Michael Grant, joint winner, 2009 Boeing Engineering Student of the Year	Can Bayram, joint winner, 2009 Boeing Engineering Student of the Year
Joint winner: Michael Grant, Georgia Institute of Technology After graduating first in his class with a degree in aero engineering at Purdue University, Indiana in 2005, Grant moved to Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, where for his Masters research, he developed a new methodology for robotic exploration of Mars using pinpoint landing technology. "This new entry, descent and landing architecture, called Smart Divert, challenges the paradigm of Mars robotic exploration," says his tutor in his entry for the award. In 2007, while working on his masters, Grant participated in NASA's High Mass Martian Landing design competition, winning first place with his team for their design, Heavy MEDL. In his entry for the 2009 Boeing Engineering Student of the Year award ― which was judged by a panel of former senior Boeing engineers ― Michael's supervisor, Dr Robert Braun, professor of space technology and director of the Space Systems Design Laboratory, describes Grant as an extremely intelligent and enterprising young man with tremendous potential.	Joint winner: Can Bayram, Northwestern University Originally from Turkey, Bayram opted to come to Northwestern after graduating with a BSc in electrical engineering from Bilkent University in Ankara, because of the reputation of the Centre for Quantum Devices and its director, Manijeh Razeghi, "a world-leading authority" in her field, according to Bayram. "It was a great thing, a big opportunity to get this offer," he says. "But we are expected to work hard. It is very demanding. But the best bit is that from basic science we create an end product that we can show people." Bayram ― who hopes to graduate with his doctorate in 2011 ― specialises in the development of high-performance nitride optoelectric devices. His research "continues to make many significant contributions to space technology and innovation", according to Razeghi, who is Walter P Murphy professor at the Center for Quantum Devices.

Previous Winners

2008 Boeing Engineering Student of the Year

Agnes Blom, Delft University of Technology

Boeing Engineering Student of the Year 2008 Agnes Blom

The 2008 Boeing Engineering Student of the Year was Agnes Blom, the first Non-American winner and the first woman to receive this honour. She is now finishing her PhD, in aerospace engineering at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and is a researcher at Stork Fokker. Her specialty is the development of advanced, fibre-steered, variable-stiffness composite laminates and the judges felt her doctoral research in composites design and analysis applied to many areas within the aerospace industry.

Here’s what Ms Blom had to say about her experience:

“The past year has been very exciting. I have learned about some of the latest technologies, met experts and leaders in different areas of aerospace engineering, and spoken to high school students about pursuing careers in this field. As the 2008 Engineering Student of the Year, new opportunities have opened up to me and forever changed my perspectives.”

2007 Boeing Engineering Student of the Year

Kevin Lohner, Stanford University

Boeing Engineering Student of the Year 2007 Kevin Lohner

The 2007 Boeing Engineering Student of the Year winner, Kevin Lohner, has already carved out a career in the aerospace industry, specialising in the development and testing of advanced materials and components. He began his academic career at Purdue University in Indiana where he gained a Bachelor of Science in Materials Science and Engineering, and went on to Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he added a Master of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics. He holds three patents and has published several research papers. He graduated from Stanford University in California in 2008.

Here's what Mr Lohner had to say about his experience:

"Boeing has always symbolised innovation and excellence in the field of aerospace, therefore this award was such a great honour to receive. It only further encourages my passion for my research in propulsion and energy systems for manned space exploration. Receiving the award and attending the various events and festivities was truly memorable. It gave me a chance to see some of the best technologies and meet some of the most influential people in the aerospace community. By Boeing sponsoring this award to recognise young engineers with promising ideas, they are stimulating overall awareness and healthy competition to help solve the future aerospace issues affecting our world."

2006 Boeing Engineering Student of the Year

Jim Gregory, Purdue University

Boeing Engineering Student of the Year 2006 Jim Gregory

The 2006 Boeing Engineering Student of the Year winner was Jim Gregory, who was a Purdue University postgraduate when he won the award in February 2006. The award recognised Gregory’s development of a new testing technique for rapidly changing pressure through a porous pressure-sensitive paint and a new piezo-fludic actuator. Jim has since received his doctorate in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Purdue University and is currently in a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Air Force Research Laboratory.

