Stipend-supported Student Residencies at the Ohio Aerospace Institute
In the
Multidisciplinary Analysis, Design and Optimization (MADO) Institute

Ohio Aerospace Institute (OAI), a not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) educational and research institute which works in close collaboration with the NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) in Cleveland, Ohio, is offering stipend-supported student research residencies in our recently created Multidisciplinary Analysis, Design and Optimization (MADO) Institute. (GRC). The MADO Institute is a virtual, geographically distributed collaboration, centered at the Ohio Aerospace Institute, aimed at achieving its goal through the judicious teaming of talents from NASA Glenn, other government labs, universities, and industry, through utilization and enhancement of current and proven software and the development of new tools for analysis, design and optimization. The objective of the MADO Institute is to develop state-of-the-art, general, user-friendly and cost-effective integrated systems for multidisciplinary analysis, design and optimization on high performance parallel and distributed computers, which will be demonstrated for various real-world engineering problems in aeropropulsion and space exploration systems. NASA Glenn Research Center will support stipend-supported student residencies to encourage the development of skills needed to develop these systems. Student stipend support varies depending on the current education level of the student and the planned duration of their stay, ranging from $5,000 for a 10-week summer residency up to $9,000 for a 15-week residency during fall/spring. Reasonable expenses for a single round trip to and from the residency will also be covered. Ohio Aerospace Institute (OAI) is the program manager.

The competitive application process is open to college and university students at the entering senior level and beyond who are U.S. citizens. Each selected student would spend a portion of an academic year in residence at OAI, working closely with GRC personnel on a specific research project of mutual interest to the student, their faculty advisor, and a GRC sponsor. Interested students must prepare a white paper proposing projects in response to the topics below and complete the Residency Competition Application Form. The student’s faculty advisor must then review and approve the paper for submission to a Peer Review Panel which will be convened by OAI. Papers will be scored on the basis of responsiveness to their selected topic area, as well as technical feasibility and innovativeness of concept. Students should also submit a letter of recommendation from a faculty member and should also submit an official transcript from their institution as part of their application package.

March 15, 2010 is the submission deadline. Residency periods of varying lengths can be proposed by students on either a full or part time basis. It is desirable for the student’s presence at GRC to begin as soon as possible (students may begin with a limited number of hours per week in residency and transition to a greater number of hours per week if suitable for technical approach). The white paper/technical proposal should be no more than 5 pages and may, as part of research approach, indicate the specific nature of the interaction with Glenn Research Center. Please contact Ms. Kim Tanger of the Ohio Aerospace Institute at KimTanger@oai.org or 440-962-3023 with questions about this program.

• Computational intelligence, deterministic and stochastic methods
• Reduced modeling
• Multi-fidelity optimization
• Multi-disciplinary design and optimization strategies
• "Real-world" applications in aerospace engineering
• Data mining and statistical analysis
• Hybrid and memetic algorithms
• Robust optimization and reliability-based optimization