Representatives from NASA, the Department of Energy, the Office of Naval Research and the Air Force Research Lab discussed instrumentation needs for gas turbine engines at the first international conference on Advanced Instrument, Diagnostics and Controls for Applications in Turbomachinery at Penn State. Credit: Thomas Corbett and Emma Veley/Penn State
Winners announced for inaugural Advanced Instrumentation, Diagnostics and Controls for Applications in Turbomachinery conference
June 10, 2022
By Mary Fetzer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The first international conference on Advanced Instrument, Diagnostics and Controls for Applications in Turbomachinery, held May 22-24 at Penn State, has announced its student winners for technical oral and poster presentations.
The event was organized by Penn State’s interdisciplinary Gas Turbine Research, Education, and Outreach Center, which is under the direction of Jacqueline O’Connor, associate professor of mechanical engineering. Karen Thole, distinguished professor of mechanical engineering, co-chaired the conference with Notre Dame professor Scott Morris.
Other key organizers from the Department of Mechanical Engineering included Reid Berdanier, associate research professor; Rob Kunz, professor; Steve Lynch, associate professor; and Tamy Guimarães, assistant professor. Penn State partnered with the Propulsion Instrumentation Working Group to host this first-time event.
AIDCAT included roundtable discussions, exhibits, tours and keynote presentations. A panel of representatives from NASA, the Department of Energy, the Office of Naval Research and the Air Force Research Lab discussed instrumentation needs for gas turbine engines.
“Our intent was to bring together the international community in a focused technical exchange environment to address complex problems through unique solutions.” Thole said.
The event welcomed 154 participants, including users, developers, vendors, original equipment manufacturers and small businesses.
Students presented technical oral and poster presentations, and four projects were selected as winners:
- First Place
- Topic: Machine Learning Approach to Filtered Rayleigh Scattering Measurement Processing
- Student Presenter: Evan Warner
- Faculty: K. Todd Lowe
- Affiliation: Virginia Tech
- Second Place (tie)
- Topic: Aircraft Engine Design Exercise at the United States Air Force Academy
- Student Presenters: Aidan Gardiner, Kyrolos Georgey and Merrick Seeley
- Faculty: Connor Wiese, Andrew Kocarnik
- Affiliation: U.S. Air Force Academy
- Second Place (tie)
- Topic: Particle Ingestion Research Test Cell
- Student Presenters: Tomas Vlach, Kristopher Olshefski and John Gillespie
- Faculty: K. Todd Lowe, Wing Ng
- Affiliation: Virginia Tech
- Third Place
- Topic: Expanding Spatial Temperature Mapping Using Infrared Imaging
- Student Presenters: Kelsey McCormack and Nicholas Gailey
- Faculty: Karen Thole
- Affiliation: Penn State
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Kelsey McCormack, a Penn State master’s student in mechanical engineering, makes a presentation at the AIDCAT conference. McCormack’s project won third place in the poster competition. Credit: Thomas Corbett and Emma Veley/Penn State
AIDCAT participants attend a banquet at Beaver Stadium. Credit: Thomas Corbett and Emma Veley/Penn State
Eric DeShong, who graduated in May with a doctorate in mechanical engineering, makes a technical presentation at the AIDCAT conference. Credit: Thomas Corbett and Emma Veley/Penn State
AIDCAT attendees tour the West Campus power plant. Credit: Thomas Corbett and Emma Veley/Penn State
Sydni Credle, technology manager at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, was a keynote speaker at the AIDCAT conference. Credit: Thomas Corbett and Emma Veley/Penn State