Here’s what Dr Gregory had to say about his experience:

“It was a tremendous honour for me to receive the 2006 Boeing Engineering Student of the Year Award. The recognition afforded by this international award has facilitated my job search and enhanced my resume – it certainly attracts the attention of prospective employers. The awards reception was a fabulous evening and a wonderful opportunity to meet many leaders in aviation and aerospace. I had many fascinating conversations and networking opportunities throughout the evening. I also enjoyed attending a major international air show and seeing the new and emerging products in the aviation industry.”

When news broke in January 2009 of a US Airways Airbus A320 crashing into the Hudson river off New York, most people imagined another terrible tragedy had befallen the city. Aircraft simply did not plunge from the sky into water without significant ― usually total ― loss of life.

Shortly, however, it emerged that, rather than breaking up and sinking, the pilots had ― despite losing complete engine power after hitting birds minutes after take-off from La Guardia airport ― engineered a near-perfect landing and the crew had managed to evacuate all the passengers.

In a stroke of luck, commuter ferries gearing up for the morning rush hour were on hand to pluck everyone from rafts and the wings of the aircraft as the cabin slowly filled with freezing water. Aside from cuts and bruises, and some mild cases of hypothermia, there were no serious injuries.

© Andrew Costerton/Flightglobal Capt Sullenberger receives his award for aviator of the year from Flight International's Operations & Safety Editor David Learmount

In another piece of fortune, in command of Flight 1549 that day was one of US Airways' most experienced pilots. In his late fifties, Capt Chesley Sullenberger was a former Phantom pilot who had been named outstanding cadet in airmanship in his graduating class at the US Air Force Academy.

The native Texan was also a safety expert for the Air Line Pilots Association and had served on a number of accident inquiries. He had his own safety consultancy business in his home town in California.

However, for all his track record in the safety arena, it was quite a different matter when moments into a routine flight, he and co-pilot Jeff Skiles had to deal with a real crisis themselves.

As Sullenberger recalls in his just-published autobiography, Highest Duty, seconds before the bird strike it had been another day in the office. As the aircraft taxied for take-off he admired the stunning Manhattan skyline and looked forward to making it home from his destination in Charlotte to San Francisco in time to see his wife and young daughters before they went to sleep.

"We'd been in the air for about ninety-five seconds, and had not yet risen to 3,000 ft when I saw them," he recounts of the moment that turned an everyday journey into a potential disaster. "'Birds!' I said to Jeff."

The cockpit recorder captures not only the exchange between the two pilots but the thumps and thuds of birds hitting the aircraft ― "like the worst thunderstorm I'd ever heard back in Texas" ― and the sickening sound of engines protesting and shutting down.

"I heard the noise of the engines chewing themselves up inside, as the rapidly spinning, finely balanced machinery was being ruined, with broken blades coming loose," Sullenberger goes on.

© Sipa Press/Rex Features

From then on, Sullenberger and Skiles had to draw on every last drop of experience and ingenuity, while staying calm and taking split-second decisions. With a call of "My aircraft", the captain took control, with his co-pilot handling the emergency checklist.

"Within eight seconds of the bird strike, realising we were without engines, I knew that this was the worst aviation challenge I'd ever faced," he says. And, although later praised for his incredible calmness and coolness in the face of what seemed like the very high likelihood of a terrible accident, Sullenberger admits to being petrified: "It was the most sickening, pit-of-your-stomach, falling-through-the-floor feeling I had ever experienced."

The actions of Sullenberger and his crew were described as a miracle, courageous and heroic. While they were all these things, a modest Sullenberger puts them down to years of learning that equipped him to take the right decisions when it mattered.

"Jeff and I had met just three days before we flew Flight 1549," he says in his book. "Yet during this dire emergency - with no time to verbalise every action and discuss our situation - we communicated extraordinarily well. Thanks to our training, and our immediate observations in the moment of crisis, each of us understood the situation, knew what needed to be done, and had already begun doing our parts in an urgent yet co-operative fashion."

