TWO women scientists from Pune have been selected for the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) awards for this year given annually by the Department of Science and Technology.
Ruta Kale from TIFR – National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA) and Asha SK from CSIR – National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) were the awardees under the Physical and Chemical Sciences categories, respectively. The DST announced the winners on the occasion of International Day for Women and Girls in Science on Friday.
In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly announced this day for the achievement of full and equal access to and participation in science for women and girls across the globe, thus aimed at achieving gender equality and women empowerment.
TWO women scientists from Pune have been selected for the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) awards for this year given annually by the Department of Science and Technology.
Ruta Kale from TIFR – National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA) and Asha SK from CSIR – National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) were the awardees under the Physical and Chemical Sciences categories, respectively. The DST announced the winners on the occasion of International Day for Women and Girls in Science on Friday.
In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly announced this day for the achievement of full and equal access to and participation in science for women and girls across the globe, thus aimed at achieving gender equality and women empowerment.
In 2018, aerospace engineer Daniel Cuppoletti went to a conference in Los Angeles about the future of metropolitan air transportation. He arrived skeptical about the mere intent of the summit, which was run by ride-hailing company Uber.
But by the time he left, Cuppoletti saw the world in a whole new light. "I suddenly thought: there's a vision here, and it's real. It's not replacing commercial aircraft transportation, it's creating an entirely new market for something that we don't have at this moment," he said.
That new market was for short flights in piloted air taxis (sometimes known as eVTOLs) and drones to deliver medicines and other supplies. Yes, there would be issues around how urban air space is used, but Cuppoletti also saw a specific problem, one that he was uniquely poised to address as someone who studied aeroacoustics: the noise that these vehicles would make when they flew.
He began researching this issue with colleagues at the University of Cincinnati. There is one particularly thorny problem: when propellers whoosh and whir, even when they're connected to electric engines, they produce a lot of sound. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has recently reported safety, security and noise as the top three concerns for drones. Cuppoletti and his students presented their work at the Science and Technology Forum and Exposition last month in San Diego.
Thousands of noise complaints are lodged to the Federal Aviation Administration each year. The problem is especially pronounced in lower-income areas. Drones don't have the same jet engines as larger aircraft, but their systems still buzz and whir. And while the United States sees about 5,700 commercial aircraft flights each day, drones and eVTOLs could soon add thousands of daily flights in major metropolitan areas.
Think of the noise of one helicopter over your house, Cuppoletti said. Now multiply that: "Imagine having 1,000 helicopters fly over [in] one day -- they're going to get regulated out of existence."
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