Aerospace Engineering Students Finalists at 2010 SMASIS Conference

Student Competitions for Student Best Paper Award and Student Best Hardware Award were held at the Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures, and Intelligent Systems (SMASIS) Conference hosted by ASME/AIAA from September 28 - October 1, 2010, in Philadelphia, PA. Four graduate students from the University of Maryland (UMD) were honored as finalists for their achievements.

Best Student Paper Competition

The ASME Adaptive Structures and Material Systems Technical Committee organized the Best Student Paper Competition as part of the ASME/AIAA Conference on Smart Materials Adaptive Structures and Integrated Systems (SMASIS). Entrants were judged by a committee of smart materials and structures experts. Finalists were required to present their papers at The Student Best Paper Sessions on Wednesday, September 29, 2010. Two finalists from the University of Maryland were honored during the Pioneer Banquet on Wednesday evening:

Byunseok Yoo for his paper entitled "Multilocation Actuators and Pieozoceramic Based 2-D Spiral Array for Structural Health Monitoring of Thin Isotropic Panels" with coauthors Dr. Ashish Purekar (Techno-Sciences Inc.- TSi) and Dr. Darryll J. Pines (UMD).

Aimy Wissa co-authored a paper entitled "Design of a Passively Morphing Ornithopter Wing Using a Novel Compliant Spine" with principal author Yashwanth Tummala (Penn State University - PSU), and co-authors Dr. Mary Frecker (PSU) and Dr. James E. Hubbard Jr. (UMD).

Student Hardware Competition

The ASME Adaptive Structures and Material Systems Technical Committee also organized the Best Student Hardware Paper Competition as part of the 2010 ASME SMASIS Conference. Entrants in the competition were judged by a committee of smart materials and structures experts and a list of finalists were determined based upon the technical paper. Finalists were required to present their papers at a regular conference session and participated in a special exhibit session on Wednesday, September 29, 2010, to demonstrate hardware operation and a present a poster explaining the nature of the project. Two finalists from the University of Maryland were honored during the Pioneer Banquet on Wednesday evening:

Benjamin K.S. Woods for his paper and demonstration entitled "Wind Tunnel Testing of a Helicopter Rotor Trailing Flap Actuated via Pneumatic Artificial Muscles" with co-authors Dr. Norman M. Wereley (UMD) and Dr. Curt Kothera (TSi).

Ryan M. Robinson for his paper and demonstration entitled "High Specific Power Actuators for Robotic Manipulators" with co-authors Benjamin Woods (UMD), Robert D. Vocke (UMD), Dr. Norman M. Wereley (UMD) and Dr. Curt Kothera (TSi).

The University of Maryland put on a great showing with three finalists from the Smart Structures Laboratory (Yoo et al, Robinson et al, and Woods et al), and one finalist from the Morpheus Laboratory (Tummala et al).

Published October 2, 2010