NASA Names Winners in High School Supersonic Research Contest

May 15, 2009

Beth Dickey
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-2087
beth.dickey-1@xxxxxxxx

Kathy Barnstorff
Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va.
757-864-9886, 757-344-8511
kathy.barnstorff@xxxxxxxx

RELEASE: 09-108

NASA NAMES WINNERS IN HIGH SCHOOL SUPERSONIC RESEARCH CONTEST

WASHINGTON -- Airplanes shaped like huge darts and rocket ships --
that's what the future of supersonic passenger travel may look like,
according to a number of high school students.

Teenagers from eight states and 11 foreign countries imagined that
future as part of a competition sponsored by NASA. The students were
asked to write a well-documented research paper describing what needs
to be accomplished to make supersonic flight available to commercial
passengers by 2020.

Edric San-Miguel, a junior from Norfolk Technical Center in Norfolk,
Va., earned the top score among all the entries. Sidharth Krishnan, a
senior from Anglo-Chinese Junior College in Singapore, won top honors
in the non-U.S. category.

More than 120 teenagers submitted 60 entries in four categories: U.S.
individual, U.S. team, non-U.S. individual and non-U.S. team. A
junior and senior from Arcadia High School in Arcadia, Calif., led
the American teams. Three ninth-graders from the National High School
of Computer Science in Tudor Vianu, Bucharest, Romania won the top
prize for non-U.S. teams.

"All the conceptual designs were imaginative and innovative," said
Bob
Mack, a veteran supersonics researcher at NASA's Langley Research
Center in Hampton, Va., who reviewed all the top papers. "The design
in the winning paper showed the student had a definite respect and
appreciation for technical realities while still being imaginative."

Students could choose from two options in the competition. They could
write a research paper to discuss the challenges and solutions of
supersonic flight or propose a design for a small supersonic airliner
that could enter commercial service in 2020.

A group of NASA engineers reviewed all the entries. The judges based
their scores on how well students focused their papers and how well
they addressed four basic criteria: informed content, creativity and
imagination, organization, and writing.

NASA will award the top scoring papers from the U.S. a cash prize of
$1,000 for the individual award winner and $1,500 for the team.
Non-U.S. students will receive an engraved trophy, but are not
eligible for cash prizes. All participants will receive a NASA
certificate. The competition was sponsored by the Fundamental
Aeronautics Program of NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission
Directorate in Washington.

For a complete list of winners and details of their designs, visit:

http://www.aeronautics.nasa.gov/competition_winners.htm

For more information about NASA's aeronautics research, visit:

http://aeronautics.nasa.gov

For more information about NASA and other agency programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

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