SECTION ANNUAL REPORT 2014-2015
Outstanding Section Award
Outstanding Activity Award
The Annual Report is the Business Report for the Section and must be received before a Section can receive its
rebate for the next year. It covers activities from June 1, 2014 to May 31, 2015. Although any member can aid in
filling out the report, submission can only be made by the serving chair of the section year listed above.
Supporting materials such as newsletters, programs, advertising, etc. may be attached, but the total pages should
be no more than 12 (excluding the outstanding section and activity awards which can be two pages each), and
must all be in one document (it may mean that the entire report is submitted in pdf format). Larger or extra
pieces of supporting material, such as newsletters, multiple flyers, banquet programs, etc. should be archived on
the section’s SharePoint site with links in the report document as needed. This report must be submitted by June
1, 2015 in order to be considered for any section awards.
The Orange County Annual Report covers activities from 1 June 2014 to 31 May 2015. Figure 1 shows AIAA
Associate Fellow Bob Welge, Vice Chair for Membership for the AIAA OC section, during the 2015 Engineering
Week Outreach at the Boeing Huntington Beach facility.
Section Name: Orange County
Section Size Category: Large
Figure 1. 2015 Engineering Week Outreach
Section Organization
1. List the names of the Section Officers and any additional members of the section council.
Chair
Chair Elect
Secretary
Past Chair
Treasurer
Education
Programs
Technical
Communications/Web
Membership
Young Professionals
Career & Workforce Enhancement
Honors and Awards
Dino Roman
Dr Amir Gohardani
Ron Freeman
Dr Joseph E. (Gene) Justin
Phil Ridout
Jann Koepke
James Martin
John Rose
Jody Hart
Bob Welge
Chase Schulze
Vacant
Vacant (Gene Justin, Acting)
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Public Policy
Council-Members-at-Large
Kamal Shweyk
Bob Koepke, Omid Gohardani
2. Number of council/officer meetings held during the year: 12. Average attendance: 10.
3. Percentage of membership voting in last election of Section Officers: 2%-3%
4. List any activities targeted at officer training or development including attendance at the Regional
Leadership Conference: Regional Leadership Conference, RLC-4 (Bob Welge, Jann Koepke, Bob Koepke,
John Rose)
5. Estimated membership located within 1 hour of the meetings: Estimated 99%
6. Number of Chapters within the Section: 1. Chapter Names: University of California Irvine
7. Describe how your section supports members outside the main local area (if any): Members outside the
local area receive the Section activity updates and emails. Section has used teleconferencing due to travel
conflicts for one or two members. OC is on Facebook (First Time) and Twitter, 800 numbers for Section
Meetings, AIAA OC Website.
Meetings, Programs and Events
1. Describe the Section’s general meetings. Include date, meeting type (e.g. dinner meeting, field trip, lunch
and learn, etc.), speaker, organization, topic, location, and attendance. You may further break down your
attendance if you would like (AIAA members, nonmembers, students, etc). Also include the focus (young
professional, public policy, technical, workforce development, STEM K-12, etc. or just general), any
publicity used for the event, and if it was jointly sponsored and if so, by whom:
Much of this information is contained in the Table 1 below. Also, see photo in Figure 1 above. Publicity
for events typically consists of flyers being inserted into emails to the membership, word of mouth,
placing ads on corporate internal homepages when possible, and posting flyers.
Table 1. OC Section Events and Activities
Date
Event
Location
Council Meeting
Section
Activities
Total
Attendees
June
Council Meeting
Boeing Huntington Beach
3 June
Speaker Program,
Phil Barnes, Pelicans
Duck Room, Irvine, OC
July
Council Meeting
Boeing Huntington Beach
22 July
Speaker Program,
Professor Ned
Wright ,UCLA
Duck Room, Irvine, OC
Aug
Council Meeting
Boeing Huntington Beach
X
10-12
Sept
Council Meeting
Boeing Huntington Beach
X
10-12
23 Sept
Speaker Program,
Randa Milliron,
CubeSat, IOS
Boeing Huntington Beach
2
X
10-12
X
X
10-12
10-12
X
X
25
25
Date
Event
Location
Council Meeting
Section
Activities
Oct
Council Meeting
Boeing Huntington Beach
June
through
Oct
SPARC (Student
Payload and
Rocketry Challenge)
Orange County
X
10 teams, 50
team members
11 OCT
SPARC Rocket
Science Fair
Lucerne Dry Lake
X
8 teams, 40 team
members, several
hundred visitors
Nov
Council Meeting
Boeing Huntington Beach
12 Nov
Speaker CubeSat, Dr
Puig-Suari, CalPolySLB
Boeing Huntington Beach
X
26
19 Nov
AIAA President Jim
Albaugh Program
Boeing Seal Beach
X
80, Open to the
Public
Dec
Council Meeting
Local restaurant
X
10-12
Jan
Council Meeting
Boeing Huntington Beach
X
10-12
28 Jan
Speaker, STEM
Teacher, Nino
Polizzi, Rocket Sci
Tutors
Boeing Huntington Beach
Feb
Council Meeting
Boeing Huntington Beach
Feb
Engineering Week at
Boeing Booths
Seal Beach and
Huntington Beach
X
Multiple, YP
Feb
OCEC Awards
Program
