REU Site: Launching Aerospace's Underrepresented Students into the Next Chapter - Unmanned Aerial Systems (LAUNCH-UAS)

本科生研究体验(REU)网站的目标是促进未被充分代表的少数族裔(URM)学生(例如，非洲裔美国人、西班牙裔美国人和女性)更多地参与无人驾驶航空系统(UAS)的航空工程研究。为了实现这一目标，爱荷华州立大学航空航天工程系提供了REU网站，题为让航空航天人数不足的学生进入下一章--无人驾驶航空系统(Launch-UAS)。该网站有四个目标：(1)为学生提供尖端的无人机暑期研究经验；(2)让学生接触航空航天研究项目和工程师；(3)发展学生的研究和专业技能，为他们的研究生课程做好准备；(4)为学生提供机会，为研究生项目和其他项目建立导师社区。发射-UAS网站将把URM学生和航空航天工程社区的广泛成员聚集在一起，打破URM学生参与航空航天领域的障碍。这个网站给社会带来的潜在好处包括：培养准备充分、积极进取的URM学生，他们希望攻读航空航天工程研究生课程并进入劳动力大军；教育航空工程师，他们了解航空学术界和行业的机会，最终将成为未来几代URM工程师的鼓舞人心的导师；以及向更广泛的美国高校分享发射-UAS网站的关键部件和经验教训。通过一个为期10周的夏季发射-UAS网站，URM学生将有机会就长期耐力UAS的操作和自主方面进行研究。学生将参与与UAS相关的多个独立研究项目之一，例如开发持续监测UAS基本组件以实现安全和自主运行的机载硬件；建模和模拟自主UAS的低空交通管理系统；建模和模拟UAS的运行并检查其对伦理、法律、社会和环境的影响；开发在运行中为UAS供电的感应充电能力；设计、建造和试验UAS的机载喷雾系统并表征喷雾液滴；开发低功率防/除冰技术并研究各种防冰涂层，以实现更安全的长期自主UAS飞行；并创建一个教育模块，提高工程师对围绕无人机操作的伦理问题的认识。除了对无人机进行独立研究外，学生还将参加一些Lauch-UAS现场组件，包括专业发展研讨会、实地考察和实验室参观、研究午餐研讨会和社会活动。还有一系列作业旨在让学生有机会准备他们作为独立研究人员和研究生应该完成的典型的陈述和文件。该网站由国防部与NSF REU计划合作支持。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The goal of this Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site is to promote greater participation of underrepresented minority (URM) students (e.g., African-Americans, Hispanics, and women) in aerospace engineering research on unmanned-aerial systems (UAS). To achieve this goal, the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Iowa State University offers the REU site, entitled Launching Aerospace's Underrepresented Students into the Next Chapter-Unmanned Aerial Systems (LAUNCH-UAS). There are four objectives for this site: (1) provide students with cutting-edge summer research experience in UAS, (2) expose students to aerospace research projects and engineers, (3) develop students' research and professional skills to prepare them for graduate programs, and (4) provide students with opportunities to build a community of mentors for graduate programs and beyond. The LAUNCH-UAS site will bring together URM students and a broad range of members of the aerospace engineering community to break down barriers for URM students to participate in the aerospace field. Potential benefits to society as a result of this site include: developing well prepared, motivated URM students who want to pursue aerospace engineering graduate programs and enter the workforce; educating aerospace engineers who are knowledgeable about opportunities within aerospace academia and industry and will eventually serve as inspiring mentors to future generations of URM engineers; and sharing key components and lesson learned from the LAUNCH-UAS site to the broader U.S. colleges and universities.Through a 10-week summer LAUNCH-UAS site, URM students will have an opportunity to conduct research on operation and autonomy aspects of long-endurance UAS. Students will participate in one of multiple independent research projects relating to UAS, such as developing onboard hardware that continuously monitors essential UAS components for safe and autonomous operation; model and simulate low-altitude traffic management systems for autonomous UAS; model and simulate the operation of UAS and examine their ethical, legal, societal, and environmental implications; develop an inductive charging capability for supplying power to UAS while in operation; design, build, and experiment with onboard spray systems for UAS and characterize the spray droplets; develop low-power anti-/de-icing techniques and examine various icephobic coatings for safer long-term autonomous UAS flights; and create an educational module that increases engineers' awareness of ethical issues surrounding the operation of UAS. In addition to conducting independent research on UAS, students will participate in a number of LAUCH-UAS site components that include professional development workshops, field trips and lab tours, research luncheon seminars, and social activities. There is also a series of assignments intended to give students opportunities to prepare presentations and documents typical of those that they would be expected to complete as independent researchers and as graduate students.This site is supported by the Department of Defense in partnership with the NSF REU program.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.