THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF AERONAUTICS AND ASTRONAUTICS (AIAA)

As part of the university's first Aero Day, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics headquarters have kindly offered to sponsor a trip for a distinguished lecturer.  This year, we invited Dr Susan X Ying from Shanghai, to come to the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology to deliver a presentation about the future of aviation.

 

Date: 24 February 2015

Time: 18:00 - 19:45 (tentative)

Location: LT-F (click here for directions)

Sign up:  Please click here to signup for this event

Note: this event is open to the public.  Should you be interested in joining this event, please click here to sign up.  This will be used to gauge the number of people interested.

 

 

About the speaker - Dr Susan X. Ying

With 30 years of experience in the aerospace industry, Dr. Ying is now the Chief Integration Officer of the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC).  In 2013, she retired from the Boeing Company as the Director of Research and Technology, where engineers provide innovative solutions to address a number of unique aerospace problems for today and tomorrow’s products and services. Before joining Boeing, Ying taught at universities and directed research in the DOE Research Labs and NASA Ames Research Center.  Dr. Ying is a Fellow of the AIAA and VP-International serving on the Board of Directors. She also served in the NASA Advisory Council Innovation and Technology Committee.  She is the Program Committee Chair and Executive Committee member in the International Council of Aeronautical Science (ICAS).  Dr. Ying holds a Commercial Pilot License and is a FAA-Certified Flight Instructor. She received her PHD in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University and BS in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Cornell University.  As a true believer in life-long learning, Dr. Ying has also taken executive education courses from the Kellogg School of Business Administration, Wharton Business School, and Brookings Institute in Brussels. 

 

 

Abstract

New large airplane companies need to compete with Airbus and Boeing to succeed in the commercial aviation marketplace.  These new companies face tremendous challenges on many fronts, because airplanes are the most complex systems in today’s commercial transportation industry.  Safety, reliability, and maintainability requirements that are essential in developing a new large airplane demand the most stringent design, manufacturing, and test processes.  Both Airbus and Boeing have decades of experience with these processes and have demonstrated successes in improving their products’ performance and efficiency.  Their successes have been enabled largely by strategic investment in product development and insertion of novel technologies.  New competitors in commercial aviation must carefully adopt innovative and potentially disruptive technologies while managing the associated risks. The reward for success in these initiatives will lead to leapfrog existing products and become a relevant contender in commercial aviation industry.  This presentation will provide some examples of technology insertion rewards and challenges (e.g., 3D-printing and partially autonomous systems) that will become essential for future success.