Aug. 22, 2003

Contact: Becca Ramspott, School of Fine Arts, (785) 864-5567.

KU industrial design students place high in prestigious NASA competition

LAWRENCE -- Jayhawk pride soared sky-high recently when a student team from the University of Kansas industrial design program won third place in a prestigious National Aeronautics and Space Administration aviation design competition.

Tom Brantman, Overland Park May 2003 graduate; Greg Groener, St. Charles, Ill., May 2003 graduate; Mike Klodginski, San Antonio May 2003 graduate; and Mike Carman, Newton senior in industrial design, were recognized for their design achievements with a $2,000 award for third place in NASA's Revolutionary Vehicles: Concepts and Systems University Student Competition 2003.

The contest challenged 10 student teams to devise design concepts for the Small Aircraft Transportation System, NASA's vision for a system that would use advanced small aircraft to relieve road and air gridlock and increase access to the nation's more than 5,000 public-use airports.

Brantman, Groener, Klodginski and Carman competed against top aviation technology and engineering schools, including Georgia Tech, the University of Virginia and Montana State University, and placed third just behind Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Ariz. (second place), and Virginia Tech (first place).

The KU team gave a presentation on its project and accepted its award Aug. 2 at the Air Venture 2003 convention in Oshkosh, Wis. KU alumni and fans, many wearing Jayhawk paraphernalia and KU colors, flocked to the gathering to cheer the four students on, Brantman said. "KU alumni came just because they saw our name on the sheet and wanted to stop in," he said. "We actually had people who came in who were just fans of KU. They were really nice, didn't have a clue why we were there. We were the only school that had alumni and fans."

The proposed system offers exciting possibilities for more convenient travel, Brantman said. "The whole idea of this system is 'time is money.' Rather than fly to Kansas City and rent a car and drive to places like Lawrence, you could just fly straight to these destinations," he said. NASA also is exploring ideas for SATS aircraft that include making them so accessible that they could be piloted by people who receive training comparable to getting a driver's license, he said, as well as considering designs for SATS planes piloted by computers.

The KU team, working with faculty adviser and industrial design associate professor Lance Rake, focused on designing a plane to accommodate the proposal of planes piloted by computers and ground control. Their final project included a plan to help the public adapt to planes without human pilots through a 20-year implementation that gradually would take passengers from an initial stage of having a pilot and flight attendant to simply having the ability to contact ground controllers. The KU design also included many features that would help passengers relax, such as televisions, monitors and seats facing each other. "Our biggest thing was creating distraction (for passengers)," Brantman said.

It wasn't easy. "The other teams worked on their projects a full year," he said. "We started it six months late and changed what we were going to do halfway through, so we really only worked on it for two months, which is one of the biggest things NASA couldn't believe."

NASA also appreciated the group's warm, funny presentation during the awards, which contrasted with the stiff, more technical approach of the engineering schools, Brantman said, as well as the attention the KU students gave to passengers' well-being and comfort level with the SATS planes. "Connecting with people -- that's really stressed in design at KU," he said. "If you can't communicate at KU, you might as well not have any ideas.

"We sit in a lot of tough classes and we do a lot of work, and it feels good to get a pat on the back from someone like NASA.ú