SECTION ANNUAL REPORT 2010-2011
Section Name: ____AIAA National Capital Section______Section Size: ___Very Large (~3,000)__
Section Organization
1. List the names of the Section Officers and any additional members of the section council:
NCS ChairmanVice Chair Programs
Vice Chair Operations
NCS Administrator /
Treasurer
Secretary / Lynn Heninger, KSCW
Jackie Rybacki, Deloitte
/ Rick Ohlemacher
Bruce Milam,
Joel Howell; Jackie Rybacki
Michele McMurrer / Northrop Grumman
NASA
Harris Corp; Deloitte Consulting
AIAA NCS
Council Member; Professional Development Committee /
/ Supriya Banerjee / Columbus Technologies & Services Inc
Council Member; Young Professionals Committee /
/ Supriya Banerjee / Columbus Technologies & Services Inc
Council Member; Public Policy Committee /
/ Rick Ohlemacher and John Campbell / Northrop Grumman; and Ball Aerospace & Technologies
Council Member; Audit Committee; Website Manager /
/ Bruce Cranford / Consultant
Council Member /
/ Antoine Deux / Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation
Council Member; Corporate Liaison /
/ David (Dave) Eakman / Jackson & Tull
Council-Member, Lead Science Fair Coordinator /
/ Kimberly Harris / Lockheed Martin
Council Member; Aerospace Traffic Management Committee /
/ Terrence (Terry) Hertz / Consultant
Council Member /
/ Michael (Mike ) Hirschberg / CENTRA Technology
Council Member; NASA Goddard Liaison /
/ Debbie Hollebeke / NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Council Member; Space Systems Technical Committee /
/ John (Jack) Koletty / Northrop Grumman
Council Member; Student Chapters /
/ Rick Ohlemacher; Edwin Yarbrough / Northrop Grumman; Honeywell International
Council Member; Professional Societies Committee /
/ Susan (Sue) Parsons / BAE Systems
Council Member; Education Outreach Committee /
/ Michel Santos / Intelligient Automation Inc.
Council Member; Embassy Liaison /
/ Reginald (Reg) Smith / RCS Associates
Council Member; Engineers Week Committee; Honors & Awards Committee; /
/ Norman (Norm) Wereley / University of Maryland
2. Number of council/officer meetings held during the year: 11
Average attendance: 10
3. Percentage of membership voting in last election of Section Officers: 5%
4. List any activities targeted at officer training or development including attendance at the Regional Leadership Conference:
· Regional Leadership Conference 2010 - NCS Vice-Chair Joel Howell participated in the 2010 Regional Leadership Conference in Nashville. To assure that all the useful training information discussed was adopted by the leaders in NCS, Joel distributed copies of the official RLC CD-ROM for every Council officer, Committee Chair, and Member at Large, and used early Council leadership meetings for training and reviewing the AIAA HQs defined responsibilities and resources available. We revisited these details throughout the year as ideas for activities and securing appropriate resources arose in discussions. This included reminders on how to use the AIAA web and publications pertinent to job responsibilities.
· Policy Committee orientation and participation (Ohlemacher-led)
· IAC orientation and participation (Ohlemacher-led)
5. Estimated membership located within 1 hour of the meetings: 50%
6. Number of Chapters within the Section: 4
Chapter Names:
1. Southern Maryland Chapter
2. George Washington University Student Chapter (re-initiated in 2010-2011)
3. University of Virginia Student Chapter
4. University of Maryland Student Chapter
7. Describe how your section supports members outside the local area (if any):
Some major achievements this year included successful partnerships and joint activities with other professional organizations, including Women in Aerospace, the American Meteorological Society, among others. We also continued our partnership and support to NASA. The NASA Earth Science Division invited once again, exernal community organizations to participate in the Earth Science 2011 Senior Review, the NASA/Science Mission Directorate process for extending on-orbit missions which have completed their primary operations period. The NCS Chairman participated as the AIAA representative and continued what we hope to be a sustained role in these reviews in years ahead. We also sustained our work with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, including one event which should be considered our "Event of the Year": (1) Explore@Goddard Family Day. The event had sponsorship and support from over 10 AIA Member companies and recognition from Goddard Center Director Rob Strain; (2) for the second time, NASA sought AIAA inclusion in their process for the bi-annual Senior Review in of the Mission Extension for the Earth Science operating missions and the NCS represented AIAA; (3) AIAA continued the Policy Roundtable series; (4) joint Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) activities with Joint Societies; (5) continued support for National Engineers Week with our Future Cities Competition participation; (6) jointly organized field trip to NASA Wallops facility for AIAA members with Mid-Atlantic and Hampton Roads sections, including our Southern Maryland Chapter; (7) inaugural Young Professional Rocketry Challenge; (8) South African Embassy special event supporting the AIAA partnership with the IAF and the 2011 IAC to be held in South Africa; (9) scheduling and facilitating a SOFIA recognition with NASA and DLR (Germany) in Sep 2011; (10) conducted first joint luncheon with NDIA featuring Gen Sheridan; (11) designed and deployed new AIAA NCS logo for communications, website, and signature line use by all NCS Officers and Members when representing AIAA:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/releases/2011/11-31b.html
