stephanie Hadley - National Science Foundation Engineering Leadership Pathway Scholar
Royd Johansen - Lockheed Martin Scholar
Joel Lucatero - Harry Wong Scholar
Jared Sagaga - Silicon Valley Innovation and Entrepreneurship Scholarship

August 22-23, 2016
Graduate student and private pilot Tara Samuels introduces incoming Freshmen and Transfer Students to a Cessna 172 Skyhawk at Reid Hillview Airport. Topics covered include aerodynamics, controls, systems, instruments and more.

August 10, 2016
Dr. Mourtos delivers workshop on waves (Next Generation Science Standards) for science teachers (STEM Creates video from 2:45-3:55) at New Haven Unified School District.  The workshop was part of the California Mathematics & Science Partnership Program directed by Dr. Virginia Lehmkuhl Dakhwe, Director of the SJSU Jay Pinson STEM Education Program.

August 2016
Senior Roberto Rosila participates in the 10,000-mile Mongol Rally for charity in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in a 1970 classic Mini Cooper.

June 2016
Aerospace America, a publication of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics featured SJSU's Design-Build-Fly team Cronus in their June 2016 edition, distinguishing SJSU as a "perennial top contender".  SJSU has taken first place in the competition multiple times, against top aerospace engineering schools around the world.

April 2016
Professor Mendoza featured on Wichita Eagle for his role in coaching SJSU's Team Cronus to a first place win in the AIAA 2016 Design-Build-Fly Competition.

April 2016
Professor Murbach (PI) and Dr. Papadopoulos (Co-PI) collaborate on the development of on-demand sample return capability (SPQR) TechEdSat-4 at NASA Ames Research Center.

April 28, 2016
Senior Zaid Karajeh receives the 2016 Donald Beall-Rockwell Award for Engineering Accomplishment. Congratulations to Zaid!

Zaid is the founder, president, and team lead of Spartan Imagineering. He formed the team to compete in the Disney Imaginations competition. His team developed a clean and energy efficient overhead monorail system for the city of Toronto that ran on steam power. Their project made it to the finals of the competition.

April 17, 2016
Aircraft design team Cronus won 1st Place in the highly competitive international design competition Design-Build-Fly organized by AIAA. This is the second time that SJSU's aircraft design students have won this competiition. The first time was in 2013, also under the guidance of Prof. Mendoza.

Congratulations to team members: John Paul de la Cruz, Androw Yany, Tyler Sanders, Chris Dickason, Kevin Surban and Roshan Patel. The AE Juniors who supported them: Michael Gwinner, Landon Murray, Samneet Singh, and Richard Sok. Thank you to Professor Mendoza for his excellent work in AE 171 A&B! More details in this nail-biting competition summary.

March 12, 2016
Graduate student Tara Samuels receives the American Airlines Engineering Scholarship Award. The winner was selected on the basis of academic standing, personal accomplishments, teamwork, leadership skills, community service involvement and future career aspirations. Congrats to Tara!

March 7, 2016
SOAREX #9 launched successfully. Professor Murbach is the PI of the SOAREX Flight Series.

February 19, 2016
Professor Soukeras is elected Chairman of the Board of the Hellenic Aviation Society.

May 2015
Following a successful workshop at the World Engineering Education Forum in Dubai in December 2014, Dr. Mourtos was invited to deliver a three-day workshop on Engineering Course Design at Sultan Qaboos University in Oman. Over 100 engineering faculty and administrators participated in the workshop.