OC, Student Project (UCI
Design, Build, Fly); Kerzie
(Excellence), Dr De
Armendi (YP) Awards
X
Multiple
Mar
Council Meeting
Boeing Huntington Beach
Mar
CVD
Washington D.C. (Rose,
Shweyk)
X
Multiple,
Congressman
Steve Knight
Mar
CA Aerospace Week
Sacramento (Rose)
X
Multiple,
Committee
3
X
Total
Attendees
10-12
X
10-12
X
X
18
10-12
X
10-12
Date
Event
Location
Council Meeting
Section
Activities
Total
Attendees
28-29 Mar
AIAA Region VI
Student Conference
Online Judges
Online Judges: Dr Amir
Gohardani, Dr Jim Martin
X
Multiple
Mar
AIAA Aerospace
America Article on
ASAT Conference
Dr Amir Gohardani
X
AIAA National
Magazine
Apr
Second Aerospace
America Article ASAT
Conference
Dr Amir Gohardani
X
AIAA National
Magazine
Apr
Council Meeting
Boeing Huntington Beach
Apr
OC Sci & Engineering
Fair Judges
Dr Amir Gohardani, Judge
X
Multiple, K-12
14 Apr
Speaker, Craig
Harwood – Quest for
Flight Book
Boeing Huntington Beach
X
14
Multiple
Rocket Science
Tutors
Nino Polizzi, After School
STEM Tutors Supported
X
Multiple, K-12
Multiple
STEM outreach,
AIAA OC TARC
Teams; AIAA OC
Section Student
Payload and
Rocketry Challenge,
others
TARC--Sponsored 6 teams
& mentored 12 teams
OC, Wash DC,
Dry Lake Bed
X
Multiple
Multiple
Rockets
AIAA OC Sponsor
Dry Lake Bed
X
Multiple
Multiple
AIAA Sponsor UCI
DBF
Sponsored UCI DRF Team
UCI,
International
X
Multiple
2 May
12th Annual ASAT
Conference
Doubletree Club Hotel,
Santa Ana, CA
X
Multiple
2 May
Annual Awards
Banquet
Doubletree Club Hotel,
Santa Ana, CA
X
68 (New Record)
12 May
Council Meeting
Boeing Huntington Beach
X
X
10
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In addition, we had joint sponsorship activities this past year with AIAA LA and IEEE OC included posting of events,
posting to sharing site, and support to AIAA LA and IEEE OC events.
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OC AIAA provided representatives, booklets, and charts, and made contact with potential new AIAA members and
volunteers at each of the events listed. OC IEEE, LA AIAA members and other local engineers are invited to local
speaker meetings, social events and the AIAA OC Section’s annual Southern California ASAT (Aerospace and
Technology) Conference and the annual Awards Banquet.
Other joint sponsorship activities included an interface with SoCal Science Café, a united federation of local and
regional science outreach programs and professional societies that broacasts events to underserved
demographics of people throughout the entire Southern California region. This is accomplished through
organization of OC AIAA, IEEE, and other programs into a region-wide calendar of events distributed by social
networking sites across the region. SoCal Science Café is part of a worldwide network of such programs that seek
to bring science and technology to members of the public 21+ and their children who are not necessarily educated
in science and engineering fields. The goal is to enhance overall public understanding of science through
partnerships with The British Council, WGBH-TV Boston (PBS), and Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society.
The Section has provided donations and publicity to the local Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC) teams, a
hands-on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) international competition. Student TARC
teams present papers at the ASAT conference, and Poster standup-presentation to ASAT attendees.
The Section provided support to “Rocket Science Tutors (RST)” (www.rocketsciencetutors.com ), a STEM afterschool program that brings aerospace professionals into the classroom. RST operates at four Middle Schools and
one High School in Santa Ana, California. RST provided 1,000 plus student-contact hours this school year, and
conducted an annual field trip to the University of California Irvine (UCI). RST lead and now teacher Nino Polizzi
typically presents papers at ASAT and attends the Awards Banquet afterwards.
The Section provided judges for the OC Science and Technology Fair, and invited winners to present Poster
Standup personal discussion to ASAT attendees.
The Section recognized and supported the UCI AIAA Student Section, and their aircraft Design, Build, Fly (DBF)
team. This team has Speaker Program with AIAA OC, presented at the 2015 ASAT conference and are sponsored
for OCEC (Orange County Engineering Council) awards. AIAA OC donates funds to OCEC.
Section’s Council Meetings were held as indicated in Table 1:
This year’s Speaker Pizza-Dinner meetings were our main effort to foster the profession, career, workplace and
community new member outreach program. We had a variety of speakers and topics as delineated in Table 1 and
summarized below. Events were free to pre-registered AIAA members, and pizza and drinks served. There is a
small charge for non-AIAA members and late sign-in AIAA attendees.) See Table 1 above. See AIAA OC Website.
https://info.aiaa.org/Regions/Western/Orange_County/default.aspx
Membership Activities
Describe any membership recruitment/retention activities (this section may be copied as needed for use in the
Membership Award Form).
