NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

By: Jim Hodges

Theory became reality Monday and Tuesday when 12 graduate engineering students for Polytechnic University of Turin, Italy, visited NASA Langley. For many, it was like a textbook coming to life.

"They've been looking at different aerospace activities," said Alex Tessler, who works in Structures and Materials on the center, and who is returning a favor after spending time doing research in Turin in 2004 after winning a NASA Floyd Thompson Fellowship.

"It's a wonderful opportunity to expose them to how things are done in the real world," said Tessler. "The classroom offers a limited viewpoint."

Steve Jurczyk (left) gave 12 graduate engineering students visiting from Polytechnic University in Turin, Italy, an overview of NASA Langley. They were accompanied by Alex Tessler (right), who studied at Turin and works in Structures and Materials. Credit: NASA/Sean Smith

Click image to enlarge

The students spent Monday touring the Hangar, the Gantry, the Antenna Chamber, the 25-foot Spin Tunnel and the National Transonic Facility, in addition to viewing some exploration flight test hardware.

"It was very cool," said Veronika Paola Coluccia, a graduate student at Turin from Bari, in Southern Italy. "We study so much stuff at the university, but we've never had the possibility of looking at what we are studying. So the Spin Tunnel or learning the shape of structures or models, it's interesting. Wind tunnels, I never saw one actually before today. We have one, but not as big or cold compared to (the National Transonic Facility at Langley).

"Finally I get what I'm doing. I understand what I'll be doing in the future. Well, I don't exactly know what I will do, but I have an idea of what I will be working on."

Colluccia will return to the U.S. later in the year to study at the University of Colorado.

On Tuesday, the group got some technical presentations in the morning and spent some of the afternoon in the Structures and Materials Lab, where Tessler held forth. Most of the students visiting Langley are studying structures and materials at Turin.

The students are members of the Aerospace Engineering Association at the university, which is considered Italy's best in the field and one of the top 100 schools in the world. It was established in 1859.

But research facilities are limited in Italy.

"In Italy, we do not have such a facility as this," said Marco Maspoli, from Turin. "Not altogether. We do have a wind tunnel, but not a wind tunnel with such laboratories around it like this.

"Here we had the opportunity to see space systems, aerodynamics, wind tunnels, everything."

The visit was part of a 12-day tour that began in New York and included Washington. The Turin group is part of a 31-city, 17-country European Association of Aerospace Students founded in 1959.

Langley provided an interpreter – Vicenzo Le Boffe, who works in Aeronautics Systems Engineering – but most of the students spoke at least some English.

That was good because "I only know the technical terms in English," Le Boffe said.

English is becoming the universal language, particularly in technology.

Maspoli finishes his masters degree in October and eventually would like to complete his doctorate. Where? "Quite obviously, in the United States," he said, seemingly surprised at the question.

Besides the facilities, the students were impressed with the people they met. "Everybody welcomed us very kindly here today," said Maspoli. "Unfortunately the visit will last only two days. But from what we have seen, it's a great opportunity."

Part of that opportunity was to observe Americans on their own terms. About half of the students had never been to the U.S., Tessler said.

"I think any additional exposure to different cultures, different technical skills, different living situations, any of this exposure is better if it is first-hand exposure," he added. "It's better than learning of these things through just a newspaper."


 
NASA Langley Research Center
Managing Editor: Jim Hodges
Executive Editor and Responsible NASA Official: H. Keith Henry
Editor and Curator: Denise Lineberry