Making Mirabib Marketable: Designing an Environmentally Sustainable Campsite in Namibia’s Namib-Naukluft Park

In Namibia’s Namib-Naukluft Park lies a remote granite inselberg, Mirabib, which provides shelter for seven isolated campsites. Mirabib’s remoteness makes managing the campsites difficult, while the combination of visitor activity and basic amenities leads to environmental damage. The goal of this project was to promote environmentally sustainable tourism at the Mirabib Campsites. From on-site observations, interviews with stakeholders, and studies of campsite best practices, we found that marketable campsites with well managed infrastructure improve visitor experience while decreasing environmental damage. Therefore, we recommended infrastructure designs, management plans, and marketing strategies to increase environmentally sustainable tourism at the Mirabib Campsites

Design and Optimization of a Micro-Aerial Vehicle

AIAA’s 2016 Design/Build/Fly Competition required the construction of two separate systems to complete distributive manufacturing missions. The team had to develop a production aircraft to carry a 1 kg payload and a manufacturing support aircraft which could carry the production aircraft internally. Aircraft designs were finalized using merit analyses and iterative design techniques to make quantitative decisions. The team selected a flying wing design for the production aircraft nested inside the wing of a conventional design manufacturing support aircraft as final configurations. The aircraft were manufactured and tested to ensure designs would complete mission requirements while maintaining the highest possible score by retaining minimal components and a low aircraft weight