The Section promotes the following values of membership at all the activities as listed above under Meetings,
Programs and Events:
•
•
Local Section Meetings—network close to home
Technical and Program committees--bring together experts in their fields
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
AIAA Career Center--Job Seekers
Young Professions Member Programs--networking events
Honors and Awards—gain recognition
Voice in Congress—Congressional Visits Day
Online news and research—Online Library and Aerospace America
Engineers and educators—learn how to inspire K-12
Membership discounts—Conferences, Publications and Partners
The Standard membership display and handouts of AIAA info were included at selected events (not all listed
above) with a special handout showing how to sign up online (both shown at the right). Through this promotion,
we reached out to the membership community and their families in order to better engage them and serve their
needs. In so doing, the Section provided opportunities for networking, the lifeblood of AIAA, and membership
recruitment and retention activities.
We promote membership opportunities through our presence on Twitter (https://twitter.com/AIAAOC) which
includes links to web pages. OC has put Twitter on the Section email announcements and Web site. The OC
Section is on Facebook (AIAAOC). The Rocketry Facebook and Twitter accounts serve the youth
(https://www.facebook.com/AiaaOcRocketry) (https://twitter.com/aiaaocrocketry).
Other activities to promote membership were to advocated membership through partnerships with Science Cafe.
Emails were sent to members who had dropped. An active list of current members was maintained on Constant
Contact for email distributions throughout the year. We jointly promoted programs and accompanying
membership opportunities with the LA section adjacent to the Orange County Section boundary
Additional details of the Membership report are contained in the separate xls based Membership Report
submittal.
Education
1. List the student branches within the section, and describe any section activities related to these branches.
University of California Irvine (UCI) AIAA Student Section is within the AIAA OC Section area, and the AIAA
OC Section is very active in supporting the UCI Student Section, and the UCI DBF program as delineated
above in the other sections.
2. Describe actions taken to establish new student branches. No new initiatives this year in regards to
California State University Fullerton (CSUF)—unable to find support at the University.
3. Describe involvement of the section with the Region Student Conference. None.
4. Describe any professional continuing education programs (this section may be copied as needed for use in
the Career and Workforce Development Award Form).
The AIAA OC Section has an active Career and Workforce Development program with Speaker program as
highlighted above with two dinner programs. Flyers and emails to members and by extension to their
companies support these programs.
5. Describe any precollege outreach programs instituted/continued this year (this section may be copied as
needed for use in the STEM-K12 Award Form).
See the write up for Outstanding Activity Award for the AIAA OC Rocketry program including Student
Payload and Rocketry Challenge (SPARC) and Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC) contained in
Appendix A of this report.
SPARC is an AIAA OC Section challenge to 7th through 12th grade students to design, build, and fly an
electronic scientific or engineering payload. SPARC runs from June through October, at a Rocket Science
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Fair at the ROCtober Youth launch at Lucerne Dry Lake. It is designed to be a summer follow-on program
to TARC.
TARC is an international rocketry contest where teams design, build & fly a rocket to 8oo ft. The rocket
flight is timed and carries one raw egg. It is open to 7th through 12th graders. The top 100 teams in the
nation compete in Washington DC.
The AIAA OC Section financially sponsored six teams from OC cities and schools. The Section sponsorship
helped additional teams in OC, Riverside, and Lake Elsinore areas. The teams hold meetings and perform
local launches. Teams can qualify and compete in Washington DC, and there is a AIAA OC Section CoSponsored TARC “Consolation Launch” in June, intended to give all West Coast teams the “finals
experience” whether they qualified to compete in Washington DC or not.
In addition, the Section actively supported the AIAA OC Rocketry club. The rocketry club is for all ages but
aimed at getting youth involved with science, engineering and technology through rocketry. The club
meets once each month and has at least one launch outing each month. Students begin by building
commercial kits, then go on to design and build rockets using a Computer Aided Design program. As they
gain more confidence, the rockets get bigger and go higher on larger engines. Many go on to participate
in the TARC contest and SPARC. The club has a web site at http://aiaaocrocketry.org covering the club as
well as TARC and SLI.
The Section supported the local TARC teams and Rocket Science Tutors (RST) teams. The Section also
supported the OC Science and Technology Fair and provided judges.
As a feature speaker, Jann Koepke (Education, Vice Chair) gives talks and lead activities throughout OC.
Jann and Bob Koepke (at Large, Vice Chair) were consistently active with the TARC teams, participating in
at least one launch every weekend until the end of the year contest.
OC AIAA allocated funds for the TARC teams’ support, and the TARC “Team-Kit Boxes.”
Three AIAA OC Section mentored teams made it to finals this year. Finals were near Washington DC in
May. One team received the “Best Innovation and Approach to Mission Award” from Raytheon for their
flight computer controlled air brake ascent control and parachute shroud line reefing descent control.
6. Does your section have a scholarship fund? (No.) Describe how funds are raised, and how scholarships are
awarded. (N/A)
Public Policy (This section may be copied as needed for use in the Public Policy Award Form)
1. Describe activities that inform the public and section members about public policy.
2. Describe activities that provided interaction with government officials.
3. Did your section participate in Congressional Visits Day or August is for Aerospace? If so, describe. Yes.
OC Section supported Congressional Visits Day (CVD) in Washington, DC and California Aerospace with funds and
representatives. John Rose (at Large, Vice Chair) and Kamal Shweyk (Public Policy, Vice Chair) attended CVD in
Washington, DC in March. This is an annual event where AIAA OC members travel to Washington, DC to meet
with national decision-makers to discuss critical issues. The program was shortened relative to previous years,
but was still very worthwhile as several meetings were held directly with the representatives or their staff.
