Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering - Notable News

Commencement Spring 2012

Mon, 07 May 2012 00:00:00 MST

The Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering is proud to present its most recent graduates. Congratulations to all students on such a great accomplishment!

SDL Competition Winner

Tue, 01 May 2012 00:00:00 MST

"The Securing Cyberspace Competition was created by the Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL) to provide students with the opportunity to share their work on Cyber Security concepts and possibly have their ideas chosen for further development by SDL."

Students begin the Securing Cyberspace Competition by submitting a paper on a topic of their choice relating to cyber security. Then, if chosen as a finalist, students are required to give a full presentation at SDL. Scoring criteria for the competition include industry relevance and technical content and scientific merit.

First place winner and MAE student, Vardan Semerjyan, presented his project titled "Automated Attack Detection & Prevention (ADAP) for Unmanned Aerial Systems." He was awarded $3,000 for the grand prize.

For information regarding paper topics, official rules and guidelines, or prize details, please see the SDL website.

PVC Pipe has Lowest Break Rate According to USU Researcher

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 00:00:00 MST

Utah State Today: MAE professor, Steven Folkman,recently concluded a study finding PVC pipe has the lowest overall failure rate when compared to cast iron, ductile iron, concrete, steel and asbestos cement pipes. Also, corrosion is a major cause of water main breaks.

Update: 2012 NASA Student Launch Initiative

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:00:00 MST

Utah State University students won best vehicle design for a rocket concept in this year's USLI competition in Huntsville, Alabama. The team eagerly awaits to hear the overall winner of the competition which will be announced in May.

There are over 53 other teams from across the nation competing for the prize of $5,000 cash from ATK Aerospace Systems. Team members hope to continue USU’s unprecedented winning streak at the competition.

Horne Awarded Chateaubriand Fellowship

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:00:00 MST

MAE graduate student, Kyle Horne, has been selected to receive the Chateaubriand Fellowship award.

This is a renowned fellowship offered by the Office of Science and Technology of the French Embassy in the United States. It offers a unique opportunity for an American student to spend up to 10 months conducting research in France in addition to his USU PhD. The host university will be Ecole Centrale Paris.

“The program is extremely competitive and Kyle is the second student from our department to receive this prestigious award within the last year,” said Graduate Academic Advisor, Chris Spall. “We have amazing students.”

For more information on the Chateaubriand Fellowship, click Here.

2012 NASA Student Launch Initiative

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:00:00 MST

The Utah State University Chimaera Rocketry Team is ready to head out for Huntsville, Alabama for the annual NASA University Student Launch Initiative (USLI) Competition. USU student teams have previously won the national competition in 2008, 2009, 2011 and are looking to bring home the "gold" to Utah once again this year. The USLI competition tasks student teams to design and build a reusable rocket to carry and safely recover a working science payload. A key element of the scoring rubric is the "altitude prize" for the team that comes closest to exactly 1-mile above the local ground level (AGL). The USLI concludes each spring with a daylong launch event near NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. USU student design teams have won this prestigious national competition three times in the last 4 years. This year's design uses inertial navigation and closed-loop energy management systems to target the 1-mile altitude. The team goal is to come to within 12 inches of the target altitude -- that's like shooting a basketball from Old Main to the spectrum and hitting nothing but net! This project clearly demonstrates that when challenged and properly guided, USU students can accomplish amazing things. Out future is in good hands!

The USU Chimaera Rocketry team is an interdisciplinary group of engineering students who are carrying on a long and proud tradition of USU excellence in space engineering.

For more information on the USLI competition, please visit NASA.

For more information on the Utah State Chimaera Rocketry Team, click here.

The competition will be webcast on the NASA Digital learning network.

Streaming video from the USU rocket in flight can be seen on AggieCast.

MAE's Nathaniel Scheelke Gets "A" Pin

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 00:00:00 MST

College of Engineering:The "A" pin is one of the oldest awards at USU, initiated in 1910. Six engineering students receive the A-Pin on April 11, 2012.

MAE Students Recipients of Fellowships and Scholarships

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 00:00:00 MST

College of Engineering: USU’s School of Graduate Studies has awarded a number of scholarships and fellowships for the 2011-2012 academic year.

MAE Capstone Design Course Success

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 00:00:00 MST

The Herald Journal: USU students design devices to help solve 'real-world' problems.

Engineering Week 2012- MAE Department Awards

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 00:00:00 MST

MAE held an awards ceremony Friday, February 25 to honor the students, faculty, and alumni of the department who have most impacted the program. This is an Engineering Week tradition instituted to show appreciation for everyone’s hard work.

The following list details those who were recognized at the awards ceremony:

Outstanding Preprofessional

Nathaniel Scheelke
Bryan Stringham

Academic Excellence - Preprofessional

Tyson Kesler
Andrew Gerber
Jonathan Burnett

Outstanding Junior

Devin Baird

Academic Excellence - Junior

Ruth Miller
Brit Colgan
Andrew Marquette
Kyle Mackay

Outstanding Senior

Brock Wiberg

Academic Excellence - Senior

David Folkner
Jordan Brimley
Blake Ewton
Robert Maughan
Timothy Auger
Brian Spackman

2012 Valedictorian

Brock Wiberg

Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher

Crystal Frazier

Undergraduate Distinguished Service Award

Dallin Jackson

Brandon Paulsen Award

Amanda Johnson

Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant

Kyle Horne

Outstanding MS Researcher

Daniel Garrett

Outstanding PhD Researcher

Colby Jensen

Outstanding Teacher

Barton L. Smith

Outstanding Advisor

J. Steven Hansen

2012 Outstanding Researcher

Wenbin Yu

2009-2011 Outstanding Researcher

Heng Ban

Distinguished Service Award

Steven R. Wassom

Distinguished Alumni

Ron Bishop