By Karen Kuhlman

Last week, the OSU AIAA Design Build Fly (DBF) team competed for the fourth year at the International Cessna/Raytheon Design Build Fly competition. A team of 12 students went to Wichita, KS from April 15-17 to compete against more than 80 universities from across the world and finished 6th place, the best in the club’s history.

The Design Build Fly competition requires universities to design and construct a radio-controlled aircraft around a set mission profile that changes every year. This year’s profile revolved around the process of distributed manufacturing and required teams to generate two aircraft – a production aircraft (P-plane) optimized to fit inside a larger manufacturing aircraft (M-plane). Planes were designed to complete a set of three missions: The first mission involved the larger plane (M-plane) flying three laps of the flight course within five minutes; the second mission involved the M-plane carrying the P-plane subassemblies and flying a lap for each respective subassembly within ten minutes; and finally, the third mission involved the P-plane flying three laps while carrying an internal payload (a 32 oz Gatorade) within five minutes.

Despite unfavorable wind gusts of up to 30 mph, OSU soared through the missions, successfully completing all on the first attempt as well as passing a bonus mission (assembling the P-plane and installing the Gatorade payload in under 2 minutes). The team’s 6th place finish secured OSU DBF’s reputation as the highest ranking school without an aerospace program for the fourth consecutive year. Congratulations to the team. Keep flying high, Beavers!

The team and planes outside the Cessna Hangar in Wichita.
The team and planes outside the Cessna Hangar in Wichita.
Meet the fleet: The M-plane dubbed “Tilikum” (far right) and the P-plane.
Meet the fleet: The M-plane dubbed “Tilikum” (far right) and the P-plane.

Four students in the College of Engineering received prestigious awards through the National Science Foundation Fellowship Program. This program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based Master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited institutions in the United States. Fellows receive a three-year stipend of $34,000 along with a $12,000 cost of education allowance for tuition and fees.

The recipients include Elizabeth Holzenthal, Ph.D. candidate in civil engineering; Phylicia Cicilio, M.S. candidate in electrical engineering; Maoya Bassiouni, Ph.D. candidate in water resources engineering; and Mark Surette, Ph.D. candidate in environmental engineering.

Elizabeth Holzenthal, Ph.D. candidate in civil engineering.
Elizabeth Holzenthal, Ph.D. candidate in civil engineering.
Maoya Bassiouni, Ph.D. candidate in water resources engineering.
Maoya Bassiouni, Ph.D. candidate in water resources engineering.
Phylicia CicilioM.S. candidate in electrical engineering.
Phylicia Cicilio, M.S. candidate in electrical engineering.
surette_mark
Mark Surette, Ph.D. candidate in environmental engineering.

Hanna Rolston, a Ph.D. candidate in environmental engineering, received the National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate Fellowship. Awarded by the Department of Defense, these three-year graduate fellowships are offered to individuals who have demonstrated the ability and special aptitude for advanced training in science and engineering.

Hannah Rolston, Ph.D. candidate in environmental engineering.
Hannah Rolston, Ph.D. candidate in environmental engineering.

Iftekhar Ahmed, Ph.D. candidate in computer science, received an IBM Ph.D. Fellowship. This competitive program awards Ph.D. students who have an interest in solving problems that are important to IBM and fundamental to innovation in many academic disciplines and areas of study. Ahmed will receive a $20,000 stipend for the academic year and a $10,000 education allowance.

Iftekhar Ahmed, Ph.D. candidate in computer science.
Iftekhar Ahmed, Ph.D. candidate in computer science.

Alexandra Simpson, M.S. candidate in Civil Engineering, and Dylan Jones, M.S. student in robotics, received Honorable Mentions.

For the second year in a row, the Oregon State University’s branch of AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics) took first place in the payload competition at the Intercollegiate Rocketry Engineering Competition held in Green River, Utah. The team also placed third in the overall competition in the advanced category that targets an altitude of 25,000 feet — their launch reached 17,611 feet and a maximum speed of Mach 1.4.

The 2015 Oregon State AIAA team at the Intercollegiate Rocketry Engineering Competition held in Green River, Utah.
The 2015 Oregon State AIAA team at the Intercollegiate Rocketry Engineering Competition held in Green River, Utah.

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by Makenzie Budge and Caleb Lennon

The Oregon State University student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) completed its second international service project last summer. The chapter designed and built a rainwater catchment system to bring clean, potable water to the community of Little Corn Island, Nicaragua, where the community’s septic systems were infiltrating the groundwater table during heavy rainfall. The project is currently providing clean water to approximately 400 people.

Oregon State Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers in Nicaragua
Oregon State Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers in Nicaragua

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Mechanical engineer endeavors to improve hand surgeries

Sutures have been the primary way to connect muscles, tendons, or any biological tissue for 30,000 years. This fundamental method of sewing together living body parts has served humankind well, but Ravi Balasubramanian sees room for improvement. Through a new research project called REHand (for Re-Engineering the Hand) he is designing a mechanical implant that provides an alternative to the suture for attaching muscles to tendons in certain applications such as tendon transfer surgeries on patients with hand injuries.  Continue reading