Arrangements were made during the event to follow up with more meetings during August-for-Aerospace.
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Key issues were presented during the CVD event addressing a broad range of topics.
John Rose and Kamal Shweyk also attended the 4th Annual California Aerospace week in March 2015 in
Sacramento, California. This is now an annual event where AIAA OC members and other industry Advocates travel
to Sacramento to meet with State decision-makers to discuss critical issues and policies. The objectives are to
raise awareness of the long-term value that science, engineering, and technology bring to California and America
through face-to-face meetings with State legislative staff, key officials, and other decision makers. The program
this year included the following panel discussions.
Honors and Awards
1. Describe any local section awards given to members and supporters. Please note if award is new this year.
The Section’s Annual Awards banquet honored well-deserved individuals who contributed to field of
Astronautics and Aeronautics, and the community. Award Winners and Honored Guests included (See
Outstanding Activity Section for photos)
2. List members nominated by the section for AIAA or regional honors and awards. Please include nominee,
award, and status. None this year.




5 AIAA National Section Awards:
 AIAA OC Outstanding Section Award, 3rd Place Large Category, Gene Justin, Past Chair, 2013-2014
 AIAA OC Outstanding Activity, 1st Place Large Category, TARC and Rocketry Club, 2013-2014
 AIAA OC Harry Staubs Precollege Award, 1st Place Large Category, Janet Koepke, 2013-2014
 AIAA OC Public Policy Award, 1st Place Large Category, Kamal Shweyk, Policy Officer, 2013-2014
 AIAA OC Membership Award, 2nd Place Large Category, Bob Welge, Membership, 2013-2014
OC Council Section awards given:
 Student of the Year-- Violet Malyan, UC Irvine, Design-Build-Fly
 Young Professional of the year: Mr Jun Yoon, Engineer, Boeing Huntington Beach
OC Section members made AIAA Associate Fellows this year: None.
 Dr. Amir Gohardani’s (Chair Elect) package will be submitted on the next round.
 Another OC-related member submitted, may be a NW section member (new assignment in OC).
A joint sponsorship event this past year included the nomination of award winners to the local Orange
Council Engineering Council (OCEC) for their annual Engineers Week banquet. AIAA OC members who
won awards were:
 Ted Kerzie, Engineering Excellence
 Phillip De Armendi, Young Engineer Professional
 UCI DBF (UC Irvine, Design-Build-Fly) Student Project
John Rose was elected to the National AIAA Board of Directors as the VP of Public Policy. He currently also serves
as the Deputy Director of Public Policy Region 6, Deputy to the AIAA Public Policy Committee (PPC) and Chair of
the National Security Subcommittee.
Technical Activities
1. How many local members are members of an AIAA Technical Committee? Not known. Describe how they
interacted with the local section or local technical committee(s). Not known. Section reaches out to all
members to be active members of the Section and attend the local events.
2. Describe local technical committees, their function and activities for this year. There are no local technical
committees.
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3. Describe any technical symposia or short courses not described in detail elsewhere in this report. No short
courses.
An outstanding technical activity was on the OC Section Southern California Aerospace and Technology
Conference (ASAT) and evening Awards Banquet. This was a joint program, with sponsorship with the Boeing
Company, Research & Technology. In regards to publicity for the event, there were numerous flyers, emails, and
posting within companies, with the LA-Las Vegas Section, and with the local IEEE sites. Newspapers were
contacted, but no posting were seen in the newspapers. The Section website was also used to promote this event.
The ASAT (Aerospace Science and Technology), 12th annual event was an outstanding activity. It is unique each
year and really shows how the AIAA OC Section is building a significant working relationship with members, their
community, and their families-STEM organizations. It shows the Section is reaching out to the future generation
and getting them interested in STEM, while leveraging and bridging to the present generation in the form of
technical interchange and networking with technical experts and leaders as well as students.
The Section’s ASAT Conference is locally supported for Orange County Aerospace community. It was held on the
first Saturday in May at the Doubletree Club Hotel, in Santa Ana, California. It had a variety of speakers and
topics. See link below:
http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07ea0dfsuy47d3a5c6&llr=vitem6fab&showPage=t
rue
Distinguished Speakers at the Conference:
 Tom Croslin, Vice President, BCA SoCal Design Center Engineering, The Boeing Company, Boeing California
 Darin Russell, Aerial Photographer and Videographer, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co.: Aerial
Photography - Capturing the Beauty of Aerospace
 31 Papers in 7 Tracks
 Dedicated CubeSat Track
 80 Attendees
Participants included individuals from all of LA-OC, a testament to the interests in the goals and value of the ASAT
program. ASAT and the Banquet help foster relationships between past, current, and future generations of the
engineering community. It gives back to the retirement-age workers, the new young professionals, and the young,
up-and-coming students. ASAT stirs the interests of the young and old. The ASAT conference and Awards Banquet
allows members to network with one another, gain insight into other aerospace specialties, and foster
opportunities otherwise unexplored. These opportunities including joining AIAA and taking a more active role in
its events, activities and future both nationally and within the local OC AIAA community.
