OSU takes top spots at global aerospace competition

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

More photos can be found on: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ostatenews/sets/72157623767181505/

Two teams of aerospace engineering students from Oklahoma State University earned first and second place honors over the weekend at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Design/Build/Fly International competition held April 16-18 in Wichita, Kan. The teams build their own unmanned planes and prove their performance by flying them in three different and challenging missions.             

“Once again OSU students are the masters of the skies,” said OSU President Burns Hargis. “We are proud to congratulate our students and faculty as they continue to put Oklahoma State’s aerospace engineering program at the forefront of teaching, research and development in the area of unmanned air vehicles and systems.”

“OSU Orange” took first place team honors and “OSU Black” finished second overall in competition against 67 other  teams from universities in the U.S. and abroad. A team from Purdue University placed third, and the University of Texas at Austin placed fourth.

In the past 11 years, OSU teams, led by Dr. Andrew Arena Jr., L. Maciula Professor in Engineering, have won seven first place awards and eight second place awards, and in five of these competitions, his teams have taken both first and second place. OSU won first and second last year.

Eric Provo served as chief engineer for the first place OSU Orange team, which also included, Donald Koeniguer, Grant Packard, Dylan Sirbaugh, Cody Combs, Adam Strawmyer, Marshall Tarrant, Eric Wolf, Johnny Chandler, Justin Roberts, James Baugh, Cindy Choa, Bradley Duvall, Michael Elliott, Austin Huling, Jessica Koeniguer, James Leonard, Zak Longacre, Anna Martin, Joe Searle, Tyler Stein, and Brian Taber.   

Ryan Paul served as chief engineer for the second place OSU Black team, which also included Adam Still, Tyler McElroy, Ryan Rupe, Michael Carver, Ryan Darrow, Andrew Flusche, Lucas Spinazzola, Brian Walters, Michael Bevers, Fred Keating, Ben Bettinger, Blake Carlisle, Jonathan Covington, Andrew Eckhart, Trent Maness, Aries Mauck, Abe McClellan, Dustin McDaniel, Clint Reitz, David Roy, Jacob Ryan, Kevin Sloan, and David Walker.

“Considering  the difficulty of the missions and the systems engineering in these planes, we are all inspired by the dedication of the students and Dr. Arena to continually attain this level of excellence against formidable competition,” said Dr. Larry Hoberock, professor and head of the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. “No other university has come close to matching the record of OSU teams since the competition began in 1999.”

The teams were assisted by the pilot Dan Bierly of Zivko Aeronautics in Guthrie, and by Dr. Joe Conner, adjunct assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at OSU.