Drucella Andersen
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                                               
November 15, 1993
(Phone:  202/358-4727)

RELEASE:  93-210

NASA TAPS 20 SCHOOLS FOR AERONAUTICS ENGINEERING GRANTS

     NASA is giving 20 universities grants for the first phase of 
a new training program that ultimately will create a cadre of 
young engineers skilled in multi-disciplinary design and analysis 
methods.

     Under the Multi-disciplinary Design and Analysis Fellowship 
Program, each university will get about $50,000 to define a 
multi-disciplinary curriculum and graduate-level research program 
in the aeronautics field that would be accomplished with industry.  
They also will prepare proposals for Phase II of the effort, which 
will give five of the schools $200,000 grants to start their 
programs in the 1994-95 academic year.

     "Multi-disciplinary methods are a key to great advances in 
the quality of aircraft design and reducing cost," said John R. 
Facey, acting director of the Critical Technologies Division in 
NASA's Office of Aeronautics.  "It's vital that the U.S. aerospace 
industry have enough engineers who are both qualified in 
multi-disciplinary design and analysis and motivated to use those 
techniques."

     In aeronautics, multi-disciplinary analysis and design looks 
at the interactions among areas such as propulsion, structures, 
control systems and aerodynamics in calculating a plane's flight 
characteristics.  Current engineering education does not focus on 
how these separate disciplines work in combination.

     In contrast, NASA's new program goes a step further by 
encouraging graduate-level research on ways to integrate all the 
factors involved in the design process:  engineering, economics, 
environmental issues and regulatory aspects.  It also stresses the 
development of multi-disciplinary course work and text materials.  

     A key goal of the program is to get the input of industry 
partners during research activities and transfer their expertise 
to the curriculum.

     "An industry role will ensure that the methods being taught 
are practical," Facey said.  "The students involved in the program 
will eventually help maintain the favorable balance of trade that 
the U.S. aviation industry provides in a highly competitive 
climate."
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      Forty-four universities responded to the program notice put 
out by the Office of Aeronautics in May.  The 20 schools chosen 
had the best combination of proposed research and curriculum 
development, potential to attract high-quality students and 
ability to involve industry partners.

     The schools have 6 months to define their research and 
curriculum plans and prepare a Phase II proposal.  NASA expects 
the Phase II selection to occur by spring 1994.

     The Multi-disciplinary Design and Analysis Fellowship Program 
is managed by the Critical Technologies Division at NASA 
Headquarters, along with NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain 
View, Calif.; Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va., and Lewis 
Research Center, Cleveland.

     The universities receiving grants are Brigham Young 
University, Provo, Utah; California Polytechnic State University, 
San Luis Obispo; Clemson University, S.C.; The Cooper Union for 
the Advancement of Science and Art (Albert Nerken School of 
Engineering), New York; Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta; 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge; Mississippi 
State University, Mississippi State; Morgan State University, 
Baltimore; Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Purdue 
University, West Lafayette, Ind.; Rensselaer Polytechnic 
Institute, Troy, N.Y.; Stanford University, Calif.; State 
University of New York at Buffalo, Amherst; University of Arizona, 
Tucson; University of Cincinnati; University of Delaware, Newark; 
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Vanderbilt University, 
Nashville, Tenn.; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State 
University, Blacksburg, and Wichita State University, Kan.

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