Capstone Film Fest Awards

A&A is thrilled to announce the 2020 capstone film fest awards. We organized our first A&A Capstone Film Fest as a means to bring the department together in a fun experience despite the unique challenges we faced in spring quarter. Due to the enthusiastic participation of our students, alumni, family and friends in 2020, we plan to continuing hosting this event annually!

The department sincerely thanks our Alumni's Choice panel including Geda (BS '77) and Phil Condit, Bobak Ferdowsi (BS '01), Nujoud Merancy (BS '01), Erik Mattson (BS '86), Heather Ross (BS '85), Mike Taniguchi (BS '71), Jim Teslow (BS '70), Rao Varanasi (PhD '68), and our 2020 Distinguished Alum Kourosh Hadi (BS '82, MS '87). 

2020 Alumni’s Choice Awards

• Best in Show 
  CubeSat: CIA Board for SOC-i
   
• Honorable Mention 
  NASA Supersonic Transport

2020 People’s Choice Awards

• Excellence in Creative Problem Solving: 
  Society for Advanced Rocket Propulsion (SARP): Liquid Bipropellant Rocket
   
• Excellence in Public Messaging & Engagement: 
  Vulcan: Wildlife Protection Drone
   
• Excellence in Video Production & Editing: 
  Airbus: Urban Mobility Battery Swap

Capstone Technical Excellence Awards

Next, we are thrilled to announce the Technical Excellence Awards to recognize the continuation of our A&A tradition of outstanding undergrad design work. Presentations and reports were reviewed by a collection of more than twenty volunteer jurors -- including A&A faculty, industry experts, and graduate students. Based on the final reviews and nominations submitted by the reviewers, four teams have been selected for honors in Technical Excellence for the results of their 2020 capstone projects. 

We would like to thank all of our volunteer reviewers for their substantial time and effort. External technical reviewers include: Paul Applewhite, Doug Chappelle, Gary Cohen, Evan Frank, Jeff Hogan, Robert Lind, Chet Nelson, Matt Orr, Joel Reiter, Steven Stanley, and Adam Tahir. Internal reviewers from A&A include Behcet Acikmese, Abhiram Aithal, Burak Boyacioglu, Dana Dabiri, Ed Habtour, Jim Hermanson, Erik Hurlen, Justin Little, Eli Livne, Mehran Mesbahi, Kristi Morgansen, Peter Scuito, Reza Soltani, and Eric Wang. 

2020 Technical Excellence Awards:

• Innovation: Excellence in technology innovation:
  CubeSat: CIA Board for SOC-i
   
• Impact: Greatest potential impact on the field of aerospace, including social good: 
  Applewhite: Precision Delivery Baton
   
• Trailblazers: Excellence in unique & creative problem solving: 
  Boeing: Regional Aircraft Family
   
• Communication: Excellence in communication and presentation of ideas: 
  RAVEN: Rocket-based GNC