News That Will Make You Proud

Undergraduate Student Team Bests Graduate Teams by Placing First in Aerospace Competition

Stanley Ossyra insisted that the team aim higher.

Instead of competing in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) undergraduate competition, Ossyra (‘24, aerospace engineering), an aerospace engineering senior, knew he and his fellow teammates–Alton Lo, Sebastian Arteage, Leonardo Casillas, Kyle Degan, Hekumar Ghadia, Kolya Kuzmenko, Michael Rouse–could go head-to-head against graduate students, and win.

Called a “once-in-a-lifetime” achievement by faculty advisor and aerospace engineering lecturer Mark Gonda, this Cal Poly Pomona undergraduate engineering team won first in the AIAA 2024 Graduate Team Aircraft Design competition, besting graduate students from universities around the world.

“Every structures class we took, every controls class, every aerodynamics class—they all provided us with skills and knowledge we needed to succeed in this competition,” Ossyra said. “Winning this graduate competition showcases how well the college prepares students like us to succeed in highly competitive environments, providing us with the confidence to tackle major challenges, and the skillset to back it up.”

The team was tasked with designing a modern, electric self-launching sailplane suitable for training and recreational flying. The aircraft had to launch into the air under its own electric power, carry a trainee pilot and instructor, climb to a high altitude and soar in the air by catching rising currents of warm air called thermals. Hundreds of hours, at least a dozen all-nighters and several close calls with impending deadlines later, the team came out on top.

Three Key Advantages to Victory

1. The team was given opportunities to present their design to senior engineering staff at Lockheed Martin Skunkworks, Northrop Grumman and Edwards Air Force Base. “Presenting in front of a panel of experts, and receiving detailed feedback and critiques was one of the most stressful and fun experiences I’ve had in the program,” Ossyra said.
2. The aerospace engineering department’s resources accelerated the design process. “We were able to conduct real-time flight simulations of the aircraft we designed using the full-motion flight simulator in the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) Lab. This allowed us to analyze how the aircraft handled from a very tangible perspective,” Ossyra detailed. “Using virtual reality headsets, we flew the aircraft as if it were in real life, allowing us to quickly spot and remedy deficiencies we found in this virtual testing process.”
3. The team leveraged their extensive UAV experience. “Many of our team members had hands-on experience with electric aircraft propulsion systems, so we had a bit of a head start in understanding how to integrate unusual propulsion systems into the aircraft,” said Ossyra.

Brooke Handschin on What it Takes to Drive the Cal Poly Float in Rose Parade

“I’d say the hardest part about driving the float is using the joystick, which is super sensitive,” said mechanical engineering student Brooke Handschin, the construction chair and driver of the 2024 Cal Poly Universities’ Rose Float. “If I want to move slow, I’d have to go really, really slow because if I just press it, the float is just going to jolt forward. Another difficult part is figuring out when to turn, but that’s what my navigator does, so it takes the load off me.”

The 2024 float, “Shock n’ Roll,” earned the Crown City Innovator Award in the 135th Tournament of Roses Parade. The Cal Poly Universities’ Rose Float continues to be the only student-built float in the annual parade.

Professor Wen Cheng Honored with National Traffic Safety Award

Since joining the civil engineering department in 2009, Professor Wen Cheng has produced over 100 peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings and has brought in nearly $4 million in research grants. This year, Cheng has one more distinction—he was honored with the Traffic Safety Excellence Award by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration  for his work in analyzing traffic design and crash data to help make California streets safer.

Since 2008, Cheng has analyzed the true traffic safety of each of the state’s 58 counties and 540 incorporated cities each year using a multivariable analysis that includes the number of accidents, fatal accidents, and accidents involving alcohol or drug impairment; driver age; population of the city or county; miles driven in the area; bicycle or pedestrian involvement; an area’s weather; and local driving patterns.

Two Engineering First-Time Fulbright Scholars Excited to Take their Research International

First-time Fulbright Scholars, Professor Yong Gan, from the mechanical engineering department, and Associate Professor Huseyin Ucar, from the chemical and materials engineering department, are dedicated researchers and will be taking their research abroad.

An expert in energy sustainability and environmental sustainability, Gan said his research project, “Hydrothermal Carbonization of Biomass for Clean Energy Generation and Wastewater Purification,” is an integration of his teaching and research. “This project will create opportunities for Cal Poly Pomona students to be involved in international research and educational activities,” he said. Gan will be hosted by Canda’s University of Regina.

Ucar’s project, “In Pursuit of Better Magnetic Materials: Addressing Data Scarcity Problems in Materials Informatics,” will involve design and discovery of magnetic materials with energy and biomedical applications through the development of robust machine-learning models that can guide experimental materials researchers “in a data-driven manner rather than guesswork, hence speeding up the discovery of advanced magnets.” This work, he said, affects clean energy applications that involve permanent magnets and the design of magnetic materials in chemotherapy. Ucar will be hosted by United Arab Emirates’ Mohamed Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence.

Mechanical Engineering Professor Yong Gan

Chemical and Materials Engineering Associate Professor Huseyin Ucar