UCLA Students Win Over Industry Experts at Student Conference

Date: May 11, 2004
Contact: Chris Sutton ( chris@ea.ucla.edu )
Phone: 310-206-0540

Aerospace graduate student Sevan Megerian studies pulsed or acoustically excited transverse jet at UCLA

When Sevan Megerian mentioned that his research in transverse jet control could be applied to NASA's ultra-high-speed scramjet aircraft, the judges seated before him leaned forward with great concentration, some nodding their heads.

"That really caught their attention," said Megerian, a second-year graduate student in aerospace engineering. "They weren't interested in lines on a chart. They were more interested in applications."

That may have been the moment when the UCLA master's student secured his first-place finish at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Region VI student conference, held in April at UCLA. The conference, organized by the UCLA student chapter of AIAA, brought together more than 70 students and faculty advisors from the western United States, in addition to local industry representatives.

Megerian was part of a clean sweep by UCLA in the competition's graduate division. The second and third place winners were Garrett Lu and Leslie Sasa. All three scholars are from the mechanical and aerospace engineering department in the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science.

The annual AIAA student conference, which takes place at a different university each year, gives undergraduate and graduate students the chance to prepare and present a technical paper in a relatively non-threatening environment. Students from several universities compete, while experts from industry and national labs serve as judges. The judges read the papers and listen to presentations, grading students on their research and presentation skills.

The conference was organized almost entirely by student volunteers from the School's AIAA student chapter, who balanced class work and other academic competitions to stage the event. Organizers insist it was worth the hard work.

"Last year, I attended the conference in Seattle. It was the first time I had ever done anything like that," said Cathy Leong, a fourth-year aerospace major. "I thought it would be a good idea to have it here in Los Angeles."

Many of the conference participants traveled to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, where students saw models of robot rovers like Spirit and Opportunity in JPL's 'Sandbox' testbed, and stepped inside the lab's enormous circular vacuum chamber, which simulates the conditions of space.

The conference also included a panel discussion involving recent UCLA graduates who returned to talk about the transition from school to the workplace.

"It was really good because there were people from so many environments - the military, small companies, large companies, even someone who started their own company," said Rebekah Tanimoto, another conference organizer and fourth-year aerospace engineering student. "No matter what, there was someone there to answer anyone's question."

For Megerian, the conference was an opportunity to gain important experience presenting his work in a formal setting.

"This was my first serious paper. I put a lot of time into it and I got a lot out of it in terms of sharpening my focus on the research," said Megerian.

Megerian is studying pulsed or acoustically excited transverse jet, a flowfield which may be applied to fuel injection as well as dilution air injection in aircraft engines. He is looking at ways to control this jet and optimize the mixing of fuel and air that leads to combustion.

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a national organization that promotes and supports the development and progress of aeronautic and astronautic sciences. More information can be found on their web site. The UCLA student chapter AIAA was originally founded in 1940 as part of the Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences. This organization combined with the American Rocket Society in 1963 to become AIAA. The UCLA chapter is dedicated to building engineering projects, friendships, and industry partnerships. More information can be found on their web site.

Using a small speaker to acoustically excite, or pulse, the jet, Megerian causes the injectant to emerge from the nozzle in puffs, resulting in greater penetration of the jet into the airflow. He then examines what kind of sound to apply to the jet to achieve the enhanced jet penetration and eventual mixing. At the conference, Megerian's paper focused on the natural instabilities in this type of flowfield, in order to know how to properly excite the jet.

"We apply different frequencies to the speaker to cause different pulsing conditions, and take pictures of the jet flow to measure penetration," said Megerian. "When the jet is not pulsed, there isn't much penetration, but when it is appropriately pulsed the penetration is significantly improved."

Megerian's work could lead to improvements in engine efficiency and reduced emissions for most types of aircraft - including NASA's X-43A scramjet.

"Student conferences like these are beneficial in so many ways," said Ann Karagozian, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and Megerian's advisor. "The students learn practical lessons from young professionals, gain valuable feedback from industry judges, meet students from other schools who are interested in the same subjects, and become better prepared for other larger conferences."

"At first it was intimidating to go out there and present my paper in front of these industry judges," said Sevan, who quickly became more relaxed. "Once I started talking, I was comfortable with everything I was saying, and they asked good questions. They weren't out to get you; they were there to learn from you, and realizing that really boosted my confidence. Looking back on the conference, I'm really glad I did it."

Megerian will move on to the national student competition in January 2005 at the AIAA Aerospace Sciences meeting in Reno, Nevada.