On April 4, 2025, longtime AIAA Atlanta activists Gene Fleeman and Aaron Harcrow and newbie Stewart Baker attended the 2025 GSEF held at the Classic Center in downtown Athens, GA. Hundreds of students had punched their ticket by winning their high school and middle school science & engineering fair competitions in the categories of:
- Life Sciences
- Medicine & Health
- Earth, Energy & Environment
- Math, Computing & Engineering
- Physical Sciences
Exhibits Front View
Exhibits Posters
Aaron brought the AIAA folding display, AIAA logo water bottles & carabiners and info about how high school students may join AIAA for free to share the message of AIAA. The KWAD I drone, developed by KSU Senior Design team and sponsored by Ultool LLC, was displayed.
AIAA Exhibit
Gene displayed many scale models of aircraft, rockets and missiles on which he had worked in his illustrious career.
Gene, Aaron and Stewart focused on recognizing projects that had particular significance to the arts and sciences of aviation and aerospace engineering and selected the following projects for awards:
FIRST PLACE JUNIOR DIVISION AWARD WINNER: $75
Andrew Beauchamp, Richards Middle School, “Optimizing Wind Energy”
SECOND PLACE JUNIOR DIVISION AWARD WINNER: $50
Maxwell Chesnut-Anne, Wadsworth Magnet School, “What Quantity of Water in Soda Bottle Rocket Gives Max. Altitude
FIRST PLACE SENIOR DIVISION AWARD WINNER: $100
Stephen Griggs, Midtown HS, Atlanta, “Sundancer: Long Endurance Solar Powered UAV for Disaster Relief”
SECOND PLACE SENIOR DIVISION AWARD WINNERS: $75
Raaga Sundar, Macintosh HS, “FDM 3D-Printed vs. Traditional AA6061 for Martian Rovers”
THIRD PLACE SENIOR DIVISION AWARD WINNER: $50
Ethan Hoellrich & Carpenter Ray, Whitewater HS, “Anti-Ice Paint: Safer & Cheaper Methods to Combat Ice on Planes”
You may view a video of the full awards presentation to the student winners at the link: https://www.gpb.org/events/education/2025/04/05/georgia-science-and-engineering-fair-awards-ceremony-2025 , with the AIAA awards presentation beginning at time stamp 18:09.
Presentation of AIAA Awards