FINALISTS

• Jose Miguel Ceppi

Latin America's record in aviation safety has been patchy, but Jose Miguel Ceppi has done much to improve things. As head of the Latin American Regional Cooperation System for Safety Oversight until July, Ceppi spearheaded a process to harmonise regulations and inspection manuals among the region's states. The work has also spawned seminars, courses and conferences, which, according to a colleague who has worked with the former International Civil Aviation Organisation South American regional office director, will "contribute significantly to safety in the region". Ceppi, he maintains, approached the task with "great dedication and knowledge".

• Iren Dornier

He may have inherited one of the most famous surnames in the industry, but Iren Dornier is a highly successful aviator and enterpreneur in his own right. A grandson of German aircraft pioneer Dr Claude Dornier, he is a flight instructor and pilot imbued with a love of aviation. His projects include a new range of seaplanes, including the soon-to-be certificated single-engined S-Ray 007, based on a 1921 Dornier design. He runs Philippines amphibious airline Seair, owns watch and fashion brands, and has since 2004 visited 90 countries in a restored 1944 Dornier 24 to raise awareness of UNICEF education projects.

• Ruedi Hafen

The man who plunged over the Niagara Falls on the US-Canada border in March did not want to be saved, but local helicopter pilot Ruedi Hafen refused to give up. Following up an emergency call in March 2009, Hafen ― founder of tourist flight operator Niagara Helicopters ― hovered his Bell 407 over the drowning man, so a police officer could attach a sling to his arm. When the would-be suicide resisted, Hafen used the aircraft's downdraft to push the man safely to shore. Swiss-born Hafen ― who has taken Niagara Helicopters to $6 million revenues in 20 years ― was praised in media coverage for his courage, quick-thinking and airmanship.

Sir Richard Branson has never been afraid of a challenge. The high-profile British billionaire ― who started his first business venture as a schoolboy ― launched his airline Virgin Atlantic in the face of scorn from its rival British Airways and then a concerted attempt to force the usurper on its lucrative transatlantic routes out of the skies. By the 1990s it had become one of the most admired long-haul carriers in the world.

Branson's sprawling interests today include everything from personal finance to trains, hotels, mobile communications, fuels and soft drinks. Many of the businesses are joint ventures, with Branson in effect licensing his world-famous brand and his skills for self-publicity. An ideas man and strategist, rather than a micro-manager, he tends to entrust the day-to-day running of his concerns to lieutenants.

© Virgin Galactic

However, one business especially close to his heart is Virgin Galactic. Branson is determined to bring suborbital space travel if not to the masses, then at least to wealthy adventurers. Although the Russians began offering trips into space 10 years ago, with American Dennis Tito the first "civilian" to visit the International Space Station in 2001, this has only been open to the super-rich. Branson is offering 2h trips on his rocket, SpaceShipTwo for just $200,000, offering a free-floating, out of seat zero g experience and "out of this world" views of the Earth at an apogee of 110km (68 miles) for not much more than people might pay for a state room on a luxury cruise or chartering a Boeing Business Jet.

So far, Virgin Galactic has received about 300 deposits and hopes to be begin the service within two years of the first SpaceShipTwo test flight at the company's spaceport in New Mexico planned around the turn of the year. WhiteKnight Two ― the double-hulled, all-composite "mothership" that will carry the business jet-sized rocket into suborbit ― is currently in flight test and made its public flying debut at the EAA AirVenture show at Oshkosh in August, carrying a flight-suited Branson.

Virgin Galactic has its origins in SpaceShipOne, a concept developed by Scaled Composites founder Burt Rutan and funded by Microsoft founder Paul Allen that won the Ansari X prize in 2004 and flew into space three times that year. Branson had registered the Virgin Galactic brand back in the late 1990s with a vision to one day develop a "spaceline". Branson and Rutan teamed up to form the SpaceShip Company ― which was contracted to build three WhiteKnight Twos and five SpaceShipTwos.

