NASA Names College Winners In Supersonic Design Contest

Eight college students have summer jobs at NASA this year, thanks to their participation in a contest to design a supersonic airliner.
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College students from the U.S., Japan and India researched technology and created concepts for a supersonic passenger jet as part of a competition sponsored by the Fundamental Aeronautics Program in NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate.
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The participants were challenged to design a small supersonic airliner and submit a research paper limited to 25 pages.
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Designs had to be efficient, environmentally friendly, low sonic boom commercial aircraft that could be ready for initial service by 2020.
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A team of undergraduates from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va., and a team of graduate students from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta tied for first place in the U.S. division.
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A University of Tokyo undergraduate team won top honors in the non-U.S. category. Six participants receiving internships were selected from the award-winning teams.
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All eight recipients are engineering or management students and were selected based on their resumes, grade point averages and application letters.
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The students are serving their internships at three NASA centers: Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.; Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif.; and the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.
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"We use these competitions to generate excitement for aeronautics and the engineering behind aviation," said Peter Coen, principal investigator of the Supersonics Project at Langley.
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"I was pleased by the number and diversity of the entries we received.
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And I was impressed by the quality and innovative thinking demonstrated in the designs."
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This year's competition also fostered an unusual collaboration across the country and two continents.
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Four students, one from Florida, another from California and two from Australia, worked together over the Internet to design an airliner.
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Three of the four had met last year as a result of the contest.
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The team tied for second place with an undergraduate team from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.
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An undergraduate team from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Institute of Technology in Gujarat, India won second place in the international division.
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A group of NASA engineers reviewed the entries.
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The judges based their scores on how well students addressed all aspects of the problem they chose to discuss.
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The judges used the following criteria: innovation and creativity; discussion of feasibility; a brief review of pertinent literature; and a baseline comparison with the relevant current technology, system or design.
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Winning participants received prizes, including up to $5,000, and will be invited to a student forum sponsored by NASA.
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Students were also eligible for 24 summer internships.
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Only U.S. citizens may be awarded cash prizes or NASA-funded internships.
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Non-U.S. teams will receive an engraved trophy.
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All participants also will receive a NASA certificate.
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For a list of winners of the contest and information about the interns, visit:

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http://www.aeronautics.nasa.gov/competition_winners_college.htm

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WASHINGTON
NASA