Two teams of Terriers propose natural disaster solutions for aviation in a NASA competition this week
For the second year in a row, two of the eight finalist teams at the annual NASA Blue Skies collegiate competition come from Boston University. The Terriers present their design concepts to NASA officials this week in Mountain View, California. In the 2024 edition of the contest—formally called Gateways to Blue Skies: Advancing Aviation for Natural Disasters, students and recent graduates propose aviation-related solutions to problems in natural disaster management.
A team advised by ME Lecturer Jim Geiger focused on volcanic ash dispersal in the atmosphere. Chris Le, Nick Leung, Andrew Patnode, and Miguel Villax—who all just earned their BU bachelor’s degrees in mechanical engineering—designed a system of electric unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that would launch at the start of a volcanic eruption and use the latest sensing technology to more accurately map and predict the dispersal of volcanic ash clouds.
Advised by Professor of the Practice Tony Linn (ME), a team consisting of Tristan Bourgade, Eileen Duong, Priscilla Pak, and Lucy Paskoff—all of whom also recently completed their bachelor’s in mechanical engineering—proposed a system of UAVs outfitted with water sampling buoys as well as cameras to collect data on the extent of contaminated water after a flood.
Sponsored by NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, the competition offers winning team members internships at NASA aeronautics centers. The eight finalist teams, who all received $8,000 stipends for travel expenses, are delivering their pitches to NASA judges in Mountain View on May 30 and 31. The event will be livestreamed at https://blueskies.nianet.org.