The WhiteKnight Two carrier ship releases SpaceShipTwo at around 50,000ft and the six-passenger rocket flow by two pilots then continues its trip under its own power.

Also at Oshkosh, Branson signed a $280 million deal with Abu Dhabi investment company Aabar that will give it a 32% stake in Virgin Galactic and fund the development of a satellite-carrying capability on WhiteKnight Two. Virgin Galactic expects that eventually half its revenues will come from cargo and the scientific community.

Speaking after his flight, Branson said: "This has been one of the most incredible experiences of my life. It's a beautiful aircraft to fly and its incredibly light carbon construction and efficient design points the way to a much brighter future for commercial aviation as well as the industrial revolution in space which I believe our entire space launch system heralds."

© Virgin Galactic

Branson follows a tradition of dashing English adventurers in the mould of the early aviators, who funded their own projects and by force of personality generated publicity. But while many of them were from monied families, Branson is, despite his genius at hype and laidback, long-haired appearance, a hard-nosed businessman with a knack for making the right investments.

Although his Virgin Galactic venture is rooted in romanticism about taking aviation to a new level, Branson firmly believes that this will be a highly profitable business carrying as many as 50,000 passengers in its first decade of operation, and changing these space tourists' view of the world forever.

FINALISTS

• Airbus ROW/ROP team

The Airbus A380 development programme spawned several spin-offs, one of the most important a runway overrun prevention system ― known as ROW/ROP and now undergoing certification. It allows a crew, once they know the runway they will be landing on, to pre-select an exit and minimise time spent on the runway. ROW/ROP uses satellite navigation and a terrain database to provide real-time knowledge of the aircraft position and brake automatically. Airbus experimental test pilot Capt Armand Jacob says the system is invaluable when visibility is limited or when undertaking land-and-hold-short operations.

• Gary Scott

Bombardier's commercial aircraft president has had to battle scepticism from rivals and analysts, internal hurdles and a global financial crisis to launch the Canadian manufacturer into the mainline airline market with the 110-to 130-seat CSeries family. With confirmed orders earlier this year from Lufthansa and Irish lessor LCI, the Pratt & Whitney PW1000G-powered CSeries ― which will enter service in 2013 ― will be the first aircraft in many years to compete with the lower end of the Airbus and Boeing product range. Downturn notwithstanding, Scott is sure Bombardier can secure further orders this year.

• Bob Saia's Pratt & Whitney PurePower team

The development team headed by Bob Saia flew a demonstrator of P&W's newest product the PW1000G geared turbofan for the first time in 2008. The powerplant, selected by Bombardier and Mitsubishi for their next-generation airliners and due to enter service in 2013, uses a reduction gearbox to disconnect fan from turbine. This allows each component to turn at optimum speed. Because the small turbine can revolve quickly while driving a much larger fan slowly, this delivers "dramatic decreases in fuel consumption and emissions" with fuel burn cut by more than 15%.

Bob Mitchell has been called the father of the Global Hawk, but the world's first high-altitude, long-endurance autonomous unmanned air vehicle is just one of a series of unmanned technologies the vice―president of Northrop Grumman's Aerospace Systems business has helped bring to reality.

The president of Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical before its acquisition 10 years ago by Northrop Grumman, Mitchell led the team that developed the Global Hawk, the most iconic and now battle-proven UAV. He later brought it to market ― along with the Fire Scout helicopter-based vertical take-off and landing UAV ― at his new employer.

© Northrop Grumman

His enormous contribution to the development of unmanned systems "goes beyond just a focus", enthuses a colleague: "It is a vision for bringing unmanned systems to the mainstream." The widespread respect he commands among his colleagues and the wider aerospace community is the reason Mitchell won the popular vote for Leader of the Year in the Flightglobal Achievement Awards, presented at the show last night. He beat off stiff competition from Akbar Al Baker of Qatar Airways, Dr Mark Pierotti of Abu Dhabi business aviation start-up Al Jaber Aviation and Rolls-Royce chief executive Sir John Rose.

