June 29, 2011
Dear Alumni and Friends,
Warm greetings from W.R. Woolrich Laboratories! When I stepped in as the new chair of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, it did not take me long to realize that alumni play a critical role in maintaining the excellence of our department and I am most grateful for this support.
With state tax dollars covering only 17 percent of the Cockrell School’s annual budget, alumni support is more important than ever. That is why I am asking our alumni to meet the challenge of moving from 8 percent alumni giving in 2009 to 10 percent in 2010! And although I am not an alum, I have made my own gift to launch this campaign.
Gifts from alumni fund project-based learning that gives students hands-on experience in applying classroom theory to solve real-world challenges. Each week students come to my office asking for funding for their innovative projects. Below are a few of their requests — requests that will be difficult for me to grant without greater alumni support.
• Women in Aerospace Leadership Development (WIALD) needs funding to design and launch a research package (including a camera, altimeter and transducer) that will launch aboard Fredericksburg High School’s Red-Bird-12 ballistic/hybrid rocket. The members of WIALD are committed to recruiting more women into aerospace engineering, and believe interacting with high school students is a first step.
• The Longhorn Rocket Association needs additional funding to design and launch a rocket to break the space barrier (100,000 feet or 19-20 miles). Once the students reach that milestone, their next goal is to carry a payload, such as the picosatellites students are building in the Texas Spacecraft Lab (TSL). Compact, lightweight and relatively inexpensive, picosatellites are a wonderful way to introduce students to the real-world problems associated with building flight-capable hardware.
The stated goals of these projects are just the beginning. Our ultimate goal is to create engineering leaders who will make a difference in the world.
Members of the Longhorn Rocket Association
Future leaders like Alexis Avram benefited from Professor Cesar Ocampo’s outreach as a high school student and she began studying orbital mechanics, electrodynamics, and momentum exchange tethers. Alexis is now an aerospace engineering sophomore and an active member of the Longhorn Rocket Association. She is also planning an internship at NASA — you can read more about Alexis here.
If 200 ASE/EM alumni each donate $1,000 this year, we can fund our current student projects and know we have the funds to launch next year with real momentum. To demonstrate our personal commitment my wife Mae and I have donated $1,000, and I invite you to join with us to contribute at the most generous level possible. Remember that every gift, no matter its size, makes a real difference during these tough economic times. Our goal is 10% participation in 2010! Won’t you join us?
Best wishes,
Philip L. Varghese
Distinguished Teaching
Professor & Chair