The Section’s Annual Awards banquet is the night event immediately following ASAT that honors well-deserved
individuals who contributed to field of Aerospace and the community (mentioned above under Honors and
Awards). The ASAT-Banquet is an outstanding event for building a lasting relationship with and highlighting the
contributions to the Southern California aerospace community with outreach to members in OC, San Diego, Los
Angeles, and the Desert Counties.
 Speaker this year at the Banquet was Joseph T. Vogel, Director of Hypersonics, Boeing
 AIAA OC Year In Review Briefing was presented at ASAT that highlights the Section’s Accomplishments this
year. See below (YIR-2015-Final.pptx):
https://info.aiaa.org/Regions/Western/Orange_County/Annual%20Reports/Forms/AllItems.aspx?RootFol
9
der=%2fRegions%2fWestern%2fOrange%5fCounty%2fAnnual%20Reports%2f2014%2d2015%2fUpload%5f
Material&FolderCTID=&View=%7b8EFAD42F%2d27B1%2d4898%2dA8A8%2d33226AC7E759%7d
Communications: (this section may be copied as needed for use in the Communications Award form)
Number of newsletters published this year: What article received the most attention or interest this year?
Describe any section publications other than a newsletter, including content, frequency and distribution.
Most recently, Dr. Omid Gohardani (at Large, Vice Chair) has developed and created a quarterly
newsletter, see Figure 2. Reception to this newsletter has been positive and generated additional interest
in AIAA OC. The format of this newsletter provides the readers with the latest news and upcoming events
of OC AIAA section. See link below.
Articles were also written for and published in Aerospace America, March and April 2015 issues. These
articles detailed ASAT’s prior success (review of 2014 conference) and promoted the 2015 event.
https://info.aiaa.org/Regions/Western/Orange_County/Annual%20Reports/Forms/AllItems.aspx?RootFol
der=%2fRegions%2fWestern%2fOrange%5fCounty%2fAnnual%20Reports%2f2014%2d2015%2fUpload%5f
Material&FolderCTID=&View=%7b8EFAD42F%2d27B1%2d4898%2dA8A8%2d33226AC7E759%7d
Figure 2. AIAA OC Newsletter
1. How does the section utilize electronic communication, such as email notification, social media (such as
Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter), etc? OC AIAA Communications posts all events and emails for the OC AIAA
using Constant Contact software. An event is sponsored by OC AIAA roughly once a month. For each, an
event registration web page is created, and a series of email announcements go out to all OC and LA-LV
AIAA members. OC AIAA coordinates with similar organizations, such as the local chapters of ASME, IEEE,
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and AESS, to post email event notices for those organizations if the events are deemed to be of interest to
OC AIAA members. These emails are sent only to OC AIAA members using the list maintained by the
Membership chair. OC AIAA Communications also posts its notices, and other information of interest, on
the more general-interest SoCal Science Cafe site. In addition, OC AIAA Communications posts its event
notices, announcements, minutes, conference proceedings, photographs, and other documents of
interest on its own web site at https://info.aiaa.org/Regions/Western/Orange_County/default.aspx
AIAA OC has a presence on Twitter (https://twitter.com/AIAAOC) with the help of Dr. Amir Gohardani
(Chair Elect). Twitter includes a link to web pages – we have 41 followers so far. OC AIAA has put Twitter
on the Section email announcements and Web site and enabled a 2D QR code for twitter. A few of the
tweets by OC AIAA have been favorites of AIAA national. AIAA OC Rocketry (TARC) has Facebook account
that was initially set up in 2012 as well as with an account on Twitter.
(https://twitter.com/aiaaocrocketry). Intuit will not be used.
2. The following questions are for those sections with active websites.
3. Do you use the AIAA SharePoint site to host your section’s homepage? If not, do you host a website
elsewhere? The AIAA OC Section has been active this year with its Website and updates it regularly. OC
AIAA Communications posts its event notices, announcements, minutes, conference proceedings,
photographs, and other documents of interest on its own web site at
https://info.aiaa.org/Regions/Western/Orange_County/default.aspx
4. Does the website use the AIAA SharePoint site to host section’s homepage? If not, do we host a website
elsewhere? The AIAA SharePoint site is used to host our section’s homepage. The site is updated
regularly and was recently updated to include our sponsored 12th Annual Southern Californian Aerospace
and Technology (ASAT Conference) in May 2015. The most utilized feature of the website is its promotion
of upcoming section activities. The most significant new feature added was the link to enable event
attendees to sign up via Paypal. We continue to promote this information resource to members as a
source of information on current events and activities. The site is noted in the email announcements to
the members.
5. How often is the site updated, and do you have a webmaster? Yes. Updates are made as needed and
requested. Dr. Jonathan K. (Jody) Hart is our web focal point.
6. What is the most utilized feature of the website? What is the most utilized feature of the website? See
above.
7. Do you use it to promote upcoming section activities? Yes, the Section uses it to promote upcoming
section activities.
8. Describe any new or unique features added this year. Any new or unique features added this year? See
above. Section is working with Paypal on programs. Moreover, Amir Gohardani (Chair Elect) and Omid
Gohardani (at Large, Vice Chair) with webmaster Hart’s approval provided the capability of sharing
information simultaneously on Twitter, Newsletter and the webpage.