http://m.ibtimes.com/nasa-goddard-space-flight-center-greenbelt-maryland-explore-nasa-goddard-event-a-day-out-146862.html
Meetings, Programs and Events
1. Describe the Section’s general meetings. Include date, meeting type (e.g. dinner meeting, field trip, lunch and learn, etc.), speaker, organization, topic, location, and attendance. You may further break down your attendance if you would like (AIAA members, nonmembers, students, etc). Also include the focus (young professional, public policy, technical, career and workforce development, STEM K-12, etc. or just general), any publicity used for the event, and if it was jointly sponsored and if so, by whom:
All meetings and functions continued to receive strong and significant support this year. NCS bank accounts grew, attributable to the generous donations, aggressive solicitation by the Chair, and outstanding fiscal management of events by Treasurer Lynn Heninger. Our Administrator serving in her second year, Michelle McMurrer, also demonstrated a strong learning curve in supporting the Chair, the Treasurer, and the Council. Member corporations donated significant funding to sponsored events, like the Explore@Goddard open house, and through the year resulting in a second year of solid financial results in support of resourcing scholarships and related resource needs of students and young professional activities and awards:
https://info.aiaa.org/Regions/NE/National_Capital/default.aspx
Membership Activities
1. Describe any membership recruitment/retention activities:
· Recruitment primarily occurred via public and member events held jointly and in reaching out to other organizations during activities.
Education
1. List the student branches within the section and describe any section activities related to these branches.
· George Washington University Student Chapter (re-initiated in 2010-2011): held a Fall Policy Speaker event on Aerospace and Hurricane Monitoring on-campus. Planned a Spring event for S&T leads from NASA (Dr. Abdalati); NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (Dr. Garvin) and NOAA (Kathryn Sullivan) with support from Chris Scolese at NASA HQ and Prof. Scott Pace of GWU. Event is rescheduled to Fall 2011 due to a conflicting event on-campus for the same day featuring Dr. John Holdren, Science Advisor to the President. Students participated and were invited to all section luncheons and special events through the year, including the Technical Committee event held in conjunction with the Mid-Atlantic Section in October with Rick Obenschain, Deputy Director of Goddard Spaceflight Center. Students were also included in planning for the first-ever Young Professional Rocketry Challenge held in April 2011, in Culpepper Va.
· University of Virginia Student Chapter: Students participated and were invited to all section luncheons and special events through the year, including the Technical Committee event held in conjunction with the Mid-Atlantic Section in October with Rick Obenschain, Deputy Director of Goddard Spaceflight Center. Students were also included in planning for the first-ever Young Professional Rocketry Challenge held in April 2011, in Culpepper Va.
· University of Maryland Student Chapter: Students participated and were invited to all section luncheons and special events through the year, including the Technical Committee event held in conjunction with the Mid-Atlantic Section in October with Rick Obenschain, Deputy Director of Goddard Spaceflight Center. Students were also included in planning for the first-ever Young Professional Rocketry Challenge held in April 2011, in Culpepper Va. Once again, this year we continued with one of our major events – support to the Engineers Week Family Day at the National Building Museum in downtown DC. Led by Engineers Week coordinator/Honors and Awards Co Chair Dr Norm Wereley, a professor at UMD, aerospace engineering students volunteered to staff the NCS Engineers week exhibit featuring homemade projects by children and other interactive displays. Grade-school youth and families related well to the UMD students and everyone felt it had been a great joint event between NCS and the UMD Student Branch for over 7,000 K-12 students and families in the DC region. It also served as a great public service opportunity for UMD and AIAA NCS. We continue to be invited to participate in the annual UMD AIAA Student Branch fall BBQ each September and the annual Branch Awards Banquet each May. Other Branch officers register incoming Freshmen on their AIAA Student Branch rosters, collect membership and event fees, obtain emails and telephone numbers for follow up AIAA meetings. One of the most important sponsorships NCS does with UMD is that students are always seated free of charge at our luncheons or policy speaker events if they attend. In May, the UMD Student Branch hold their annual awards banquet, which features their own student-chosen awards to honor talented faculty members and recognize student projects and programs. NCS and Baltimore Sections, with the AIAA President and Region I Director are invited to participate, and have in the past often spoken to the Branch and sponsored awards.
