MISA at Aviation – Michigan Aerospace Engineering

Assistant Professor of Aerospace Engineering and Principal Investigator for the Integrated Design of Environmentally-friendly Aerospace Systems (IDEAS) Lab, Gökçin Çınar, represented the University of Michigan’s Michigan Initiative for Sustainable Aviation (MISA) at this year’s AIAA Aviation Forum. The Forum is currently underway in Las Vegas and runs through August 2, in conjunction with the annual ASCEND Conference and the AIAA/IEEE/SARES Electric Aircraft Technologies Symposium (EATS), in which Professor Çınar holds the General Chair role.

This year’s EATS event featured a focus on the field of sustainable aviation, with topics on advancements in electrification and sustainability. The agenda featured an esteemed lineup of keynote speakers, panels and tutorials with concepts ranging from more-electric aircraft to hybrid-electric propulsion systems and all-electric urban air mobility.

During the conjoined events, Çınar presented on behalf of MISA at today’s AIAA Aviation Forum 360 Panel, “Disruptive Technologies in Sustainable Aviation.” During this panel, she discussed the research efforts for MISA and the sustainability efforts being pursued at Michigan Aerospace. As a continuation of this discussion, Çınar will also be a panelist tomorrow, Thursday, August 1, during the “Technical Challenges in Sustainable Aviation” panel.

In addition to these activities, as this year’s EATS chair, Çınar has chaired all EATS keynote sessions as well as co-authored six papers that Michigan Aerospace students are presenting throughout the event. Two of these papers are being presented at EATS/Aviation, with a focus on aviation sustainability, while four will be presented at ASCEND, co-authored by Michigan Aerospace Professors Oliver Jia-Richards, Max Li, Aaron Johnson and various students under the team’s Spaceports Project.

Along with Professor Cinar’s participation at the events, Professor Max Li has also presented multiple talks throughout the week, with more to come in the coming days. This strong representation at all three events highlighted the University of Michigan’s commitment towards sustainable aviation and MISA’s efforts.