While the University of Arizona Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering is always well represented at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ annual Science and Technology Forum and Exposition, UA researchers took center stage at this year’s gathering of the world’s largest aerospace professional society Jan. 9-13 in Grapevine, Texas.

On Tuesday, Jan. 10, Professor Israel Wygnanski delivered the Dryden Lecture in Research, the AIAA’s most prestigious lectureship, on his groundbreaking research on active flow control.

Dryden Lecture

The next day, Moriba Jah, director of UA Space Object Behavioral Sciences, moderated a panel on space traffic management that included officials from the Federal Aviation Administration, Lockheed Martin and Ball Aerospace.

Space Traffic Management Panel

Associate professor Jesse Little chaired and served on several panels; other panelists from the UA included professors Hermann Fasel, Erdogan Madenci, Anatoli Tumin and Olesya Zhupanska and research scientist James Threadgill.

Associate professor Samy Missoum was named an AIAA associate fellow at an evening ceremony on Jan. 9.  And graduate student Yile Hu won the Harry H. and Lois G. Hilton Student Paper Award in Structures; Madenci is his adviser and co-author.

• AIAA photo gallery