The “audience” of the Communication Activities is primarily the current AIAA OC professional. It is also
geared towards AIAA student (UCI) members, and education-associate members (STEM, Rockets Programs,
TARC, Science Programs, and Rocket Scientist, RST). The professional members include YP and traditional
members as well as retirees. It also includes their families and the network in the community and schools,
and STEM programs. The audience to a lesser degree includes potential and prospective AIAA members,
members of similar groups, societies, and associations (very active with IEEE), civic, industry, and education
leaders that are served by the AIAA OC section (the Section’s ASAT outreach and speaker programs engage
members from Boeing, NG, UCI, and DOD). These organizations all had presenters at our ASAT conference,
and members (Boeing, UCI) were recognized at the Award Dinner. Boeing was again a sponsor of the ASAT
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conference. This year’s ASAT conference also had a designated Cubesat track. With our new presence on the
more general-interest Science Café site, OC AIAA is reaching out to a wider audience. Another audience for
the section communications activities, though to a lesser extent, is the media (radio, web, TV, news outlets,
journalists, and professional journals). The section has intentionally aimed at sharing the OC AIAA activities in
Aerospace America this year and been very successful to highlight these activities on a national podium.
Due to increasing challenges and demands placed on membership in time and resources, we have seen a
slight decline in membership. The changing demographics (YP and retirement age generation) offer an
additional challenge in maintaining/growing our numbers and culture. And, burnout of the dedicated
volunteers is a challenge. Plus, job, budget, and economy uncertainty remains. Plus, SoCal freeway travel and
time demands remain a challenge. Jobs are in one location, schools in another, and homes are another
location. Telecom, virtual, and the Internet have pluses, but present challenges.
The section utilizes flyers and electronic communication such as email and newsletters to communicate with
its members. The section distributed email notices for 30+ separate events and issues to its members. Paypal
payments have been established to better handle payments and funds generated from these events and to
offer a more convenient method of payment to our members. Direct mailing is rarely used, except for the few
without email accounts. Direct phone calls are rarely used. Faxes are rarely used.
The section has monthly Council meetings. The purpose of these meetings is to inform and listen to feedback
from section officers, and visitors. These meetings are regularly announced on the section’s Twitter account.
Visitors have included IEEE, Rocket students, RST, UCI, and DBF, as well as prospective new members and
volunteers. Approved meeting minutes are stored and reported on the website.
It is estimated that 98% of the membership has an active email address. That estimate agrees with info from
other sections. No efforts have been made this year to move all the members to email.
Financial Summary (this portion of the report does not satisfy the requirements for an audit report): Estimates
only (below) – Audit Report Due 30 June 2015.
Beginning Total Balance of all cash on hand as of June 1, 2014: $19,335 (From Last Year’s Audit Report)
Checking Account: $ 8,538 (From Last Year’s Audit Report)
Savings Account: $ 10,798 (From Last Year’s Audit Report)
Income:
$ 13,103 (Total 2013-2014) Estimate Only – Audit Report Due 30 June 2014
Expenses:
$ 17,476 (Total 2013-2014) Estimate Only – Audit Report Due 30 June 2014
Net Change
$ -4,373 (2013-2014) Estimate Only – Audit Report Due 30 June 2014
Estimated Ending Balance as of May 31, 2015 $14,962 (Estimate Only – Audit Report Due 30 June 2014
What corporate donations were received? $0 Were any meetings or functions underwritten or financially
supported? Yes, ASAT
# # #
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Outstanding Section Award (Limit to Two Pages)
1. Statement of the mission and goals of the section. How is your section functioning within the
mission and goals of the AIAA?
It has been the goal of the OC Section to maintain membership in the organization despite the continuing
slow economy and sequester uncertainty climate. The challenges include the impact to the workers who
face the reality of outsourcing and commercialization, the tidal wave of aging workforce, the declining
number of new workers, and the declining STEM status, as well as seemly the unique California challenges
(regulations, costs, flex workforce, and commuters). The section strives to offer the same programming it
has in the past while always looking for new ideas and approaches to interest members and provide some
benefit as it relates to the goals of the national organization. The Section’s primary goal this past year was
to promote membership interest programs via STEM and educational outreach to Team America Rocket
Competition (TARC), University of California Irvine International winning Design Build Fly (DBF) aircraft
team, Rocket Science Tutors (RST), and many other Educational Programs.
2. Statement of philosophy of use of funds (both through rebates and other means). How are financial
resources used by the section? How do you think the funds are best utilized?
The Section’s philosophy regarding the use of funds is simply that the money is intended to provide AIAA
community and educational/technical events for the membership. We as a Section feel that, so long as
the financial requirements of the Section are met and there is a reasonable reserve for unforeseen
expenses, funds should be allocated to any AIAA member-family focused project with merit and a plan for
fiscal responsibility.
The Section uses its funds to sponsor various events; including Outreach Programs, Dinner Meetings (and
speakers), the OC-grown Aerospace Science and Technology (ASAT) conference and Award Banquet as
well as to provide travel assistance to members wishing to participate in AIAA events like CVD and RLC.
The Section also uses funds to support events sponsored by its Student Branches, and to support other
local events such as Science Fairs, UCI DBF, TARC, RST, and Education programs, as well as the family Kite
Fly. Furthermore, the Council discusses ideas for new events (proposed by the membership or by a
council member) and determines how much monetary support can be allocated.