Back in the 1990s - before 9/11 and the so-called war on terror - UAVs were still very much seen as a technology of the future, at least as far as the US military and industry were concerned. Although Ryan had pioneered UAVs with the Firebee KDA-1 back in the 1950s, and the Vietnam era had seen further developments, UAVs were not seen as a priority at a time when the Pentagon focus was on Cold War stealth fighters and long-range bombers and spyplanes.

The technology came back into vogue in the 1990s with the end of the Cold War and a new emphasis on the sort of threats that began to emerge from parts of the Middle East and campaigns such as the NATO action against Serbia. The Israelis had long been successful exponents of the technology, and the US government and its various agencies began to fast-track funding for developments. One such competition led to Global Hawk, which beat off competition from the Lockheed Martin/Boeing Darkstar to win a Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency contract.

© Northrop Grumman

Since its first overseas contingency operation in Afghanistan in 2001, Global Hawk has now logged over 31,000 flight hours for the US Air Force and US Navy, with more than three-quarters of them ― more than 1,100 missions ― in theatre. Able to fly at altitudes of more than 60,000ft for more than 32h, the UAV can image an area the size of the state of Illinois in one mission.

Mitchell also led the team that developed the MQ-8 Firescout from a Schweizer helicopter design, turning it into an operational system and offering it to the US Navy virtually as an off-the-shelf product aimed at providing mine detection and surveillance from ships.

The Flightglobal Leader of the Year award is not the only accolade Mitchell has won this year. In August, the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) recognised his "pivotal role in the advancement of unmanned systems", honouring him with the Al Aube Outstanding Contributor Award in recognition of his "visionary leadership and dedication towards the promotion and execution of unmanned technologies".

At August's award ceremony, AUVSI Foundation executive director Daryl Davidson paid tribute to his achievements: "His contributions go beyond just a focus, it is a vision shared across the industry for bringing unmanned systems into the mainstream. For all intents and purposes, Mitchell is the founding father of Northrop Grumman's core competencies in the technology leadership in developing unmanned systems. His knowledge, vision and experience have been used on a multitude of captures and campaigns."

Recognition indeed for the man who helped transform the way the US military fights its wars and propelled a technology that had its sceptics as an effective combat tool into the mainstream.

FINALISTS

• Akbar Al Baker

He may be one of the few airline bosses still buying aircraft, but executives from Seattle and Toulouse upset Akbar Al Baker at their peril. The Qatar Airways chief executive made headlines at the Paris air show in June with an order for 24 A320s and an uncompromising warning to Boeing that he would "walk away" from a 60-aircraft 787 order if the manufacturer did not resolve delivery issues. The forthrightness is typical of Al Baker, who with determination, vision and leadership skills has overseen the growth of a tiny Gulf flag carrier to a global brand that sets the bar in customer service and has helped put Qatar on the map.

• Mark Pierotti

The Gulf region has seen a flurry of business aviation start-ups, but one of the most prestigious and promising is AJA Private Jets, part of the Abu Dhabi-based Al Jaber industrial group. Chief operating officer Dr Mark Pierotti has spearheaded the venture, which launched commercial services in June with an Embraer Legacy 600 flight to Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt and Paris. With 20 more aircraft on order, comprising A318 and A319-based Airbus corporate jets and Embraer Lineages and Legacys, Pierotti has steered a business plan that has taken account of the downturn and included diversification into support services such as third-party maintenance.

• Sir John Rose

As he approaches retirement after 13 years as Rolls-Royce chief executive, Sir John Rose will hand his successor a rock-solid business, with an enviable product line-up spearheaded by the Trent family, healthy diversification between its commercial and defence divisions and half its revenues coming from services. The UK engine maker continued its robust financial performance in the first half of 2009, with a record orderbook and increased profits and turnover. Although the first R-R boss who is not an engineer (his background is aircraft finance), Rose has enthusiastically lobbied the UK government to do more to promote engineering careers to youngsters.