AIAA Greater Huntsville Section

24/04/2026

AIAA GHS is proud to announce our 2026 Section Award Winners:

Mr. Mark Miller - Hermann Oberth Award
Mr. Tim Keeter - Holger Toftoy Award
Mr. Chris Crumbly - Konrad Dannenberg Educator of the Year
Mr. Christopher Kitson - Martin Schilling Award
Dr. Melissa McDaniel - Earl Pearce Professional of the Year
Mr. Thomas Teasley - Ed Pruett Young Professional of the Year
Mr. Griffin DiMaggio - Graduate Student of the Year
Mr. Cade May - Undergraduate Student of the Year
Mr. Grayson Shows - Sackheim STEM Scholarship

These awards will be conferred in-person on Friday May 8th at our 72nd Annual Section Awards Banquet. Please consider joining us to congratulate these worthy recipients on their well-deserved honors!

Join AIAA GHS for our 72nd annual section awards dinner on Friday, May 8th at the Huntsville Botanical Garden, in the Carriage House

04/02/2026

AIAA GHS was thrilled to host another successful and exciting Rocket City Quiz Bowl tournament for students in the AL/MS region this past Saturday. This year’s theme celebrated the upcoming launch of the Artemis II rocket and its crew. The top 4 teams in both the middle school and high school divisions received 3D-printed Artemis II rocket trophies made by our section. The top 5 individual scorers in each division received custom AIAA-themed medals.

Congratulations to Valley Leadership Academy and Gadsden City High School, our middle school and high school champions. Other schools that placed are shown in the photos below. We applaud all the students for challenging themselves beyond the classroom, and we especially appreciate the coaches for the time they devote to their students. Cash awards, trophies, medals, and lunches were made possible through generous sponsorships from Amentum Space Exploration Division and National Space Club - Huntsville. Shout outs to Chick-fil-A University Drive and Costco in Madison for their support!

Thank you to the nearly 40 volunteers who worked hard to run a very smooth and fun event!

Last but not least, a huge thank you to the Alabama School of Cyber Technology and Engineering for being this year's host site.

Full tournament results: www.naqt.com/go/stats/17445

AIAA - The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, ASCA - The Alabama Scholastic Competition Association, National Academic Quiz Tournaments

26/10/2025

Thank you to everyone who came out to visit our booth at STEAMfest 2025, put on by the Alabama Science Festival at The University of Alabama in Huntsville. We had a great time fostering a spirit of curiosity in the next generation of scientists & engineers!

15/09/2025

Save the date: FEB 26th

AIAA GHS has the honor of hosting the 2026 Engineers' Week Banquet in Huntsville. We hope you will plan to join us at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center as we recognize talent across our engineering community

08/09/2025

Great news! The AIAA GHS speaker series is back, with our September talk being held on Thursday 2025 September 11th at 11:30 AM CDT via zoom.

This talk discusses a range of key Space Shuttle Ascent Aerodynamics lessons learned over the last 25 years of the Program, followed by a discussion on the development of launch and entry spacecraft aerodynamic/aerothermal databases. The speaker is Reynaldo Gomez of NASA Johnson Space Center, where he is the aerodynamics discipline lead within the Engineering Directorate.

Talk synopsis:

This talk discusses a range of key Space Shuttle Ascent Aerodynamics lessons learned over the last 25 years of the Program, followed by a discussion on the development of launch and entry spacecraft aerodynamic/aerothermal databases. This talk was originally created for an Aerosciences technical interchange meeting with Commercial Crew companies to share key lessons with the growing space vehicle community.

Biographical sketch:

Reynaldo Gomez started work at JSC in May of 1985 after completing a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Rice University. He has worked on a wide range of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) applications over the last 39 years, ranging from simulations of wind loads on the Shuttle prior to launch through hypersonic reentry flowfields. In addition to reviewing all integrated aerodynamics products for the Space Shuttle Program, he led the development of wind tunnel tests, CFD simulations, and inflight Shuttle debris transport assessments. Ray is currently the JSC Engineering Directorate aerodynamics discipline lead and serves as the Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) Aerodynamics Subsystem Manager and on the Cross Program Integration Team for MPCV and the Space Launch System (SLS).

Online Instructions:
Url: https://aiaa.zoom.us/meetings/84393054417/invitations?signature=KZ-VQ6f5J9WaND-WsjSLQZBJo7ov5tTpSjJBdqqUspA
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Additional information is available via event pages on AIAA Engage, and Eventbrite (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1637135629739). We hope you will plan to join us!

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02/08/2025

Hi Everyone,

Your Greater Huntsville Section of AIAA will have a booth at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium, this week at the VBCC here in Huntsville. Please stop by and say hi.

16/06/2025

July Technical Topic "NASA's Roadmap" with Dr. Clive Kerr of the University of Cambridge

AIAA Greater Huntsville Section cordially invites you to a discussion on NASA’s Roadmap with Dr. Clive Kerr from the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.

WARNING THIS IS AN INTERNATIONAL MEETING AND ALL PARTICIPATES MUST FOLLOW THEIR RESPECTIVE EMPLOYER/COUNTRY’S RESTRICTIONS, FOR EXAMPLE THE USA CITIZENS MUST FOLLOW ITAR.

Zoom Details are below.

AIAA Greater Huntsville Section – Public Policy Talk

Tuesday, July 8th 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM Central

Appreciating NASA’s roadmap visualizations: A source of inspiration for strategic technology and innovation management professionals
Dr. Clive Kerr
Centre for Technology Management, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Abstract
Technology roadmapping is a widespread practice across many industries. The main appeal of the approach is the visual nature of the roadmaps, which are created for the purposes of presentation and onward communication. However, it is often not so easy to develop an engaging and insightful visualization. When the question of what might good look like arises in discussions, examples produced by NASA are a primary source of inspiration. Over the decades, NASA has designed notable visual depictions and underlying representations. This talk will showcase the rich history of roadmap visualizations created by NASA and highlight unique formats, several of which are considered to be first-of-their-kind visualizations. Such examples readily offer themselves as convenient and useful templates for other organizations to adopt/adapt when developing their own roadmaps.

Biography
Dr Clive Kerr joined the Centre for Technology Management at the University of Cambridge in 2005. As a Senior Research Associate, he conducts research in the field of strategic technology management. Areas of interest include roadmapping, strategic planning, management tools/toolkits, technology intelligence, and visualizing portfolios. Prior to joining Cambridge, he was a Research Officer in Engineering Design at Cranfield University. Clive has a First Class Honours degree in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, a Diploma in Industrial Studies, a Diploma in Economics, a Postgraduate Certificate in the Social Sciences and a Doctorate in Engineering. He is a Chartered Engineer with professional memberships of the IMechE, IET, RAeS and the AIAA.
AIAA Zoom is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: NASA's Roadmap Speaker Clive Kerr, University of Cambridge
Time: Jul 8, 2025 11:30 AM Central Time (US and Canada)
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Meeting ID: 825 5442 3152

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Meeting ID: 825 5442 3152

31/05/2025

Here are the pictures from the 71st AIAA GHS Honors and Awards Banquet.

Many thanks go our to the wonderful council and members who made this a special night.

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Greater Huntsville Section (GHS) held its 71st Annual Awards Banquet at the Huntsville Botanical Gardens on the evening of May 16, 2025. Opening (and closing) remarks were given by the Section Chair, Dr. Robert W. Tramel, with awards bein...