For any event where the Section has expended funds, it is generally agreed and expected that the
organizer will provide something back to the Section. This may include a re-cap/report of the
event/activity at the ASAT conference, a mention of AIAA sponsorship, or a participation in a Section
event similar in nature. This is a simple means of giving back to other members.
3. Please describe any challenges or problems that arose during the year (or that are ongoing) and how the
section dealt with them.
The Section Vice-Chair for Career & Workforce Chair is vacant. We do not have an elected Honors and
Awards chair. Past Chair Gene Justin stepped in to fulfill this role.
The primary obstacle remains the changing interest in aerospace, and low-turn-out and semi-apathy
among our members in regards all section activities than go to an AIAA event after work. It is a challenge
to motivate people to come to events when there is uncertainty regarding unemployment and the future.
This past year, attendance at dinner events has been a challenge but we have done well, Young
Professional Programs have been a challenge but we had two programs. In the big picture in addition to
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offering value and content in our programs and activities, there is a very small percentage decline in the
number of the members in the Section and consistent with the national average. The Membership Chair,
Bob Welge, has frequently followed up with dropped membership in an effort to get renewal. Through
the effort of Dino Roman, ASAT General Chair and Section Technical Chair, the ASAT has had a record
attendance at the Section Award Banquet which the evening event after the day long Saturday ASAT
program.
In order to fight this issue, Program Chair Jim Martin has been offering more informal Speaker Programs
that are free for pre-registered AIAA members. Pizza and soft drinks are provided, and the Section is
using PayPal now successfully which is big help. Jim has been stepping up the quality of what is offered
such as dinner meetings, and the variety of programs and events that are offered.
Section had to redo last year audit report to address Eliza Sheppard’s questions, and thru a number of
misfortunes the re-submittal was delayed until March 2014. But, the audit was submitted. We do not
expect any problems in submitting this year audit report on time.
4. Please describe how your section is responding to its unique circumstances and how it is making a
difference. In other words, why should this be an Outstanding Section?
The Section is an Outstanding Section because of the excellence of the ASAT, TARC, DBF, and educational
activities that the Section has hosted and sponsored this year. The Section has found ASAT and STEM
programs as well as low cost convenient speaker programs that people like and brings the most benefit
for the cost. The Section constantly solicits new ideas from members at each event. Members discuss
ideas with other members and expect council members to propose new ideas at every council meeting.
The Section strives for new and different speakers at every event and does not fall back on the easy-toobtain local space industry speakers.
One of the Section’s primary on-going challenges is and will continue to be membership, due to Federal
Budget aerospace cuts and uncertainty, and changing priorities – drones and cyber warfare priorities.
Plus, there are the industry’s pressures to move to lower cost areas and to have workers travel more.
These trends challenge workers loyalty to local OC Section traditional activities. And, an on-going change
is the Southern California Freeways challenge. Plus, as well as, there is the challenge of the retirementage workers and new younger more diverse or multi-interest professionals.
The Section has decided that currently the Section’s resources are best utilized to support interesting, low
cost speaker programs, ASAT, and family-centered STEM programs. Hopefully, these events will allow
members to network with one another, learn new interests, and possibly find opportunities they would
not have otherwise. This includes encouraging younger professional and students to join AIAA, and
continue their relationship with the OC AIAA community.
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Appendix A
Outstanding Activity Award
Student Payload and Rocketry Challenge (SPARC), Team America Rocketry Challenge
(TARC) and AIAA OC Rocketry Club
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Date of Event: Year Long Activity
Name of Event: OC Section Student Payload and Rocketry Challenge (SPARC) activity, OC Section Sponsorship
of the Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC) and Rocketry Club
Speaker: OC Section Aerospace Professionals and TARC Volunteers
Speaker Affiliation: TARC and Multiple Affiliations
Meeting type: Multiple types: School Programs, Weekend Launches, and National Competition
Attendance: Attendance varied for each event. Total attendance was well into the 100s.
Description of Event: see the write up below
Joint Sponsorship? With what group(s)? Multiple Joint Sponsorship, AIAA OC Rocketry Club, schools, NAR
(National Association of Rocketry), TARC
Describe any publicity for the event: There were numerous flyers, emails, and posting within companies, and
with the LA-Las Vegas Section, and with the local IEEE sites, included SoCal Science Café for social networking.
Section website was used.
What makes this event an outstanding activity? See below, See SPARC Photos SlideShow:
http://aiaaocrocketry.org/SlideShowWebGalleries/AIAA-OC-Section-2015/1/slideshow.htm?1
The OC section joint activity with Jann and Bob Koepke’s outreach and mentorship with kids under these
programs is outstanding. Jann serves as Vice Chair of Education and Bob fills an at Large position. AIAA OC Section
has created a STEM education through rocketry program that this year includes a new activity, the 1st annual
SPARC (Student Payload and Rocketry Challenge) as a follow-on to TARC (Team America Rocketry Challenge) to
help mitigate the loss of a the NASA sponsored Student Launch Initiative program. SPARC is open to 7th – 12th
grades and runs across the summer months. SPARC places the emphasis on an electronic scientific or engineering
payload as well as the rocket. SPARC further inspires kids in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM).
