Introducing The 2019 20 Twenties

M.S. Aerospace Engineering • Class of December 2018 • University of South Carolina
B.E. Mechanical Engineering • Class of 2016 • Lebanese American University

As a graduate research assistant at the McNair Center for Aerospace Innovation and Research at the University of South Carolina, Mazen Albazzan is working to explore structural improvements using nonconventional laminates through a research project funded by Boeing. Albazzan’s composite material design work on the project, as well as other projects at McNair funded by the NASA Advanced Composite Consortium, have inspired him to pursue a Ph.D. to undertake additional aerospace industry development research. 

Albazzan is enrolled in student chapters of AIAA, the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. During his undergraduate studies at the Lebanese American University, Albazzan volunteered at the Sidon Orphan Welfare Society and participated in projects to design and manufacture medical technology for children and paraplegic persons.

Graduate Student, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering • Purdue University
B.S. Aerospace Engineering • Class of 2017 • Georgia Institute of Technology

Aaron Blacker is a National Science Foundation graduate research fellow focusing on combustion instability in liquid rocket engines. Blacker’s research aims to develop nonvisual indicators of flame position to improve liquid rocket engine combustion efficiency and performance.

Blacker has completed two internships at SpaceX focused on propulsion engineering of the Dragon 2 as well as internships at Bell, the Ben T. Zinn Aerospace Combustion Lab, the High Power Electric Propulsion Lab and Pratt & Whitney. As an undergraduate, Blacker was president of the Georgia Tech Rocket Club, where he increased membership and funding while engaging in community outreach to local schools to encourage students to pursue STEM. Blacker was also co-founder of the Georgia Tech Space Program, which seeks to develop the university’s own launch vehicle for academic research.

Dual B.S. and M.S. Aerospace Engineering Sciences • Class of 2019
University of Colorado-Boulder

As an undergraduate research assistant, Ryan Blay developed software to locate GPS interference sources for a project centered on detection and localization of GPS jammers and spoofers. Blay completed a systems engineering internship at Northrop Grumman and has volunteered as a tutor through aerospace honor society Sigma Gamma Tau in subjects such as physics and aircraft dynamics.

While at the University of Colorado, Blay has organized symposiums as a member of the Engineering Honors Program and was chosen as a group leader for the Engineering Leadership Program. Blay oversaw volunteer events for his residence hall as the vice president of service and recognition for its council, and he regularly volunteers at his local church and homeless shelter.

B.S. Aerospace Engineering • Class of 2019 • University of Kansas

To support his goal of one day starting a company focused on how UAVs can help people, Joseph Ryan Block has worked as a research assistant in the University of Kansas Aerospace Composites Lab to develop radar arrays equipped with sensors to measure the depth and internal layering of ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica. Block also started the university’s first Design, Build and Fly organization, which has grown to more than 50 student members in two years.

Block belongs to SELF Engineering Leadership Fellows and is an aerospace ambassador for the university’s Engineering Ambassador program, where he speaks to prospective engineering students and their families about opportunities at the university. In addition to being a business technology analyst summer scholar for Deloitte and the finance chair and event manager for TEDxKU, an organization that sponsors TED Talks, Block volunteered in Uganda with Engineers Without Borders to help build and monitor a rainwater harvesting system.

B.S. Aerospace Engineering • Class of 2019 • State University of New York at Buffalo 

As an undergraduate, Fatak Borhani has been involved in a wide variety of research projects such as implementing piezoelectric actuators on aircraft wings and the experimental validation of satellite-formation-flight algorithms using line-of-sight vectors. In addition to developing next-generation cubesats at the university’s Nanosatellite Laboratory through funding from NASA and the Air Force Research Laboratory, Borhani completed an internship focused on mechatronic systems design at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 

At his university, Borhani supports underprivileged students through the Educational Opportunity Program and has volunteered as a tutor for physics and calculus. Borhani is involved with the Science Is Elementary program to spark STEM interest in middle school students and has participated in the Global Innovation Challenge on Food Equity to tackle the negative effects of food-market monopolies in developing countries from an engineering perspective.

B.S. Aerospace Engineering  • Class of 2020 • University of Maryland

Adam Boro was part of the Gamera-S research team at the University of Maryland, which created a world-record-breaking manned solar-powered quadcopter with the goal of achieving solar-powered vertical flight. Boro completed an engineering internship at the NASA Kennedy Space Center and was a Norris Space View intern at AIAA, where he led aerospace outreach projects and mentored high school students at a variety of STEM-focused events. 

