Media Contacts:
Dr. Richard J. Spontak, 919/515-4200
Paul K. Mueller, News Services, 919/515-3470

Feb. 18, 2003

Wings of Paper Will Loft Students’ Project at Kitty Hawk

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Combining three research specialties of North Carolina State University – pulp and paper science, chemical engineering, and aerospace engineering – six NC State students who call themselves Team AeroPack are building a hang glider with paper wings, and they hope to soar to first place in the 2003 Energy Challenge on April 5 near Kitty Hawk, N.C.

They will compete against teams from nine other universities as they hang glide their paper-winged craft from atop an 80-foot dune at Nags Head. Their flight is the final portion of a national competition that encourages students to design and build full-scale projects out of paper products.

According to their faculty sponsor, Dr. Richard J. Spontak, professor of chemical engineering and materials science and engineering at NC State, the team is focused and eager to compete. “This competition helps commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers’ pioneering flight,” he said. “Because that historic flight took place at Kitty Hawk, the students want to prove that ‘this is our state, and we’re going to win.’”

Helping them to compete successfully, said Spontak, is “tremendous support” from the different departments involved. “The technical assistance we’ve received thus far from people like Dr. Joel J. Pawlak and Christy Yochelson of the Department of Wood and Paper Science has been crucial to the success of the project,” he said. “It’s truly multidisciplinary, and happens to involve some fields in which NC State is prominent.”

Students Daphne Wang, Jody Moss, Trey Hathaway and Josh McCall are chemical engineering majors; Bryan Ransom is majoring in pulp and paper science; and Sarah Mertens – who’ll fly the glider – is, appropriately, an aerospace engineering major.

Energy Challenge 2003 is principally sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy through the Institute of Paper Science and Technology (at the Georgia Institute of Technology), whose goals are to increase interest in science and engineering and promote awareness of energy efficiency, recycling, and pulp and paper industrial processes. Student teams from the 10 participating universities work with a $2,000 start-up grant and have eight months to complete their projects.

The NC State team is competing against students from Western Michigan University, the Spartan School of Aeronautics, the Georgia Institute of Technology, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Miami University, the University of Maine, Temple University, the University of Central Florida and the Savannah College of Art and Design. All teams are provided identical lightweight hang glider frames, and will compete in developing and constructing the craft’s paper wings.

Last year, NC State teams from the departments of chemical engineering and wood and paper science finished second and third, respectively, in the race component of the Energy Challenge’s paper-sailboard competition.

According to Wang, the students – all seniors – are enjoying the challenge and are “thriving on the competition and the need to learn new skills.” Ransom, the pulp and paper science major, says the team has already tested several kinds of paper for tensile strength, tear resistance and water resistance. “The true challenge,” Ransom explains, “will be balancing these properties in order to create a highly competitive sail.” A key goal, says Moss, “is to recycle the paper wings after the competition. The craft will also be judged on gross weight, conformance to required sail area, aesthetics and novelty of design.”

Mertens, the team’s chosen pilot, will be certified by the United States Hang Gliding Association before flight, and all teams will complete a weeklong hang-gliding rating course directed by Kitty Hawk Kites Inc.

Beyond state and school pride, say McCall and Hathaway, they’re also competing for the first-place prize of $15,000 – as well as the chance to pick up some extra academic credit. They believe they have the right mix of disciplines and personalities to succeed. “The diversity of this team is our strength,” they say, and that kind of confidence should serve them well when their glider’s paper wings take on the swirling sea breezes near Kitty Hawk.

- mueller -