Drucella Andersen
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
November 15, 1993
(Phone:  202/358-4727)
RELEASE:  93-210
NASA TAPS 20 SCHOOLS FOR AERONAUTICS ENGINEERING GRANTS
     NASA is giving 20 universities grants for the first phase of
a new training program that ultimately will create a cadre of
young engineers skilled in multi-disciplinary design and analysis
methods.
     Under the Multi-disciplinary Design and Analysis Fellowship
Program, each university will get about $50,000 to define a
multi-disciplinary curriculum and graduate-level research program
in the aeronautics field that would be accomplished with industry.
They also will prepare proposals for Phase II of the effort, which
will give five of the schools $200,000 grants to start their
programs in the 1994-95 academic year.
     "Multi-disciplinary methods are a key to great advances in
the quality of aircraft design and reducing cost," said John R.
Facey, acting director of the Critical Technologies Division in
NASA's Office of Aeronautics.  "It's vital that the U.S. aerospace
industry have enough engineers who are both qualified in
multi-disciplinary design and analysis and motivated to use those
techniques."
     In aeronautics, multi-disciplinary analysis and design looks
at the interactions among areas such as propulsion, structures,
control systems and aerodynamics in calculating a plane's flight
characteristics.  Current engineering education does not focus on
how these separate disciplines work in combination.
     In contrast, NASA's new program goes a step further by
encouraging graduate-level research on ways to integrate all the
factors involved in the design process:  engineering, economics,
environmental issues and regulatory aspects.  It also stresses the
development of multi-disciplinary course work and text materials.
     A key goal of the program is to get the input of industry
partners during research activities and transfer their expertise
to the curriculum.
     "An industry role will ensure that the methods being taught
are practical," Facey said.  "The students involved in the program
will eventually help maintain the favorable balance of trade that
the U.S. aviation industry provides in a highly competitive
climate."
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      Forty-four universities responded to the program notice put
out by the Office of Aeronautics in May.  The 20 schools chosen
had the best combination of proposed research and curriculum
development, potential to attract high-quality students and
ability to involve industry partners.
     The schools have 6 months to define their research and
curriculum plans and prepare a Phase II proposal.  NASA expects
the Phase II selection to occur by spring 1994.
     The Multi-disciplinary Design and Analysis Fellowship Program
is managed by the Critical Technologies Division at NASA
Headquarters, along with NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain
View, Calif.; Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va., and Lewis
Research Center, Cleveland.
     The universities receiving grants are Brigham Young
University, Provo, Utah; California Polytechnic State University,
San Luis Obispo; Clemson University, S.C.; The Cooper Union for
the Advancement of Science and Art (Albert Nerken School of
Engineering), New York; Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta;
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge; Mississippi
State University, Mississippi State; Morgan State University,
Baltimore; Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Purdue
University, West Lafayette, Ind.; Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute, Troy, N.Y.; Stanford University, Calif.; State
University of New York at Buffalo, Amherst; University of Arizona,
Tucson; University of Cincinnati; University of Delaware, Newark;
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Vanderbilt University,
Nashville, Tenn.; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University, Blacksburg, and Wichita State University, Kan.
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