Boro expressed his passion for protecting natural resources through volunteer work at the Ostional National Wildlife Refuge in Costa Rica and the Science, Discovery and the Universe Scholars Program, where he has worked to restore natural landscape in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Boro also has an interest in photography and cinematography, which he has put to use through volunteer publicity work for the county animal shelter.

Graduate Student, Technology Policy and Electrical Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology • B.S. Electrical Engineering • Class of 2017 • U.S. Air Force Academy 

2nd Lt. Casey Evans is researching the intersection of engineering and biology as a military fellow at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory, where she is looking at how new optical neuroimaging techniques could be used within pilot training and aircraft design. Evans is focusing on the effect this technique could have on technology policy and aims to define its potential policy guidelines for the defense community. 

Throughout her studies, Evans has volunteered to teach a wide variety of students, including leveraging her language skills to tutor night-shift custodians at MIT in English and teaching free classes on electrical engineering and web programming topics in Madagascar through Code for Humanity. In addition to tutoring middle  and high school students through MIT’s Educational Studies Program, Evans has volunteered for Habitat for Humanity, the Humane Society and the STEM outreach club at the Air Force Academy.

Graduate Student, Aeronautics and Astronautics • Purdue University 
B.S. Aeronautics and Astronautics • Class of 2017 • University of Washington

As a graduate researcher at Zucrow Laboratories at Purdue University, Alexis Harroun is studying aerospike nozzles and their application to rotating detonation engines, which could allow heavier payloads to be propelled into Earth orbit. Harroun has completed internships at Blue Origin, Boeing and NASA Langley Research Center, and she was the propulsion technical lead for the University of Washington’s Society for Advanced Rocket Propulsion as an undergraduate.

Harroun belongs to the AIAA and was elected president of the University of Washington’s student chapter. As president, Harroun worked to encourage more women and under-represented minorities to consider aerospace careers by organizing events to pair younger students with aerospace-focused upperclassmen mentors. 

Graduate Student, Aeronautics and Astronautics • Massachusetts Institute of
Technology • B.S. Mechanical Engineering • Class of 2017 • Stanford University

Stewart Isaacs is researching the economic and environmental effects of producing electrofuel through different technological pathways, which has the potential to reduce the impact on climate change from aviation and other modes of transportation. Isaacs completed a space-propulsion engineering internship at Boeing and worked with EnergieRich to develop a solar-powered chicken-egg incubator for use in rural Burkina Faso to improve food access and economic outcomes.

Isaacs has been invested heavily in achieving diversity and social change within aerospace. He co-founded the Bytes program through Stanford’s National Society of Black Engineers, which has brought engineering workshops to more than 800 minority high school students. Isaacs also serves on the Diversity Inclusion and Innovation Committee for MIT’s AeroAstro Department and founded AeroAfro, an informal community group of black graduate students in the department.

Graduate Student, Aeronautics and Astronautics • Stanford University
B.S. Engineering Mechanics and Applied Mathematics • Class of 2018 
University of Wisconsin-Madison 

Emily Jewell is working to develop a new method to predict the dynamic response of structures with bolted joints, which could help mitigate prototype testing and modeling costs within A&D. Jewell completed a structural dynamics internship at NASA Langley Research Center and a structural engineering co-op at ATA Engineering.

As a founding executive member of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Engineering Physics Department Student Advisory Committee, Jewell worked to increase transparency and build stronger connections among students, faculty and industry. Jewell has translated her passion for STEM into volunteer work and outreach, working as a tutor through the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Science EnCOUNTers and the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, where she led hands-on activities for grade school students at monthly science events and at the annual Wisconsin Science Festival.

Graduate Student, Aerospace Engineering • Cornell University
B.S. Mechanical Engineering • Class of December 2018 • Cornell University

Akshay Kadhiresan won the Thomas J. and Joan T. Kelly Prize at Cornell University for his entry in the 2018 AIAA Undergraduate Individual Aircraft Design Competition, where he designed a new U.S. Air Force attack aircraft. 

