Sikorsky Scholars: Dr. Lakshmi Sankar, left, joined his former doctoral student, Brian Wake, PhD '87, center, in congratulating several of the 2019 Sikorsky Scholars: Kelsey Pepper, Erica Hulette, Abigail McClain,  Mahalakshmi Srinivasan, Emily Bates, and Katie Gross.

The May 3 and 4 commencement ceremonies will not be the only celebrations of academic excellence for the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering this spring. Many of the AE School's brightest stars have recently been recognized by a variety of awards and scholarships. Here's a look at some of the honorees.

The Sikorsky Scholarships

The Good Ole Days Are Now. The 2019 Sikorsky Scholars swapped stories with a student who walked these halls before they did: Brian Wake, PhDAE'87. (That's Wake's dissertation advisor, Prof. Lakshmi Sankar, playing host.)

Nine AE School undergrads received scholarships of between $500 and $1,000 from the Sikorsky Scholarship Fund, a support pipeline that was established last year by Regents Professor, Dr. Lakshmi Sankar, AE's longtime associate chair for undergraduate programs. Sankar repurposed funds that came to him as the Daniel Guggenheim School's Sikorsky Professor to support the students, all of whom have demonstrated a strong grasp of the discipline through their coursework and/or lab research.

Receiving the scholarships were graduating undergraduates Katherine Kwasniak, Katie Gross, Erica Hulette, Alexandra Minor, Kelsey Pepper, Mahalakshmi Srinivasan, and Madison Stein. Two other recipients, Emily Bates and Abigail McClain, will continue their undergraduate studies at the AE School.

Helping Sankar to award the funds on April 12 was another high-performing AE student, Dr. Brian Wake, PhD AE '87, now a Lockheed Martin Fellow, Aerodynamics and Special Projects at Sikorsky. Wake happens to have been the first of 46 doctoral students to have been mentored by Sankar, (who also earned his doctorate at GT-AE in 1977).

"The presence of Brian demonstrated to these students just how far they can ascend with their degrees," said Sankar. "We can certainly anticipate that these students will continue to encourage and mentor future generations of AE School students that come after them. That's a tradition that has built the AE School legacy."

Women in Engineering Scholarships

WIE Scholars. (from left): Clarisse Matyczyk, Erica Hulette, Karena Fiore, Alex Matlack, and Abigail McClain

More than $8,000 in scholarships were awarded to AE students by a variety of industry sponsors at the 2019 Georgia Tech Women in Engineering Banquet held April 11. All together, more than $160,000 in scholarships were awarded to 155 female students in the College of Engineering.

"We are awed and humbled by the generous support of steadfast supporters like Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Aptiv and others," said Dr. Christine Valle, the director of the Women in Engineering program at Georgia Tech.

WIE Scholars. Danielle Dixon and Sanjana Tewathia

They know that women provide a different perspective and a different lived experience that are extremely valuable as they design products that affect our entire population and both genders. They know that supporting, recruiting, hiring and retaining the best female engineering talent in the country is critical to keeping their companies successful, now and in the foreseeable future." 

Receiving $1,500 scholarships from the Boeing Company were Danielle Dixon (first year), Bridget Wiley (second year) and Alexandra Matlack (senior). Raven Barnes, (first year), Clarisse Matyczyk (third year) and Karena Fiore (senior) each received $1000 scholarships from Aptiv Corporation. Senior Sanjana Tewathia received a $1,000 scholarship from Siemens.

Aarohi Shah

Amelia Earhart Fellowship

Doctoral student Aarohi Shah has been selected to receive a 2019 Zonta International Amelia Earhart Fellowship. The Fellowship was established in 1938 to honor legendary pilot Amelia Earhart, herself a member of the global women's advocacy and service organization. The $10,000 award is bestowed annually on 35 women who are pursuing doctoral degrees in aerospace-related sciences or aerospace-related engineering.

Advised by Prof. Julian J. Rimoli, Shah was selected last year to receive the AHS Lichten Award for co-authoring, "Closed Loop Approach to Structural Health Monitoring for Critical Rotorcraft Components.” This year, she was one of two GT-AE recipients of a 2019 Vertical Flight Foundation Scholarship.

Shah is developing reduced-order structural models to extend the life of critical rotorcraft components.

"This approach reduces the overall effect of fatigue by a load alleviation scheme which gets triggered after inputs from the reduced-order damage models. Overall, this approach can lead to significant savings in cost related to component maintenance and replacement," explained Shah. 

"I am honored for being selected as an Amelia fellow. The funds provides a mean to network with other professionals in my field of work by traveling to conferences and events. This will help me discuss my work and get useful feedback from established industry and academic professionals."