2. Describe actions taken to establish new student branches.
Chairman reached out to students in coordination with the George Washington Space Society to reinstate the AIAA NCS Student Chapter. Point of Contact Connie Spittler served as liaison on campus for activities and collaboration with the students and support of the Elliott School of International Affairs with Scott Pace and Henry Hertzfeld.
3. Describe involvement of the section with the Region Student Conference.
Supported via information sharing and coordination with student chapters.
4. Describe any professional continuing education programs (this section may be copied as needed for use in the Career and Workforce Development Award Form).
We have incorporated methods for strengthened professional linkages to the policy focus of our luncheon speakers, design of our policy speaker events, and the involvement of student reps on the Council starting in 2011.
5. Describe any precollege outreach programs instituted/continued this year (this section may be copied as needed for use in the STEM-K12 Award Form).
· Outreach to regional schools in Northern Virginia, Maryland, and Washington DC continued this year through our Educator of the Year and Science Fair programs to heighten visibility for dedicated educators and administrators and their schools in conjunction with their students. Awards were delivered at the end of the year in front of 100+ members of the community representing schools, teachers, parents, students, school leaders, industry representatives, and government.
· The NCS annually participates in supporting the Future Cities Competition as part of National Engineers Week where middle school students create cities of the future, first on computer and then in large tabletop models working with teachers and mentors. The 2011 AIAA NCS Best Use of Aerospace Technology Award Winner was given to a team from North Carolina. Awards consisted of a savings bond for each student team member, and a plaque highlighting the award for each member of the team.
6. Does your section have a scholarship fund? Describe how funds are raised, and how scholarships are awarded.
Funds are raised via sponsorships for regional science fairs that occur in the Maryland, Northern Virginia, and Washington DC area with participation and support of students and teachers and school leadership.
Public Policy (This section may be copied as needed for use in the Public Policy Award Form.)
1. Describe activities that inform the public and section members about public policy.
Monthly luncheons feature speakers of national stature or heads of major programs, agencies, and departments relevant to policy communication and related priorities and programs. Presentations are provided via the NCS website.
2. Describe activities that provided interaction with government officials.
Monthly luncheons feature speakers of national stature or heads of major programs, agencies, and departments relevant to AIAA interests. Policy Roundtable events held several times a year bring not-for-attribution dialog opportunities to AIAA and NCS Members in intimate settings. Meetings are coordinated for AIAA executives with key representatives on critical issues on an as-needed basis.
3. Did your section participate in Congressional Visits Day or August is for Aerospace? If so, describe.
The NCS Chair Rick Ohlemacher participated personally on the AIAA Public Policy Committee this year as Co-Chair for the Environment & Energy Subcommittee and contributed to the Congressional Visits Day paper and issues communications and documents drafting and preparation, particularly on “Harnessing Aerospace Experience for Modern Earth and Climate Information Systems and Services.”
Honors and Awards
1. Describe any local section awards given to members and supporters. Please note if award is new this year.
NCS has an extensive range of professional, technical, education, and volunteerism awards that now provide a full spectrum of recognition for our members for every aspect of education, technical excellence and volunteer service in NCS (NCS web Honors page). For technical excellence we have two awards: (1) the Hal Andrews Memorial Young Scientist and Engineer Award for our outstanding Young Professionals, and (2) our newest award for the second time this year for Outstanding NCS Scientist/Engineer designed for experienced professionals. Our educational awards support the fundamental theme of aerospace educational outreach at all
levels (K through post-college young engineers and adult educators who promote their development): (1) The Barry Goldwater Educator Award--now a AIAA National Award administered by NCS for presentation at the AIAA National Awards Gala (NCS is honored to be unique among Sections having that privilege) (2) Science Educators of the Year Awards (elementary, middle, high school) went to: