September 16, 2003

NASA Officials Visit College of Engineering at NC State University

Two visits by officials from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) National Institute of Aerospace and NASA Langley Research Center occurred at North Carolina State University recently. The visits were organized by NC State's Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. A group of competency directors from Langley Research Center arrived Thursday, September 4, to meet with faculty, tour research facilities and hear technical presentations. On September 11 Dr. Bob Lindberg, vice president of research for the National Institute of Aerospace and former senior executive vice president of Orbital Sciences, also visited NC State for a day of meetings and tours.

The visits provided an opportunity for NC State, one of the six university members of the National Institute of Aerospace (NIA), to participate in development of a new strategic plan for technology innovation in aerospace as the NIA is starting the second year of its operation. The NIA founding institutions are NC State, North Carolina A&T University, Georgia Tech, the University of Maryland, and University of Virginia and Virginia Tech.

The six competency directors, with their areas of expertise, are Dr. Doug Arbuckle, airborne systems; Dr. Carl Gray, systems engineering; Dr. Ajay Kumar, aerodynamics, aerothermodynamics and acoustics; Ms. Cindy Lee, aerospace systems concept and analysis; Mr. Leonard McMaster, atmospheric sciences; and Dr. Mark Shuart, structures and materials. NC State participants included administrators from the Colleges of Engineering and Physical and Mathematical Sciences and faculty representatives from mechanical and aerospace engineering; chemical engineering; computer science; materials science and engineering; electrical and computer engineering; industrial engineering; nuclear engineering; and marine, earth and atmospheric sciences.

— rudd —

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