Two Penn State aerospace engineers recently won a best paper award at a rotorcraft conference.

Jianhua Zhang, a research associate in aerospace engineering, and Edward Smith, professor of aerospace engineering and director of Penn State’s Vertical Lift Research Center of Excellence (VLRCOE), received the best paper award during the second annual Asian/Australian Rotorcraft Forum and fourth annual International Basic Research Conference on Rotorcraft Technology on Sept. 8 to 11 in Tianjin, China.

The two were honored for their paper “Influence of Aeroelasticity Tailored Wing Extensions and Winglets on Whirl Flutter Stability.”

The award is the first for either researcher and the first for a member of the VLRCOE. The work was sponsored by the National Rotorcraft Technology Center and NASA Ames Research Center.

Smith credited Ames aerospace engineer Wally Acree for the paper’s original concept.

“The idea for the project was his,” Smith said. “Wally also provides frequent and very wise feedback on our progress. He is an unsung engineering hero.”