MAE students Christopher Bostwick and Andrea Smith received the First Place Award at the 23rd CSU Student Research Competition in the engineering undergraduate category. The competition was held at CSU Los Angeles on Friday and Saturday, May 1 and 2, 2009. Their paper, titled “Ceramic Matrix Composite Lined Rocket Engine,” discusses the design of a LOX/ethanol rocket engine used to demonstrate a ceramicmatrix- composite-lined ablative concept for increased engine performance. They designed and built the engine which was tested in Nov. 2008 and successfully demonstrated the concept. This work was funded by a Phase I NASA STTR with Hypertherm High Temperature Composites, Inc. of Huntington Beach, CA.
Ceramic Matrix Composite Lined Rocket Engine This system-wide competition showcased excellent research conducted by CSU undergraduate and graduate students in the full range of academic programs offered by the CSU. Student participants made oral presentations before juries of professional experts from major corporations, foundations, public agencies, colleges and universities in California. The competition is held to promote excellence in undergraduate and graduate scholarly research and creative activity by recognizing outstanding student accomplishments throughout the twenty-three campuses of the California State University