Grad RISE Scholarship

Jean Luis Suazo Betancourt

For the second year in a row, grad student Jean Luis Suazo Betancort has been selected by the Georgia Tech Center for Engineering Education and Diversity (CEED) to receive the Retaining Inspirational Students in Technology and Engineering (RISE) Scholarship.

The RISE scholarship was established in 2004 as a means to recruit and retain both minorities and nontraditional engineering students to Georgia Tech. RISE scholars display persistence within their engineering program, leadership and service. They are expected to serve as mentors and/or tutors to other Georgia Tech students and prospective students. 

Betancort said he is deeply committed to his research in the High Power Electric Propulsion Lab (HPEPL), but never so much that he forsakes his calling as a mentor and leader to younger students. In addition to AE undergrads in the HPEPL, he oversees some high school students who are enrolled in the ENGAGES program.

"I have a lot of things to juggle - classes, research, and even the eight hours a week where I'm still working remotely for The Aerospace Corporation in Virginia - but I know that my job in the lab is to help younger students, the under-represented students, to stay on task. All of our interactions should be with their best interests in mind, so that they learn technical skills, critical thinking skills. In the end, they may or may not contribute a lot to the research, but they can learn how to ask question, how to scope out a problem. That's a life skill, something they'll always be able to use."

Award-winning Scholarship

The scholarship of several AE students was recognized in early April at the AIAA Southeastern Regional Student Conference, held in Cocoa Beach, Florida.

Space Enthusiasts. Members of the Yellow Jackets Space Program were thrilled to meet NASA astronaut Sunita Williams (center). From left: Johnie Sublett, Kunal Gangolli, Williams, Shrivathsav Seshan, and Wyatt Hoppa.

Taking home the top honor in the "Team" category was "Implementation and Verification of a Modular GN&C and Flight Software Architecture for an Active Control Launch System," a paper written collaboratively by Yellow Jacket Space Program (YJSP) members Kunal Gangolli (AE), Athreya Gundamraj (AE), Wyatt Hoppa (ECE), and Shrivathsav Seshan (ECE).

Their paper outlined the late-stage development, integration, and test of a Level 2 rocket that serves as a testbed for avionics and GN&C (guidance, navigation & control) for a canard-based active control vehicle.

The winning paper in the "Master" category was "Design and Testing of a Fault-Tolerant Space Suit," written by ASDL grad student Johnie Sublett.

"The paper demonstrates technology that could allow us to predict and mitigate catastrophic space suit punctures along the majority of the body," Sublett explained.  "It includes a distributed sensor array for detection and a set of pressure bladders that inflate when the suit's seal is broken."

Each of the first-place honors came with a $500 award and an invitation to represent the AIAA Southeast Region at the AIAA Foundation International Student Conference, which takes place during the AIAA SciTech Forum in January 2020.

On hand to bestow the awards was AIAA Southeast Region director Kurt Polzin, and NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, a veteran of both the Space Shuttle and Soyuz missions.

Institute Honors & Awards Event Recognizes Three AE Students

Cason Butler, BSAE and BS Physics receiving the Senior Scholar Award from interim Georgia Tech dean Larry Jacobs

An April 16 Institute Awards Event shined the light on three exceptional students from the Daniel Guggenheim School.

Cason Butler was recognized with the Aerospace Engineering Outstanding Senior Scholar Award. Funded through an endowment established by former school chair Donnel W. Dutton, AE '40, the $1,000 award is given annually to the graduating student with highest cumulative GPA. Butler has earned a perfect 4.0 grade point average at both Georgia Tech's Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering and at Georgia College and State University, where he majored in physics. At Geogria Tech, he has worked on the design of Space Mission to Jupiter’s L5 Point, and on a VTOL multiple configuration aircraft.

Frank K. Kozel was selected for the Donnell W. Dutton Outstanding Senior in Aerospace Engineering Award. The $1,000 award is given annually to a student who has demonstrated excellence both in and outside the classroom. That description fairly well describes Kozel, who for the past three years, has worked tirelessly as the chief engineer for Tech's entry to the SAE Aero Design-Build-Fly competition.

Earlier this year, Frank K. Kozel, right, was named to AIAA/Aviation Week Network's 20 Twenties list of up-and-coming technology leaders. He is seen here accepting the Donnel W. Dutton Award from interim Georgia Tech dean Larry Jacobs

"Frank Kozel has led and participated in the design, prototyping, and flight test of many novel and unconventional aircraft during his time at Georgia Tech," said Kozel's mentor, Prof. Brian German.  "I have been amazed at his and his teams’ ability to do an A-to-Z design, build, and successful test effort in a very short time. Frank’s unique skills position him for an amazing career in technical leadership in the new era of aviation that we, as a society, are now entering.”

Third-year student Savannah Jade Langer was tapped to receive the CoE Honors Day Award, an honor that is given out to engineering students with the best academic records at the end of their third year of undergraduate study. We're glad we have her for another year, at least.