2011-2012 Academic Year High School Contest: Research Paper

As the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) evolves to meet the projected growth in demand for air transportation, the environmental impacts of noise and emissions are a growing concern and could limit the ability of the system to accommodate growth. Science and pre-engineering students (grades 9 - 12) are invited to submit a well-documented research paper of no more than 12 pages to demonstrate their understanding of one of the following possible solutions to the environmental impacts of aircraft noise and emissions:

· Drag reduction through laminar flow, or
· Advanced composite structural concepts for weight reduction, or
· Low NOx, fuel-flexible combustors, or
· Integration of advanced ultra high by-pass engines for noise reduction and fuel burn improvements

Students should restrict their paper to ONE of the above topics, not try to include all four. References should be cited as end notes or foot notes in the text and should be included at the end in a list of references. Students should consult with their English teacher for a recommendation on which type of citations would be appropriate. Plagiarism will not be tolerated and will automatically disqualify a paper.

For background information on the NASA environmentally responsible aviation project, visit the web site at
http://www.aeronautics.nasa.gov/isrp/era/index.htm