Winter 2021
Icing is one of the most significant hazards known to aircraft. When supercooled water droplets contact the aircraft, ice may formulate on the surface. When ice accretes on an airplane, it disrupts the airflow and increases drag while decreasing the airfoil’s ability to create lift, and the result can be catastrophic.
NASA has spent many decades solving problems related to ice accumulation on the wings and aircraft engines. Northwestern Aviation club is proud to welcome Dr. Judith Foss Van Zante, an icing specialist at NASA’s Glenn Research Center, to present the topic “Icing Engineering for Flight and Space Travel” on February 19 at 7 PM central time.
Dr. Judith Foss Van Zante is the Technical Lead for Icing Engineering at NASA Glenn Research Center. She is an Aerospace Engineer with 20 years’ experience, 18 of which have been in icing research. As the Tech Lead, she is in charge of the icing clouds in both of Glenn’s icing-capable facilities: the Icing Research Tunnel and the Propulsion Systems Lab.
Prior to that, she leads the team of experts who built NASA Glenn’s Icing Training Aids for pilots, including icing research pilots, icing meteorologists, ground de-icing experts, learning specialists, and pilots from ALPA and AOPA. She also enjoyed her stint as a flight test engineer on icing research flights.
Dr. Van Zante earned her Bachelor’s degree in Fluid and Thermal Sciences from Case Western Reserve University, and her Masters and Doctorate in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Southern California.