{"id":55086,"date":"2026-04-23T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/?p=55086"},"modified":"2026-04-23T17:39:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T22:39:28","slug":"student-team-from-tarleton-state-takes-1st-place-at-aiaa-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/student-team-from-tarleton-state-takes-1st-place-at-aiaa-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Team From Tarleton State Takes 1st \u00a0Place at AIAA Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014 A student team from Tarleton State University took first place and a $500 prize in the undergraduate team category of the recent American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Region IV Student Conference in Houston. The win advances them to compete in the AIAA Foundation International Student Conference during the AIAA SciTech Forum Jan. 11-15, 2027, in Orlando, Fla.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Three
Tarleton State AIAA team members Ruben Ooms, Austin Eckert and Ashlan Benson presented their winning paper, \u201cFree-Space Optical Communications with Liquid Crystal Spatial Light Modulators for Hypersonic and Re-entry Vehicles,\u201d at the Region IV Student Conference in Houston.<\/em> The win advances them to compete in the AIAA Foundation International Student Conference.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Team members Ashlan Benson, Austin Eckert and Ruben Ooms competed against students from Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their winning paper, titled \u201cFSO Optical Communications with Liquid Crystal Spatial Light Modulators for Hypersonic and Re-entry Vehicles,\u201d explored how to correct signal disruptions that occur when a laser communication beam passes through the electrically charged air surrounding a high-speed or re-entering (an atmosphere) vehicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benson explained that their experiment is a short-range demonstrator to determine how well a spatial light moderator can correct and direct its beam compared to traditional mechanical methods. The project was created as a simpler, no-moving-parts replacement for the complicated mechanical systems used in laser communications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe picked this research topic since laser communications show strong potential to enable reliable and secure communications with hypersonic and re-entry vehicles,\u201d Benson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tarleton State AIAA team has presented at previous conferences, but this was their first time to win or place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Rafael Landaeta, Dean of the Mayfield College of Engineering, said the project was the culmination of over a year of research and testing performed by the university\u2019s student-led Hypersonic and Satellite Sensing Laboratory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis win is the result of the hard work and dedication of our students at the Mayfield College of Engineering,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve focused our research on being relevant to emerging and complex problems in hypersonics re-entry communications and tracking. This provides our students with hands-on experience designing and working with laser communications and IR sensors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The students\u2019 research efforts have been funded and guided by a joint NASA\/UNP program, and they\u2019re currently being advised by industry and government agency partners, as well as Tarleton State faculty, Dr. Landaeta added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benson said the win demonstrates that Tarleton State\u2019s aerospace research and approach to a complex problem has strong potential applications and can stand at the same level as work done at R1 universities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe’re hugely appreciative of this honor from AIAA since it recognizes the time and effort that we’ve put into making this research novel and applicable to complex, real-world problems in hypersonics,\u201d Benson said. \u201cI want to give the credit for this achievement to my teammates, Austin Eckert and Ruben Ooms. Dr. Christopher Marble has also been invaluable while conducting this research; we couldn’t have done it without him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014 A student team from Tarleton State University took first place and a $500 prize in the undergraduate team category of the recent American Institute of Aeronautics and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":473,"featured_media":55097,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":382,"footnotes":""},"categories":[382,423,421,426,427],"tags":[452],"class_list":["post-55086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepage","category-academics-research","category-featuredstories","category-honors-achievements","category-science-health","tag-mayfield-college-of-engineering"],"acf":{"image":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"ehellmund@tarleton.edu","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/author\/ehellmundtarleton-edu\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2026\/04\/AIAA-Conference-300x200.png","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["_Homepage<\/a>","Academics & Research<\/a>","Featured Stories<\/a>","Honors & Achievements<\/a>","Science & Health<\/a>"],"unlinked":["_Homepage<\/span>","Academics & Research<\/span>","Featured Stories<\/span>","Honors & Achievements<\/span>","Science & Health<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["Mayfield College of Engineering<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Mayfield College of Engineering<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 11 hours ago","modified":"Updated 10 hours ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on April 23, 2026","modified":"Updated on April 23, 2026"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on April 23, 2026 4:00 pm","modified":"Updated on April 23, 2026 5:39 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/473"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55086"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55099,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55086\/revisions\/55099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}