Newsletter of the Department of Aerospace Engineering University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Vol. 11 • 2009 Inside Letter from the Department News Department Head New Developments in Autonomic Materials. 4 How quickly this past year has flown by! It seems as Illinois-led Project Garners $6.25 Million DoD Grant. 6 though just a few weeks ago I was writing this same Bone Adhesion Project Gets Grainger Funding . 7 note to you, our loyal alumni and friends. But many AE Professor Developing Bat-Like Aircraft Flight . 8 interesting and exciting things have happened in the Sixty Years and Going Strong . 9 Illinois AE Department over the last year, and we’re Burton Retires from Teaching; Continues Research . 10 pleased to report those to you here. A Celebration of the Life of Aerospace Engineering Emeritus Prof. Adam Richard Zak, 1934–2008. 11 Our enrollments continue to be strong in the face of Scholarships Awarded AE Students. 11 the economic downturn with 382 undergraduates Santa Claus Comes to Town in Nanocomposite Photo. 36 and 125 graduate students enrolled in AE this fall. The graduate enrollment is particularly impressive and Faculty/Staff News stands at an all-time high for our department. Not Chasiotis Earns Presidential Early Career Award. 12 only do we have strong enrollments, but the students AE Researchers’ Paper Chosen as Best from Continuum Mechanics are also of top-notch quality. In fact, the mean high- Conference. 13 school percentile rank and composite ACT score of Kirts Receives Staff of the Year Award. 13 our entering freshman students this fall also stand at Geubelle, Loth Named ASME Fellows. 14 all-time highs. The entering graduate student cohort White is Finalist for Bepi Colombo Prize . 15 is superbly well qualified, too. As a result of the Bodony and Coverstone Recognized for Excellence in Advising. 15 talents and energy of our students and alumni, they naturally have achieved great things. Many examples Alumni News of these achievements can be found in the following AE Alumni Command Space Shuttle Flights,Join 2009 pages. Astronaut Class. 16 Our faculty continue to excel in their research, educa- Astronaut Honored as Distinguished Alumnus. 17 tion, and service duties. Within these pages, you can, Dowell Receives Prestigious Guggenheim Medal. 18 for example, read about the developments of Scott AE Honors Outstanding Alumni . 19 White’s group in the area of self-healing materials, as Greetings from the AE Alumni Advisory Board . 20 well as a new project of Eric Loth and colleagues on Recent AE Alum Helps to Develop New Lunar Lander Test Bed . 21 bone adhesion. A group led by John Lambros has just Fighting Illini on the Ike. 22 received a prestigious five-year DoD MURI grant on AE Alum’s Research 36 Years Ahead of its Time . 22 stress wave tailoring. You will be introduced to our Class Notes. 23 In Memoriam. 23 Greetings Aerospace Engineering Alums. 24 Here’s How to Support Your Alma Mater. 24 Writers Susan Mumm Student News Harry H. Hilton James E. Kloeppel, Physical Sciences Editor, University of Illinois AE Senior Design Teams Take Second, Third in AIAA Space New Bureau Design Competition. 25 Phil Marwill, National Football Foundation Local AIAA Chapter Hosts Regional Conference . 26 Melissa A. Mitchell, Editorial Associate, University of Illinois AE Students Attend Goddard Symposium. 26 News Bureau AE Students Awarded Defense, Armed Forces Scholarships. 27 Photo Contributors AE Connects to Google’s Project 10^100 . 27 James W. Phillips, AE Affiliate Professor AE Undergrad Wins National Student Role Model Award . 28 L. Brian Stauffer Duke University Photography AE Grad Student Wins Ames Honor Award. 28 Jerry Thompson, Thompson and McClellan Photography AE Grad Student is Finalist for Lemelson Prize; Wins Cozad NASA, Bill Ingalls Venture Competition . 29 John Raoux AE Grad Student Wins NASA/GSRP Fellowship. 29 Janet Sinn Hanlon McDonald Among National Scholar-Athlete Class. 30 Beckman Institute ITG, Darren Stevenson and Alex Jerez AE Students Garner College of Engineering Awards. 31 Designer Awards Banquet. 32 Gretchen Wieshuber, Studio 2D Thanks to Our Donors . 