Boeing

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Nov. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Boeing (NYSE: BA) and publisher Flightglobal today named Stanford University's Noel Bakhtian as the winner of the Flightglobal Achievement Awards 2011 Engineering Student of the Year Award.

The Ph.D. candidate is researching a new technology that could enable deceleration of high-mass objects that enter the Martian atmosphere and descend to the surface.

"It is such an honor to have my research efforts recognized by Boeing and Flightglobal," Bakhtian said. "I'm delighted to have received this award.  In meeting with Boeing and other global industry leaders during the Dubai Airshow, I look forward to having in-depth discussions about my research, the future of aerospace and contributions I can make as I transition to the next stages of my career."

Bakhtian's work is based on aerodynamic drag augmentation. It offers significant potential applications, including increased payloads and decreased onboard propellant loads, which could serve as a valuable contribution to the design of future supersonic and hypersonic vehicles in all atmospheres, including Earth's.

Boeing has partnered with Flightglobal to host the worldwide Engineering Student of the Year competition since 2005, in an effort to encourage students to pursue careers in aerospace-related engineering fields. The competition is open to any full- or part-time engineering student pursuing a recognized degree. The winning student's work must be judged as likely to impact the future of aerospace engineering in areas such as new or enhanced capabilities, systems, processes or tools; new levels of performance; and improved life cycle costs.

Boeing's role in the Engineering Student of the Year competition is one of the ways the company supports efforts to encourage young people to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.

"The findings made by students such as Noel demonstrate what can be accomplished when key stakeholders including industry, academia and communities work together to promote the benefits of careers in STEM fields," said John Tracy, Boeing chief technology officer and senior vice president of Engineering, Operations & Technology. "We at Boeing strongly believe that careers in these areas are rewarding because they allow people to channel their knowledge into innovations that ultimately make the world a better place."

Boeing is the world's leading aerospace company and the largest manufacturer of commercial jetliners and military aircraft combined. Additionally, Boeing designs and manufactures rotorcraft, electronic and defense systems, missiles, satellites, launch vehicles and advanced information and communication systems. As a major service provider to NASA, Boeing operated the space shuttle and serves as the prime contractor for the International Space Station. The company also provides numerous military and commercial airline support services. Boeing has customers in more than 90 countries around the world and is one of the largest U.S. exporters in terms of sales. Headquartered in Chicago, Boeing employs more than 166,000 people across the United States and in 70 countries. Total company revenues for 2010 were $64.3 billion.

Contact:
Maggie Kymn
Boeing Defense, Space & Security
Office: +1-562-797-2019
Mobile: +1-562-338-8470
maggie.j.kymn@boeing.com