Aeronautical engineering students place high in competition

A team of 16 UC Davis aeronautical engineering students placed second in the recent national Aero Design Collegiate Competition. The "Aerobrick '98" team built a six-pound, fixed-wing composite aircraft that lifted 27.5 pounds -- just a fraction less than the 27.7 pounds raised by the winner from the University of Akron. The Davis team was delighted with its performance against 39 other U.S. universities. "As an engineer, to see something that we created with our own hands take off and fly carrying five times its own weight is something that will stay with me forever," said team captain Jeremy Vander Kam, a graduating senior. The team's faculty adviser was Professor N. Sarigul-Klijn, who is also a commercially licensed pilot. Sarigul-Klijn came to UC Davis in 1989 and works primarily in the areas of finite element methods, aerospace structures, aeroelasticity, biomechanics and vibro-acoustics. She is the co-director of the UC Davis Transportation Noise Control Center. The competition was sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers, SAE International. .

Media Resources

Andy Fell, Research news (emphasis: biological and physical sciences, and engineering), 530-752-4533, ahfell@ucdavis.edu