Once again the Maestro group had a strong presence at the SciTech conference, the biggest aerospace conference in the US with more than 4200 participants and 2000 technical papers. Representing the lab, PhD student Pedro Leal and Dr. Darren Hartl presented four technical papers related to the avian-inspired and EVA glove projects (all papers are listed below). [Read more…] about MAESTRO Team Attends AIAA SciTech in Orlando
Volleyball Extravaganza 2017 a Success
As a means off blowing end-of-the-semester stress, the MAESTRO Team gathered at casa de Hartl for another round of morale building and pride crushing volleyball. A full 20 players participated in the four-team round-robin competition. In the end, the “Slat Cove Winners” (Scholten, Patterson, White, Garza, and French visiting student Thomas Thollot) and “HRBB Fully Loaded” (Brazilian visiting student Bia Borges, Pedro Savi, Hartl, Cabezuela, and Alyssa Saenz) tied with three wins and one loss each. A Wiffle Ball game followed, with Hartl (pitcher) learning that some students neglect to mention that they were high school baseball players on their resumés. The evening concluded with a Secret Santa gift exchange organized by Patrick Walgren.
For more pictures, see the Recreation page.
Hartl and Collaborators Featured in WIRED Article on Shape Memory Alloys
You know you are reading a WIRED article when it begins: “HUMANITY MAY BE divided on a great many issues, but most would agree that it would be very cool to have airplane wings made of shapeshifting metal.” Along with collaborators Jim Mabe (Boeing Research and Technology) and Othmane Benafan (NASA-Glenn Research Center), Dr. Hartl was fortunate to work with a good science and technology reporter to summarize some of the most important work currently happening in shape memory alloys.
Read the entire article HERE.
MAESTRO and TEES Work with Siemens to Advance Electric Aviation
This fall, researchers from the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University teamed up with Siemens to develop manned aircraft completely powered by electric propulsion systems. [Read more…] about MAESTRO and TEES Work with Siemens to Advance Electric Aviation
Hartl and Scholten Invited to Share Their Work at International CFD Software User’s Conference in Tokyo

Hart’s talk summarized the current use of Cradle’s SC/Tetra software to assess FSI of SMA components
Dr. Hartl and graduate student William Scholten were invited to present their research on the fluid-structure interaction analysis of the SMA-based Slat Cove Filler at the Cradle User’s Conference in Tokyo, Japan. [Read more…] about Hartl and Scholten Invited to Share Their Work at International CFD Software User’s Conference in Tokyo
MAESTRO Lab recognized at 2017 Aerospace Engineering Awards Banquet
On April 6, 2017 the Texas A&M Aerospace Engineering held their Annual Awards Banquet. The MAESTRO Lab has had a very productive year and received the following recognitions at the event. [Read more…] about MAESTRO Lab recognized at 2017 Aerospace Engineering Awards Banquet
Hartl Wins New NSF Grant on Embedded Sensory Particles
Most of us take flying in an airplane for granted. We book our tickets, sit through the long check-in lines, and if we’re lucky, take off on time to our chosen destination. Day in and day out we do this without any regard to the age and health of the airplane we’re flying on.
[Read more…] about Hartl Wins New NSF Grant on Embedded Sensory Particles
MAESTRO Student Interning at NASA, Mapping Mars in Virtual Reality
Ask any 10-year-old what they want to be when they grow up, and chances are “an astronaut” is likely near the top of their list. For Michayal Mathew, a junior in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University, that dream never faded with time. Spending much of his childhood in League City, Texas, Mathew visited Johnson Space Center so many times he memorized each exhibit, acting as his own tour guide. This summer he is one step closer to fulfilling his dream of one day going to space — at least virtually.
[Read more…] about MAESTRO Student Interning at NASA, Mapping Mars in Virtual Reality
Leo Wood Meets with NASA-Glenn Deputy Director
During the course of his internship under Dr. Othmane Benafan at NASA’s Glenn Research Center, MAESTRO Lab member Leo Wood presented his research on Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) solutions for thermal management in electric aircraft to Dr. Marla E. Pérez-Davis, Deputy Director of NASA Glenn.
[Read more…] about Leo Wood Meets with NASA-Glenn Deputy Director
MAESTRO Undergraduates Win Student Design Competition
Two Aerospace Engineering undergraduate students, Madalyn Mikkelsen and Elise Koock, recently had the opportunity to travel to the 2017 Shape Memory and Superelastic Technologies (SMST) conference in San Diego, CA to compete in the 2nd Annual Consortium for the Advancement of Shape Memory Alloy Research and Technology (CASMART) student design competition. [Read more…] about MAESTRO Undergraduates Win Student Design Competition