October 31, 2017 First- and second-place winners of the student poster competition (l-r): front – Christopher Helmerich, Ian Slamen, Everett Cavanaugh, Sarah Dangelo, Jennifer Miller; middle – Amit Patel, Kelsey Herndon, Ronan Lucey, Heather Rachford, Alex Christley; back – Oakley Copland, Behzad Bahramibabamiri, Lucas Capps, Jared Fuchs, Ben Thompson, Aaron Hunt, Logan Anderson. Michael Mercier | UAH For the eighth consecutive year, graduate and undergraduate students presented their research to compete for prizes at a student poster competition during the 10th Wernher von Braun Memorial Symposium at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) Oct. 24-26. "With most of the symposium being hosted at UAH, the poster competition is a great opportunity to showcase the capabilities of UAH's undergraduate and graduate students," says Dave Cook, coordinator of student research programs for UAH's Office of Academic Affairs. Students present research projects relevant to the aerospace industry, such as atmospheric science, earth observation, space life sciences, space health, aerospace systems engineering and design, astrophysics, space weather, optics, economics, business, policy, sustainability, history, international relations, education, STEM outreach initiatives and related areas. This year, 40 students participated in the competition. "It’s really interesting to see the exciting ways in which students are able to convey their research in poster presentations," Cook says. "Likewise, the students have an opportunity to explain their research to a team of judges and other American Astronautical Society (AAS) members during the networking events, so it’s really a valuable opportunity for students to improve their communication skills and interact with AAS members during the symposium." This year, for the first time, AAS offered the opportunity for one of the poster competition winners to present their research at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Bremen, Germany (Oct. 1-5, 2018). The poster competition winners can apply to the IAC, and of those selected, AAS will choose one student to receive registration, airfare, and lodging for the conference. "This is an amazing chance for one of the winning students to attend the world’s largest gathering of aerospace-related experts, and present their research. We thank the AAS for this opportunity, and I’d also like to thank the UAH faculty and research staff who work with these students and encourage them to participate in events like this," Cook says. This year’s poster winners were: Category 1: Physical & Liberal Sciences Atmospheric science, earth observation, space life sciences, space health, astrophysics, space weather, optics, economics, business, policy, sustainability, history, international relations, education, STEM outreach initiatives Graduate 1st Place Name: Ronan Lucey (College of Science) Title: Assessing Time-Weighted Dynamic Time Warping as a method for land cover classification utilizing NASA satellite imagery Mentor: Dr. Robert Griffin, College of Science, UAH 2nd Place Name: Kelsey Herndon (Rebekke Muench, NASA; Emil Cherrington, NASA) (College of Science) Title: Applications of NASA Earth Observations for Monitoring Surface Water Availability for Pastoralists and Small-Scale Agriculture Mentor: Dr. Robert Griffin, College of Science, UAH Undergraduate 1st Place Name: Christopher Helmerich, Everett Cavanaugh, Sarah Dangelo, Jennifer Miller, Elena Pradhan, Sean Widmier, Cory Wolfe, Ian Slamen, Tyrell Jamison, Dr. James Miller (College of Science) Title: Physoon – Radiation Detection in Various High Altitude Environments Mentor: Dr. Francis Wessling, College of Engineering, UAH 2nd Place Name: Jared Fuchs, Lucas Capps, Kyle Renfroe (College of Science) Title: Development of a Gamma-Ray Scattering Polarimetry Detector for CubeSats Mentor: Dr. Francis Wessling, College of Engineering, UAH Category 2: Engineering Aerospace systems engineering and design, and propulsion Graduate 1st Place Name: Behzad Bahramibabamiri, Hesam Askari (College of Engineering) Title: Predicting Mechanical Properties of Lattice Structures Mentor: Dr. Kavan Hazeli, College of Engineering, UAH 2nd Place Name: Amit Patel (College of Engineering) Title: Experimentation of Warm Gas Generator Emerging Technologies Mentor: Dr. Robert Frederick, College of Engineering, UAH Undergraduate 1st Place Name: Alex Christley, Heather Rachford (College of Engineering) Title: Risk Assessment and Use of Water Rockets for Educating Students in K-12 Classrooms Using a LIFTOFF Case Study Mentor: Drs. Matt Turner and P. J. Benfield, UAH SMAP Center 2nd Place Name: Benjamin Thompson, Jared Fuchs, Oakley Copeland, Matthew Haskell, William Hankins, Aaron Hunt, Logan Anderson (College of Science) Title: Overview of the SABER Mission and Launch Vehicle Design Mentor: Dr. Francis Wessling, College of Engineering, UAH Learn More Undergraduate Research at UAH Contact Dave Cook Student Research Coordinator 256.824.5705 dave.cook@uah.edu