How did you mark National Engineers Week, Feb. 16-22?

For around 100 students in the School of Aerospace Engineering, the celebration of their chosen profession came down to two very familiar elements: pizza and problems.

The pizza was good, but the problems - supplied by Lockheed Martin - were better.

On Feb. 20, a team of team of six professional engineers from the Marietta-based aeronautics giant came to Georgia Tech with a problem that had taken them almost nine months to solve: how to help NASA and the US Air Force reduce fuel consumption by 50 percent by the year 2025.

Check out this overview of Lockheeds' National Engineer Week Fuel Burn Trade Study.

If they had wanted to, the students could found the answer, which was printed in one of the handouts. None of them did. Call it pride or call it determination: they wanted to set it up and solve it themselves.

“Now we know that there are three ways to attack this problem – more efficient engines, lower drag aircraft and lighter weight aircraft,” said Lockheed’s Barry Flansburg, who began the evening. “But the thing is, that’s a big reduction. Think of what that would mean for your car –going from 25 to 50 miles per gallon. This is not an easy problem.”

For the next two hours Flansburg and his colleagues advised, guided, questioned, and challenged the students to use weight fraction sizing to determine the range of aircraft parameters that would meet this goal at a minimum cost.

“I think it’s important we put in the cost,” said Lockheed systems engineer Kevin Neas, GT-ECE ’10. “Anything’s possible if you throw enough money at it, but in the real world, there are limits. You have to rely on good engineering, not unlimited resources.”

The tension between elegant theories and real-world practice seemed to invigorate the students, who let stacks of free pizza go cold once they were tasked with solving the problem.

“This is different from the low-speed aerodynamics problems we do in class,” said Florida native Colton Thomas, 23. “This is a problem that Lockheed had to solve. Lockheed is developing new ways to increase the technology for airplanes, and I find that very useful. I couldn’t wait to hear what they had to say.”

The Lockheed team was happy to field Thomas’s and everyone’s questions, but for a good deal of the evening, students were sectioned off into their own work groups, where they discussed all of the ways this one engineering conundrum could be cracked. Their guides were frequently called upon to settle disputes and give guidance, but, for the most part, the problem belonged to the students.

“They came up with some creative and impressive solutions, in a very short time,” said Lori Flansburg, one of the Lockheed engineers. ”During the Q & A session at the end, they asked some very insightful questions. There was so much energy in the room it was amazing.”

The Lockheed Martin University Outreach session was co-sponsored by the School of Aerospace Engineering Student Advisory Council.

How did you mark National Engineers Week, Feb. 16-22?

For around 100 students in the School of Aerospace Engineering, the celebration of their chosen profession came down to two very familiar elements: pizza and problems.

The pizza was good, but the problems - supplied by Lockheed Martin - were better.

On Feb. 20, a team of team of six professional engineers from the Marietta-based aeronautics giant came to Georgia Tech with a problem that had taken them almost nine months to solve: how to help NASA and the US Air Force reduce fuel consumption by 50 percent by the year 2025.

Check out this overview of Lockheeds' National Engineer Week Fuel Burn Trade Study.

If they had wanted to, the students could found the answer, which was printed in one of the handouts. None of them did. Call it pride or call it determination: they wanted to set it up and solve it themselves.

“Now we know that there are three ways to attack this problem – more efficient engines, lower drag aircraft and lighter weight aircraft,” said Lockheed’s Barry Flansburg, who began the evening. “But the thing is, that’s a big reduction. Think of what that would mean for your car –going from 25 to 50 miles per gallon. This is not an easy problem.”

For the next two hours Flansburg and his colleagues advised, guided, questioned, and challenged the students to use weight fraction sizing to determine the range of aircraft parameters that would meet this goal at a minimum cost.

“I think it’s important we put in the cost,” said Lockheed systems engineer Kevin Neas, GT-ECE ’10. “Anything’s possible if you throw enough money at it, but in the real world, there are limits. You have to rely on good engineering, not unlimited resources.”

The tension between elegant theories and real-world practice seemed to invigorate the students, who let stacks of free pizza go cold once they were tasked with solving the problem.

“This is different from the low-speed aerodynamics problems we do in class,” said Florida native Colton Thomas, 23. “This is a problem that Lockheed had to solve. Lockheed is developing new ways to increase the technology for airplanes, and I find that very useful. I couldn’t wait to hear what they had to say.”

The Lockheed team was happy to field Thomas’s and everyone’s questions, but for a good deal of the evening, students were sectioned off into their own work groups, where they discussed all of the ways this one engineering conundrum could be cracked. Their guides were frequently called upon to settle disputes and give guidance, but, for the most part, the problem belonged to the students.

“They came up with some creative and impressive solutions, in a very short time,” said Lori Flansburg, one of the Lockheed engineers. ”During the Q & A session at the end, they asked some very insightful questions. There was so much energy in the room it was amazing.”

The Lockheed Martin University Outreach session was co-sponsored by the School of Aerospace Engineering Student Advisory Council.

How did you mark National Engineers Week, Feb. 16-22?

For around 100 students in the School of Aerospace Engineering, the celebration of their chosen profession came down to two very familiar elements: pizza and problems.

The pizza was good, but the problems - supplied by Lockheed Martin - were better.

On Feb. 20, a team of team of six professional engineers from the Marietta-based aeronautics giant came to Georgia Tech with a problem that had taken them almost nine months to solve: how to help NASA and the US Air Force reduce fuel consumption by 50 percent by the year 2025.

Check out this overview of Lockheeds' National Engineer Week Fuel Burn Trade Study.

If they had wanted to, the students could found the answer, which was printed in one of the handouts. None of them did. Call it pride or call it determination: they wanted to set it up and solve it themselves.

“Now we know that there are three ways to attack this problem – more efficient engines, lower drag aircraft and lighter weight aircraft,” said Lockheed’s Barry Flansburg, who began the evening. “But the thing is, that’s a big reduction. Think of what that would mean for your car –going from 25 to 50 miles per gallon. This is not an easy problem.”

For the next two hours Flansburg and his colleagues advised, guided, questioned, and challenged the students to use weight fraction sizing to determine the range of aircraft parameters that would meet this goal at a minimum cost.

“I think it’s important we put in the cost,” said Lockheed systems engineer Kevin Neas, GT-ECE ’10. “Anything’s possible if you throw enough money at it, but in the real world, there are limits. You have to rely on good engineering, not unlimited resources.”

The tension between elegant theories and real-world practice seemed to invigorate the students, who let stacks of free pizza go cold once they were tasked with solving the problem.

“This is different from the low-speed aerodynamics problems we do in class,” said Florida native Colton Thomas, 23. “This is a problem that Lockheed had to solve. Lockheed is developing new ways to increase the technology for airplanes, and I find that very useful. I couldn’t wait to hear what they had to say.”

The Lockheed team was happy to field Thomas’s and everyone’s questions, but for a good deal of the evening, students were sectioned off into their own work groups, where they discussed all of the ways this one engineering conundrum could be cracked. Their guides were frequently called upon to settle disputes and give guidance, but, for the most part, the problem belonged to the students.

“They came up with some creative and impressive solutions, in a very short time,” said Lori Flansburg, one of the Lockheed engineers. ”During the Q & A session at the end, they asked some very insightful questions. There was so much energy in the room it was amazing.”

The Lockheed Martin University Outreach session was co-sponsored by the School of Aerospace Engineering Student Advisory Council.