Kadhiresan has been the university’s AIAA branch chair and president, leading efforts to educate the next generation of aerospace scientists and engineers. He is also campus lead for the Inter-Ivy Space Coalition, which works to share knowledge among aerospace student bodies at Ivy League universities, the MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Pratt & Whitney and GE Aviation. In addition to volunteering for the Special Olympics and as a tutor and mentor for younger students, Kadhiresan serves as a Cornell Engineering Ambassador, leading campus tours and advising prospective students on academic and career possibilities.

Graduate Student, Aerospace Engineering • University of Texas-Austin
B.S. Aerospace Engineering • Class of 2018 • University of Texas-Austin

During his aerospace engineering studies, Siddarth Kaki has completed four internships at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, working on projects such as the Europa Lander and Mars 2020 mission. Kaki received the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to pursue research into formulating autonomous swarm-based distributed inspection systems for large spacecraft, which has the potential to affect other terrestrial applications such as inspection of aircraft hangars or first-response situational awareness.

As a student representative for the Leadership, Undergraduate Networking and Recruitment (LUNAR) Council, Kaki has worked to increase public awareness of aerospace and inspire younger generations to study STEM by providing science demonstrations for students and media outlets, speaking on panels and conducting live webcasts for prospective aerospace engineering students. Kaki is an officer of the University of Texas Hindu Students Association, where he has worked to promote diversity and empowerment of women. He also has volunteered with Pratham, a nonprofit providing free education to poor and disadvantaged children in South Asia.

B.S. Aerospace Engineering • Georgia Institute of Technology • Class of 2019

Frank Kozel led Georgia Tech’s Design, Build, Fly team to two first-place wins at international competitions for developing UAVs. Kozel is working on an undergraduate research project to develop a reconfigurable UAV capable of electric-powered vertical takeoff and landing and has finished two internships at Toyota Frontier Research, where he helped complete prototypes of future mobility hybrid aircraft.

Kozel works as a prototyping instructor at Georgia Tech’s Aero Maker Space, where he has helped students create projects by spearheading a program to develop physical standard operating procedure guides for all machines within space. In addition to membership in the Sigma Gamma Tau (SGT) Aerospace Engineering Honor Society and SGT Mentor program, Kozel volunteers as a mountain-biking instructor for Georgia Tech’s Outdoor Recreation program, where he leads expeditions and is certified as a wilderness medic.

Graduate Student, Aerospace Engineering • Georgia Institute of Technology
B.S. Aerospace Engineering • Class of 2016 •  Georgia Institute of Technology

A partial engine failure he experienced during a solo flying excursion prompted Vaibhav Kumar to focus on aircraft maintenance, which led to founding AirLogs. It was accepted into Georgia Tech’s Startup Launch program and is focused on developing an advanced engine data monitor for general aviation aircraft. Kumar serves as maintenance crew chief for the Yellow Jacket Flying Club at Georgia Tech, where he maintains the continued airworthiness of four Cessna 172s.

Kumar’s graduate research revolves around aeroacoustics and aerodynamics for active noise control in aircraft, and he started a project called Pilot Angel focused on using an emotion-analysis artificial-intelligence copilot to prevent loss of control in general aviation. Kumar has been a graduate liaison for Georgia Tech’s AIAA chapter, a prototyping instructor at the school’s Aero Maker Space and an officer and executive board member of aerospace honor society Sigma Gamma Tau.

Graduate Student, Aerospace Engineering • University of -Colorado-Boulder
B.S. Aerospace • Engineering and Astronomy • Class of 2017 • University of Maryland

Mark Moretto is researching spacecraft dynamics in the coma of comets and spacecraft drag-modeling, which eventually could translate to other environments where spacecraft drag is a factor, such as low Earth orbit. The 2018 National Young Astronomer award winner has completed internships at NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center and Jet Propulsion Lab, as well as undergraduate student research projects devoted to NASA’s Deep Impact mission.

As co-president of the Terrapin Rocket Team at the University of Maryland (UMD), Moretto helped grow the club from 10 to 100 members. He also was co-president of the university’s Astronomy Club, where he organized weekly talks to help undergraduates learn about space-related research on campus. And he has volunteered as an astronomy tutor and student representative for the Equity and Inclusion Committee of UMD’s Department of Astronomy.

