AAE 251, Fall 2005Professor DeLaurentis

Vehicle of the Week (VOW) Information

Description

On scheduled Fridays, student teams will deliver a short (15 minute) presentation about an aerospace vehicle. The VOW supports the course Learning Objectives and its purpose is two-fold: a) educatethe class about a variety of aerospace vehicles b) provide practice in the delivery of engineering presentations. VOW teams are the same as Design Project teams.

Presentations should include (at minimum):

  • a description and picture of the vehicle,
  • discussion of the use / mission of the vehicle,
  • flight performancesignificant achievements,
  • use of new/innovative technologies,
  • reasons for cancellation (if any),
  • and lessons learned though the development and production of the vehicle

Presenters should:

  • speak clearly and slowly,
  • keep each chart simple and readable,
  • be prepared to answer basic questions
  • email the final presentation to instructor

A written report must be turned in by the presenting group to the instructor on the day of the presentation. This report should:

  • be relatively short, about three pages including 1 or 2 figures, single space, 12 pt font
  • be a well-written, executive summary of key information from the presentation
  • contain appropriate references to the sources used to prepare the report and presentation
  • be free from spelling or grammar errors

Sources of information for these presentations and reports include, but are not limited to:

  1. Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft
  2. Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine
  3. Flight International magazine
  4. Air and Space magazine
  5. Wings television show on the Discovery Channel
  6. Reputable internet sites
  • CAUTION! There is a vast amount of information about aerospace vehicles available on the internet. Some of it is inaccurate; Double-check facts and figures obtained from WWW.

Peer Evaluations

The VOW presentations will be evaluated by the entire class. This serves two purposes: a)it provides additional feedback to the presenting group, b) those students in the audience get a chance to critique the content and style of other presentations, helpingthem prepare their presentations. It is expected that the quality of the presentations will increase throughout the semester.

Grading

The final grade for the VOW will be assigned by the instructor or teaching assistant who observed the presentation and is based upon the presentation and report. Constructive feedback will be provided in addition to the grade.