Several Iowa State aeronautical engineering students have caught NASA’s attention for designing a portable wind tunnel with the purpose of teaching young students the basics of flight.

The project culminated during a visit to Washington, where NASA filmed the project for an educational series television program.

Dean Hawkinson, Brian Lund and Tim Beberness were the main participants for ISU on the project. The purpose was to build a wind tunnel with a small remote-controlled aircraft that could be used to demonstrate different flight conditions.

Hawkinson, senior in aeronautical engineering, said another purpose of the tunnel was to teach children the basics behind flight.

“The pilot sits behind the aircraft and controls the action through a modified flight yolk and rudder pedals donated by C.H. Products. We taught 30 children the basics of flight and all of them were able to spend some time flying the plane in the tunnel,” he said.

Teaching children about flight was also the reason for the recent trip to Washington, Hawkinson said.

The students involved wanted to participate in community outreach by working with NASA Connects, the outreach program of NASA, which aims at getting young people interested in the aeronautics industry, and the Science Engineering Math Academy (SEMA), a program aimed at getting inner-city students interested in such fields.

“We wanted to show teachers and students current aeronautical technology,” Hawkinson said.

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), a professional organization for members in such fields, contributed through a grant and the expertise of Lisa Bacon, representative of the organization in charge of pre-college outreach activities, he said.

The AIAA provided the necessary money for traveling expenses through its student program funds, Bacon said.

She praised the efforts of the students, faculty and administration in making the program a success.

“This is a great example of the remarkable things that students can do with support from faculty and administration,” she said.

Hawkinson and the other students involved caught national attention from the AIAA at a regional student conference in Minneapolis.

From there, they were able to present the wind tunnel to NASA and use it in a demonstration for the NASA Connect program, Bacon said.

“ISU worked with NASA’s summer camp (SEMA) and the AIAA to get an opportunity to do some community outreach,” Bacon said.

“They were able to get a lot accomplished in the three weeks prior to the event. They took the initiative to do this event and make it successful,” she said.

Hawkinson, Beberness and Lund will be recognized in August at the Johnson Space Center with another demonstration of the wind tunnel.