AIAA SF, P.O. Box 1548, Mountain View, CA 94042-1548

History of the Annual AIAA-SF Essay Contest

Each year AIAA-SF chooses a topic related to aeronautics and aerospace, and area 7th and 8th graders submit essays. Past topics and winners are listed below. Click on the topic to see winning entries when available. Due to lapses in our record-keeping, some winners may be missing below. If anyone would like to fill in such gaps, please contact Samantha Infeld precollege@aiaa-sf.org.

2011: Propose a space mission using a CubeSat
With support from the AIAA Space Systems Technical Committee
7th Grade

1. Scott Liu, Crocker Middle School

8th Grade

1. Jason Ma, Orchard School
2. Dylan Law, Orchard School
3. Diana Hoang, Orchard School

2010: Next stop for human space exploration — a lunar base, near-Earth asteroid, or Mars?
With support from the AIAA Space Systems Technical Committee
7th Grade

1. Maya Josyula, Cupertino Middle School
2. Sandeep Singh, Orchard School

8th Grade

1. Brandon Liu, Crocker Middle School
2. Brandon Yan, Crocker Middle School

2009: How important is international cooperation for the growth of space exploration?
7th Grade

1. Primus Lam
2. Aishwarya Aravind
3. Fujia Luo

1. Isaac Lam
2. Clair Floyd
3. Minhtri Chiu

2008: If Space is the answer, what is the question?
7th grade

1. Kevin Wu
2. Ye Seong Lee

1. Saumya Singhal
2. Cindy Luong
3. James Thi
4. Anjali Menon

2007: How big can passenger airplanes get, and what will they look like?

1. Miranda Swineford
2. Charlotte Swenson
3. Angela Amarosa

2006: What steps can be taken to protect the earth from a major asteroid impact?
7th grade

1. Sameen Karim
2. Aditya Majumdar
3. Pablo Ali Alba

1. Armeen Ghafourpour
2. Justine Yan
3. Anjali Menon

2005: With the success of SpaceShipOne, space tourism may be just around the corner. Where would you go, and what would you do?
7th grade

1. Yehyang Kim
2. Ty Holzschuh
3. Tiffany Ng

1. Kelsey Fiance
2. Aaron Garg
3. Brian Tang

2004: Should we send humans to Mars?
7th grade

1. Jocelyn Qian
2. Nathan Gad
3. Jarrett Hornbostel

1. Hillary Wagner
2. Steven Nahmias
3. Vincent Sheu

2003: What will be the new developments of flight in the next 100 years?
7th grade

1. Lewis Geist
2. Chase Wilson
3. Noah Frank

1. Amit Arunkumar
2. Rebecca Johnson
3. Emily Jones

2002: Where should we go next in the solar system, and why?
7th grade

1. Hillary Struthers
2. Shenho Hshieh
3. Alex Yee

1. Mariana Lo
2. Christina Homer
3. Anya Radanovich

2001: What should we do in Space?
7th grade

1. Sandy Connery
2. Jeff Singer
3. Kimberly Hwe

1. Lauren Sun
2. Christine Yen
3. Meg Stegens

2000: How would your life be different if there were no satellites?
7th grade

1. Joshua Leighton
2. Christine Yen

1. Miri Yeh
2. Alan Cheng

1999: As a Settler on the Moon in the Year 2029, What Will the Moon Be Like?

1998: Benefits of the International Space Station
7th grade

1. Jessica Lee Mathiason
2. Robert Chang
3. Jayodita Sanghvi
4. Brian Doe
5. Jessica DeStigter

1. Grace Chai
2. Ellen Tsui
3. Olivia Tien
4. Feng Tao Ning
5. Brian Nguyen