34 2 Department of Aerospace Engineering Many interesting and exciting things have happened in Department of Aerospace the Illinois AE Department Engineering over the last year. Tenured/ Emeritus Administrative Tenure Track Faculty Staff Faculty John D. Buckmaster Lori Ballinger-Pankau newest faculty member, Soon-Jo Chung, who just Joanna M. Austin Rodney L. Burton Barb Bohlen joined us from Iowa State University, and works in the Lawrence A. Harry H. Hilton Brett Clifton Bergman areas of autonomous vehicles and robotics. Ioannis Allen Ormsbee Kent Elam Chasiotis has received the National Science Founda- Daniel J. Bodony John E. Prussing David Foley tion’s Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists Michael B. Bragg and Engineers. According to the NSF website, “the Lee H. Sentman Joel Franzen Timothy W. Bretl PECASE Award is the highest honor bestowed by the Kenneth R. Sivier Diane Jeffers Ioannis Chasiotis U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engi- Wayne C. Solomon Barbara Kirts neers beginning their independent careers.” Finally, Soon-Jo Chung Shee Mang Yen Kendra Lindsey two of our senior faculty marked major milestones Bruce A. Conway in the last year: Harry Hilton’s 60th continuous year Greg Milner Victoria L. Affiliate/ at the University of Illinois and Rod Burton’s “retire- Susan Mumm Coverstone Adjunct ment,” although he still pursues an active research Angie Pitard program. J. Craig Dutton Faculty Staci Tankersley Gregory S. Elliott We also continue to reach out to you, our alumni and Kenneth T. Christensen friends. We have hired a new full-time alumni rela- Jonathan B. Freund tions coordinator/advancement officer, Brett Clifton. Philippe H. Geubelle Naira Hovakimyan This has allowed us to have much more continuity of John Lambros Thomas L. Jackson effort in these areas. In addition to our Alumni Board Cedric Langbort Arif Masud meeting in the fall, we hosted an alumni reception Karel Matous this year at the AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting in Ki D. Lee Orlando, and participated in a College of Engineer- Eric Loth D. Michael McFarland ing alumni event in Seattle. We are planning another N. Sri Namachchivaya alumni event for this February in Houston, so please George H. Miley Michael S. Selig watch for the details as the event draws near. We also James W. Phillips met with many of you individually in Seattle, Houston, Petros G. Voulgaris Srinivasa M. Salapaka St. Louis, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington DC, Scott R. White and Los Angeles during the last year. Wherever we Nancy R. Sottos go, we enjoy hearing about the excellence of the edu- Alexander Vakakis cation you received and your wonderful experiences at Illinois and in AE. With your gifts you can “give back” by providing our programs with the “margin of excellence” that state educational and federal research funds cannot cover. Thus, you continue to play a pivotal role in our success. AE Faculty Listed As Excellent So, read and enjoy. We look forward to hearing from AE faculty recently included on the List of Teachers Rated as you; our contact information is readily available on Excellent by Their Students have been: Spring 2009, Assis- our website at: http://www.ae.illinois.edu/. tant Prof. Daniel J. Bodony, Prof. Bruce A. Conway, Adjunct Sincerely, Prof. Thomas Jackson, Prof. John Lambros, Emeritus Prof. John Prussing, Teaching Assistant Brian Woodard; Fall 2008, Craig Dutton Bodony, Prof. Rodney L. Burton, Conway, Prof. Gregory Bliss Professor and Head Elliott and Prof. Ki D. Lee; Spring 2008, Bodony, Assistant Prof. Timothy W. Bretl, Burton, Conway, Prof. Victoria L. Coverstone, Lambros, and Assistant Prof. Natasha Neogi. 2009 Newsletter 3 Department News New Developments in Autonomic Materials: Self-Healing Coatings and Force-Sensitive Color Changes New polymer region. The catalyst and healing agent react, repair- ing the damage within minutes or hours, depending coatings prevent upon environmental conditions. corrosion, even The performance of the self-healing coating system when scratched was evaluated through corrosion testing of damaged and healed coated steel samples compared to control samples that contained no healing agents in Imagine tiny cracks in a patio table the coating. Reproducible damage was induced by healing by themselves, or the first scratching through the 100-micron-thick polymer small scratch on a new car disap- coating and into the steel substrate using a razor pearing by itself. This and more blade. The samples were then immersed in a salt solu- may be possible with self-healing tion and compared over time. coatings that AE Prof. Scott R. White’s group is developing. The control samples corroded within 24 hours and exhibited extensive rust formation, most prevalently The new coatings are designed to within the groove of the scratched regions, but also better protect materials from the extending across the substrate surface, the research- effects of environmental exposure. ers reported. In dramatic contrast, the self-healing Applications range from automo- samples showed no visual evidence of corrosion even tive paints and marine varnishes after 120 hours of exposure. to the thick, rubbery coatings on patio furniture and park benches. “Our dual capsule healing system offers a general Photo by L. Brian Stauffer approach to self-healing coatings that operates across Illinois researchers Paul Braun, right, “Starting from our earlier work