B.S. Aeronautical Engineering • Class of 2019 • Purdue University

As an undergraduate researcher at the Purdue Applied Plasma and Science Lab, Adam Patel has focused on the advancement of Hall thruster technology for interplanetary travel as well as low-energy surface flashover for more intense thrust and attitude capabilities in nanosatellites and cubesats. Patel is involved in multiple cubesat projects, including serving as the propulsion lead on TracSat, a graduate project funded by General Atomics seeking to demonstrate nanosatellite-positioning technology and attitude control.

Patel belonged to Purdue’s AIAA branch and the Purdue Students for the Exploration and Development of Space group, where he collaborated with a team to develop a competition-level solid-state rocket system. In addition to being involved with the Chicago boxing community, Patel founded Patel Ballistics Corp., which specializes in distress-flare launchers for boaters and hikers and has seen interest from U.S. government agency customers including the Environmental Protection Agency and Centers for Disease Control.

Graduate Student, Aerospace Engineering • Virginia Tech
B.S. Aerospace • Engineering • Class of 2018 Virginia Tech

Samantha Rocker is researching structural health monitoring in aerospace multifunctional composites at Virginia Tech’s Aerospace Structures and Materials Lab. In addition to her studies, Rocker has completed engineering internships at Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Sikorsky, and served as project team lead for Virginia Tech’s AIAA Undergraduate Team Aircraft Design Competition.

Rocker belongs to Sigma Gamma Tau and the Virginia Tech Aerospace and Ocean Engineering Ambassadors Program, where she helps with student recruitment and outreach efforts. She has volunteered for a wide variety of teaching and mentorship roles within STEM, including the Virginia Tech InVenTs Leadership Team where she held grade K-12 outreach events and, as a teaching assistant for Head Start, where she put her own twist on the program by introducing science lesson plans for young children.

Graduate Student, Materials Science and Engineering • University of Central Florida
B.S. Mechanical Engineering Class of 2017 • University of Central Florida

As a Fulbright scholar, Linda Rossmann has performed research at the German Aerospace Center—an experience she has leveraged to encourage international collaboration within science and engineering. Rossmann shared her experiences in Germany through a blog and podcast on her university’s laboratory website. She also has incorporated foreign-language learning into the University of Central Florida’s annual STEM Day activities, where students are taught about gas-turbine engines and building simple spectroscopes. Additionally, Rossmann has conducted youth STEM outreach through volunteer work with Camp Connect.

Rossmann’s graduate research is focused on thermal-barrier coatings that protect engine components from the extreme temperatures of operation. In addition to collaborating with NASA Glenn Research Center, Rossmann was part of a team that developed and conducted experiments at Argonne National Laboratory’s Advanced Photon Source.

Dual B.S. and M.S. Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics • Class of 2020 • University of Alabama

Peyton Strickland’s undergraduate research focused on designing a cold-gas thruster capable of vertical takeoff and landing, and he is conducting research sponsored by the Mitre Corp. in support of the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) to explore the power consumption needs of a micro-satellite that can fulfill the communication requirements set forth by the MDA. Strickland has interned at Mitre and MacLean Power Systems and belongs to the Alabama Rocket Engineering Systems IV Junior Team, which is building a two-stage solid rocket capable of ascending to 100,000 ft. 

As a former foster youth, Strickland is focused on giving back to others in similar situations through mentoring at-risk students and teaching a coding class at a school designated as failing by the Alabama Education Department, where he hopes to connect to and inspire the nearly 50 students he teaches. In addition to his volunteer work with students, Strickland gives his time at multiple local animal rescue organizations.

Graduate Student, Operations Research  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
B.S. Operations Research and Chinese  • Class of 2017  • U.S. Military Academy

As a Military Fellow at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory, 2nd Lt. Jessica Zhu works within the university’s Homeland Protection mission area to solve problems critical to national security and defense. Zhu is using various machine-learning, graph-matching and language-modeling techniques to analyze dark networks to help detect organizations participating in illicit and covert cyberspace activities. Her research will help decrease the resources spent on manually trawling through and monitoring online markets, social media, chat rooms and forums. 

Zhu acts as an Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences officer for MIT’s Operations Research Department, where she helps plan social events designed to build departmental morale and cohesion. She also volunteers with multiple organizations dedicated to empowering young women, including mentoring high school girls in leadership and community service projects with Boston Girls’ Leadership, Organized Women (GLOW) and teaching empowerment and self-defense to young women through Girls’ Lifetime Empowerment & Awareness Program (LEAP).