Florida Tech Co-organizes Major Student Conference; Takes Home Paper Award

MELBOURNE, FLA.—Florida Institute of Technology teamed with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to host the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Region 2 Student Conference, held earlier in April in Cape Canaveral. Instrumental in the effort from Florida Tech were student branch president Joseph Bussenger and vice president Akshay Lala. The branch’s faculty adviser was David Fleming, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering.

Florida Tech teams, presenting six papers, took home a third place award in the Team category for the paper, “Design and manufacturing of a steady state turbine thin film cooling proof of concept research device.” It was presented by its authors, David Becknell, Darren Levine and Stephanie Seuffert, on the Prometheus team.

“We are all very proud of our students for winning this award. This is indicative of the quality of our engineering students at Florida Tech,” said Dean of the College of Engineering and Harris Professor Fredric Ham.

The event attracted 234 students from throughout the Southeast United States who gave 60 technical presentations. Students were from such schools at North Carolina State University, Auburn University, Georgia Tech, University of Florida and Mississippi State College.