A handful of New Mexico Tech students recently made news within the aerospace industry.  Four Mechanical Engineering students were recognized within The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) New Mexico chapter’s June 2021 Newsletter.

Brenden Herkenhoff and Jarod Fisher were recognized as part of a team that designed and created a portable wind tunnel that AIAA had commissioned for STEM outreach purposes. During the May 2021 AIAA chapter meeting, they even got to present their design and production processes and discuss the importance for a larger scale production of these portable wind tunnels in terms of project analysis and systems management. 

Sara Lanctot was recognized for her part in a panel discussion talking about her journey and experience interning with NASA during the 2021 spring semester. Sara has been involved with many intriguing research projects at New Mexico Tech, learning quite a bit about the topic of aerospace engineering, especially concerning the moon. The newsletter discusses the papers Lanctot has written concerning her research, one even being accepted into the AIAA Aviation Conference.

The chairman of the New Mexico Tech student chapter of AIAA, Savannah Bradley, was also mentioned because of her feature on the daytime talk show Tamron Hall where described her experience being the youngest pilot to fly in the International Balloon Fiesta.

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, formed in 1963, is now the largest technical society dedicated to aerospace research. Making  AIAA a leading aerospace publisher, with a well renowned reputation for publishing cutting edge research and information. Having students recognized in their publications is an enormous honor for the university.