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Atlanta, GA | Posted: April 3, 2014
Graduation season unofficially kicked off April 2 as the AE Class of 2014 bestowed honors and celebrated its legacy during the Senior Banquet.
AIAA executive director Dr. Sandra Magnus headlined the event, regaling her audience with equal parts warmth, wisdom, and practical advice.
"The aerospace engineering community is a small one," she told the seniors, who were packed into the Gordy Room of Wardlaw for the gala.
| Dr. Sandy Magnus, center, spent much of the evening talking with AE students and faculty, including Dr. Lakshmi Sankar, right. |
"So look around you. These are the people you are going to be going through your career with. Everybody knows everybody in aerospace."
Sigma Gamma Tau President Joseph Mattingly mc'd the event, announcing several student-generated awards from the podium.
Shane Lympany was voted by his peers to receive the 2014 Outstanding Senior Award. Lympany was lauded for his undergraduate research under the direction of both Dr. Massimo Ruzzene and Dr. Ahuja.
Quoting Lympany's nomination, Mattingly said "[Lympany] is extraordinarily intelligent and humble…[he is] a great teacher and a great friend.”
| AE senior Joseph Mattingly, left, and Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year, Dr. Mike Mello, right. |
Recognized by the Class of 2014 as the Most Outstanding Faculty Member of the year was Dr. Mike Mello.
"This year’s honoree is an incredible friend of the student," the nomination read. "Whether to help solve a problem or just to have a friendly conversation, [Mello] is always willing to speak with students and make their days just that much better...if you need help after normal business hours, you can usually find him willing to help."
The Class of 2014 also recognized the talents and ambitions of an up-and-coming classmate, Cleary Mahaffey, who was named Outstanding Sophomore.
As excited as the seniors were to be in the final leg of their Georgia Tech career, they were more enthusiastic to hear what Magnus had to say about life in the real world.
| Outstanding Senior awardee Shane Lympany, left, and SGT President Joseph Mattingly |
For Magnus, a veteran of three space missions, the real world was one that requires teamwork, leadership, and a lifelong love of learning.
"As an astronaut, you have to love academics because you will never be out of the learning mode. I had to learn how to draw my own blood, how to speak Russian. There are going to be tasks they'll ask you to do 10 years from now that we are not even considering today."
Magnus also predicted that many of the graduating senior's most arduous challenges would later be remembered more fondly.
"I call it Type II Fun: it's the kind of fun that you don't realize you're having until you're done with it. Then, it's something you can laugh about or be proud of."
Perhaps Magnus's biggest gift to the students (and AE) were two cardboard boxes, full of the flight manuals that taught her how to handle the complex systems on her three NASA missions. Stapled and clipped together like ordinary class handouts, these guides were her mainstay as a young astronaut.
"They are a part of history," she said.
The manuals are being digitized and will be accessible to the campus community later this year.
| Magnus didn't blink when one of the AE students at Wednesday night's banquet asked her to sign his laptop. |
See more photos from Magnus's visit on the GT-Aerospace Facebook page
