The 2007 AIAA Wright Brothers Lectureship in Aeronautics was recently awarded to a member of our Utah SAMPE Chapter, Dr. Dave Widauf. The lectureship commemorates the first powered flights made by Orville and Wilbur Wright at Kitty Hawk in 1903, and emphasizes the significant advances in aeronautics by recognizing major leaders and contributions thereto. The award is not granted annually, but only from time to time as significant advances in flight or significant commemorations of the First Flight are achieved. This award was last given in 2002.
Dr. Widauf’s presentation will describe the efforts of the Utah State Wright Flyer team, under the direction of Dr. Widauf, in achieving the only successful flight of a Wright Flyer replica type airplane during the Centennial of Flight in 2003. But beyond the multi disciplinary technical and materials nature of the airplane and the flight, the more important message is the far reaching extent of the educational outreach of the project, the ability for us now to look up into the sky and see visions of a century past, and to see pictures of the thousands of children who had the opportunity to sit at the controls of the ship.
It is truly an enjoyable and timeless lecture, from which you will leave with a smile and a renewed faith in the triumph of the human spirit.
Dr. Widauf’s other honors include being selected as the Utah Engineering Council’s 2004 Educator of the Year while teaching at Utah State University. Widauf received his bachelor's degree from Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, his Master's degree from Pepperdine University, and his Ph.D. from Texas A&M. While teaching at USU, he was a co-founder of the flight instruction program and composites manufacturing laboratory, while concurrently holding the rank of Colonel at Hill AFB, where he directed composite repair efforts. Now retired from both teaching and the military, he works in the Civil Service at Hill AFB.
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Scott Stapleton, a graduate student in the Mechanical Engineering Department, will overview his research project sponsored by the U.S. Automotive Composites Consortium. Scott is completing his M.S. degree, and plans to pursue his Ph.D. this fall. Scott was recently named as a recipient of a 2007 SAMPE Student Leadership Award, which will provide for his expenses to attend the International SAMPE Symposium and Exhibition in Baltimore this June.