Collection

2025 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

Rachel Cloud; Spencer MacLaughlin; Adam Lynch; Ridge Towner

Precision in Focus: Navigating Pallet Positioning Challenges in Aerospace ManufacturingAbstractBackground: Machining centers, such as the Makino MAG3 EX, are essential in aerospacemanufacturing. Precision is at the very core of Aerospace. However, these machinesoften face challenges in meeting stringent flatness constraints due to thermal expansion,tool wear, and setup errors. Failure to address these can lead to deviations that affectcomponent quality and operational safety. Purpose/Hypothesis: This study aims to investigate the causes of flatness inconsistencies on the loadingplatforms of the Makino MAG3 EX and evaluate improvements to reduce thesedeviations. The hypothesis: better

Collection

2025 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

Chloe Long; Bobby Hodkinson

Evaluating LLM Performance for Generation of Concept Assessment Questions and Individualized Student Feedback in Aerospace Engineering Sophomore Lab Chloe J. Long and Bobby HodgkinsonAbstractIn this work, we present the application of Large Language Models (LLMs) to generate conceptassessment questions, evaluate student conceptual understanding from short answers, and providestudent-specific feedback for a sophomore aerospace science lab with approximately 40 students.We discuss the performance of the LLM in generating concept assessment questions andproviding student-specific feedback. Our results indicate the method is effective as a discussiontool for generating True/False

Collection

2025 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

Pedro Cordeiro Povoa Cupertino; Anubhav Pant; Yuto Minami; Ami Goto; Kubeshavarsha Kalithasan; Adam Carlton Lynch

1 Session 2025 A Student Perspective on Learning through UAV Design in an Engineering Capstone Project Pedro Cordeiro Povoa Cupertino, Anubhav Pant, Yuto Minami, Ami Goto, and Kubeshavarsha Kalithasan Department of Aerospace Engineering Wichita State University Adam Carlton Lynch, PhD Department of Applied Engineering Wichita State University

Collection

2025 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

Maila Hallare; Tanjore Jayaraman

equation (Eq. 2) formulates a transientdiffusion process—changes in concentration gradient over time, which is crucial in applications including batterytechnology, case hardening, hydrogen embrittlement, and diffusion bonding in engineering materials in aerospace.For example, the control of interdiffusion of Cu and Al in diffusion-bonded bimetallic Al and Cu is important inlightweight structural components in aerospace. Several Materials Science and Engineering textbooks and coursespresent solutions to Fick’s Second Law with nominal mathematical reasoning, limiting to the error function withouta sound explanation [1-4]. For example, Ref. [1] presents the final solution formula without guiding the studentsthrough the derivation

Collection

2025 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

Sivaganeshwar Subramaniam; Adam Lynch

Decision Quality for an Electromechanical Startup AbstractBackground: The demand for high-quality electromechanical parts is growing at an unprecedentedrate. The growth demand can be seen more prevalent in the aerospace, telecommunications anddefense industries. The quality of the electromechanical components is a stringent factor which drivesup costs and ultimately increases delivery time due to the need to meet regulations. Theseelectromechanical components include but are not limited to terminal connectors, fuse panels,peripheral component interconnect (PCI) board, power distribution boards (PDB), and printed circuitboard (PCB).Purpose: This paper aims to study how a

Collection

2025 Rocky Mountain Section Conference

Authors

Angela Bielefeldt; Malinda Zarske

enroll in the course in the fallsemester, since about 35% of the engineering students will take the FYEP course in the springsemester. Common majors at the start of the semester included mechanical (~30%), undecided(~28%), aerospace (~20%), and environmental (~6%) engineering.Table 3. Demographics reported by students on the pre and post surveys Characteristic Pre Post Pairs Institution FYE (n=362) (n=228) (n=218) (n=621) Gender, % Male 62.8 59.2 59.6 61.0 Female 35.0 39.5 39.4 39.0 Self-describe (e.g., nonbinary