A core mission of the AFIT Graduate School is to conduct cutting-edge research of significance to the United States Air Force, the Department of Defense, and other U.S. government agencies. These organizations are highly encouraged to engage AFIT about possibly sponsoring research to meet their future technology needs. Sponsoring organizations often propose research topics conducive to master’s or doctoral-level graduate work. The research is typically unclassified, but AFIT does have the capability to support classified research efforts.

BENEFITS OF BEING A THESIS SPONSOR

An individual or organization who submits an idea for a thesis topic, or who otherwise endorses a student’s thesis topic, will be identified as the sponsor of the thesis if the topic proposal is selected (confidentiality may be requested). Identification as a sponsor does not necessarily imply financial sponsorship, although organizations may elect to provide direct or indirect support for a student’s thesis project. The sponsor’s organization benefits from the use of AFIT student and faculty expertise to investigate solutions to current challenges. Sponsors receive a copy of the completed thesis, and typically report cost avoidance averaging over $90,000 per thesis. Briefings and/or other products, from the research activity such as computer code or empirical models may be provided to sponsors as appropriate. In the longer term, AFIT graduates return to operational billets with an in-depth understanding of the sponsoring organization’s challenges and methods of addressing those issues.

THESIS TOPIC SUBMISSION PROCESS

If you are considering sponsoring AFIT research, you should first review departmental and faculty research areas by reading through the Research Activities Brochures or scanning the AFIT faculty “Yellow Pages” to identify potential areas of match between your requirements and AFIT capabilities. If you find a potential area for collaboration, then please contact the faculty member with related expertise directly to discuss your idea for a thesis topic. This discussion is essential because students may only select topics that are of appropriate difficulty and are sufficiently matched to faculty expertise. Thesis topic proposals are accepted continuously, but should be submitted by the fall quarter for timely consideration. Students typically select their thesis topics during the fall or winter quarter. Following topic selection, thesis research completion requires approximately 12-15 months. A formal thesis topic proposal may also be submitted by e-mail using the sample format below. For further inquiries, call DSN 785-3633 or COMM (937) 255-3633.

SAMPLE THESIS TOPIC PROPOSAL

1. PROPOSED THESIS TOPIC: Parametric Analysis of Wing/Tail Interference on Aerodynamic Missiles
2. INDIVIDUAL SPONSOR: Craig Logan, FASTC/TANW (DSN 787-2653) 4115 Hebble Creek Road Wright-Patterson AFB OH 45433-5632
3. AFIT FACULTY CONTACTED: Dr Jeffrey P. Smith, AFIT/ENY
4. BACKGROUND/PROBLEM: Experience with several aerodynamic prediction codes used by TANW has shown that the current methodology used to perform wing/tail interference predictions is lacking. The simplicity (or absence) of the empirical and analytical methods imbedded in the codes typically results in either over prediction of the interference effect or the assumption of no interference. This adversely affects the assessed CNmax, alphamax and CA delta used in the flight simulation to document performance of foreign aero weapons.
5. OBJECTIVE/APPROACH: The objective of this study would be to investigate the effects of various missile geometries and flight conditions on tail effectiveness and establish parametric descriptions of these relationships. Parameters of interest could include, but are not limited to, wingspan, tail span, horizontal separation, vertical separation, dihedral angles, angle-of-attack, control deflection, and Mach number. The resultant relationships would be used in the preliminary design process as an aid to the designer in altering program inputs to obtain improved results. In the future, they may be incorporated into the design codes themselves.
6. RESOURCE REQUIREMENTS: AFIT computer resources
7. REFERENCES: N/A