It inspires AIAA members and other to get involved and give back to their profession, their community, and the
next generation and the following generations of kids. Plus, SPARC educates and inspires teachers and schools,
other kids, and citizens in general in regard to the value of AIAA and STEM education.
Over 100 TARC teams from the western states were invited to participate in SPARC. Ten teams responded and
completed the program from June through the following October. Teams of 1 to 10 submitted a proposal for a
scientific or engineering payload that was based upon the Arduino development platform and a rocket to launch
their payload to 1500 feet. Payloads carried accelerometers and magnetometers, GPS receivers and pressure,
temperature, and humidity sensors. One team implemented a guided parachute descent and another used a
Pitot tube to measure the rocket’s speed. Data was stored on a removable SD card in the rocket as well as sent to
a ground station via telemetry. Across the summer the teams designed, built, tested, and flew their rocket and
payload. The event ended with a launch and Rocket Science Fair in October 2014 at a youth launch at the Lucerne
Dry Lake in the Mojave Desert. Teams also provided a final written report. Over 1000 younger students attend
this launch; many of those attended the Rocket Science Fair. Judges from Space-X and the industry at large
evaluated and questioned the students after which certificates and plaques were presented.
SPARC is the summer (June – October) follow-on program to TARC (September – May). TARC is a national contest
from the AIA and NAR (National Association of Rocketry). Its goal is to inspire kids in STEM and to get others
involved as mentors to the students. Students in 7th through 12th grades design, build & fly a rocket to 800 ft in
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timed flight carrying one raw egg. The top 100 teams compete in Washington, DC. The AIAA OC Section
mentored 12 teams with members from 12 cities and 15 schools, including teams in OC, Riverside, and even Lake
Elsinore areas. The teams held over 80 meetings and 18 launches. Three teams qualified with scores as low as 2 –
well below the 40 point cutoff (like golf, lower is better) and competed in Washington, DC. One of those teams
received the “Best Innovation and Approach to Mission” award from Raytheon for their flight computer controlled
air brake ascent and parachute shroud line reefing descent.
In June of 2014 and April of 2015, AIAA OC Section co-sponsored the 2nd and 3rd annual T-CON (TARC Consolation
Launch). T-CON attempts to bring some of the excitement of the finals in Washington, DC to all TARC teams
whether they qualified to go to finals or not Plus, teams had posters and made presentations at the OC Section
12nd Annual ASAT technical Conference. In addition, the Section actively supports the AIAA OC Rocketry club.
The rocketry club is for all ages but aimed at getting youth involved with science, engineering and technology
through rocketry. The club meets once each month and has at least one launch outing each month. Students
begin by building commercial kits, then go on to design and build rockets using a Computer Aided Design
program. As they gain more confidence, the rockets get bigger and go higher on larger engines. Many go on to
participate in the TARC contest as well as SPARC. Previously teams could also participate in the NASA Student
Launch Initiative (now cancelled due to NASA budget cuts). The club has a web site at http://aiaaocrocketry.org
covering the club as well as TARC, SPARC and SLI. An Educational Outreach Slide Show is given in:
http://aiaaocrocketry.org/SlideShowWebGalleries/AIAA-OC-Section-2015/2/slideshow.htm?1
The AIAA OC Section’s TARC, SPARC, and STEM and Educational Outreach program, sponsored multiple student
interactive build & launch (air, bottle, foam, and black powder rockets) programs as delineated below:
• Students also learn to program
• Teams write a proposal and final paper
• Teams participate in Rocket Science Fair
• Other groups have adopted this program
• Ten teams participated in the program
• Science fair judges included 2 from Space-X
• Students earned High Power Certification
Build & launch (air, bottle, black powder rockets)
• Quest Therapeutic Camp (about 30 attendees)
• Girl Scout Build (over 60 attendees)
• Girl Scout launch
• OC Fair Imaginology (3 days, 1000+ attendees)
• Orange County Model Engineers (2 days, 100s)
• Girls Incorporated (around 100 attendees)
• Mendez Science Summer Camp (5 weeks, 100)
• Meeting with HBO Europe
• St Margaret’s Sci Night (about 100 attendees)
• Ivy Max Stem Club (weekly)
• Monthly club meetings and launch outings
Web site http://aiaaocrocketry.org
Team America Rocketry Challenge
• Int’l Rocketry Contest nearly 700 teams
• Design, build & fly a rocket to 800 ft
• Timed flight carrying one raw egg
• 7th through 12th graders
• Top 100 teams compete in Washington DC
AIAA OC Section
• Sponsored 6 teams & mentored 12 teams
• From 12 cities & 15 schools
• Helped 6 teams in OC, LA and Riverside area
• Held over 80 meetings and 18 launches
• 3 teams qualified to go to Washington DC
• One team won the Raytheon “Best Innovation
and Approach to Mission” award
• T-CON TARC Consolation Launch Co-Sponsor
AIAA OC Student Payload and Rocketry Challenge
• AIAA OC Section competition
• Emphasis is on an electronic payload
• Payloads are Arduino based
• Student build electronics and solder
The AIAA OC Jann and Bob Koepke’ outreach and mentorship with STEM, rocketry club, TARC is outstanding. They
provide such a great service to the kids. These programs and events have offered an incredible opportunity for
confidence building exercises in science and in life.
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