ames SHIHUA Mingzhi, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, has yet to complete his bachelor’s degree. But the fourth-year student is rmly set on continuing his early research experience in aircra engineering, gained through HKUST’s signature Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP). Up to the end of May and ahead of graduation, the would-be aviation engineering specialist has been furthering his knowledge at Shanghai Jiao Tong University State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, where he is responsible for a research project involving the preliminary design and testing of an unmanned amphibious aircra prototype. This September, he will begin his studies as a Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme student at HKUST. However, it was his second-year involvement in research into amphibious aircra , in a project supervised by departmental faculty member Prof. Rhea LIEM, that rst turned his attention to the exciting possibilities of aircra that need to land and take o on water. UROP enables undergraduates to work with faculty on research projects to gain experience of lab work and the team culture that a research career involves. In James’ case, among other activities, he was able to spend a month carrying out towing tests on water tanks in the lab at Shanghai Jiao Tong University during the summer of his second year. Following a semester’s exchange at the University of Michigan in the US in fall , James picked up his amphibious aircra research at the School of Engineering. Working together with Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering MPhil student Arjit SETH, who was familiar with computational fluid dynamics simulations, and overseen by Prof. Liem and Prof. LI Ye from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, James’ experimental data was teamed with Arjit’s simulations to develop a standardized analysis procedure to evaluate the take-o performance of amphibious aircra . The ndings were published at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Aviation Forum last June. The same month, James, one of two recipients of a Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE) Aviation Scholarship for Outstanding Engineering Students, went on to beat nine other nalists to receive HKUST’s Mr. Armin and Mrs. Lillian Kitchell Undergraduate Research Award for his project on “Designing Novel E cient and Quiet Amphibious Aircra for General Aviation”. It has been his dream since childhood to “make airplanes more e cient and comfortable so everybody can a ord a pleasant air journey in the future”, James said. Through UROP, which he sees as “one of the best ways for an undergraduate to acquire knowledge”, it now appears he is well on his way to making that aspiration a reality. J The Shanghai Jiao Tong University towing tank where James has conducted numerous tests as part of his research on amphibious aircraft. Outstanding early researcher James Shihua, Year 4, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, at General Electric China Science Park in Shanghai. His dream is to make airplanes more ef cient and comfortable. 21 IN FOCUS Students Hydrodynamic li -o
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDk5Njg=