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SOAR January Newsletter + Events

Emily Ho - Tuesday, January 20

General Events Must Read

SOAR Newsletter

JAN 2026

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Eboard & Lead List

Every organization needs a team to keep everything organized and running smoothly. SOAR is no exception, and our Eboard and Leads do a fabulous job to help SOAR thrive! Meet our Eboard and Leads for the 2025-2026 Academic Year below:

SOAR Eboard President: Kyle Shum Vice President: Emily Ho Chief of Finance: Matthew Messing Chief of Marketing: Sage Bundhund Chief Operations Officer: Joshua Garcia IREC Chief Engineer: Cesar Briones Torito Chief Engineer: Drew Brickell Secretary: Conner Schilaty	IREC Team Chief Engineer: Cesar Briones Program Manager: Pavan Moturi Airbrakes Mechanical Lead: Duc Nguyen Airbrakes EE/CS Lead: Chris Fernandez Aerostructures Lead: Ninh Vu Payload Mechanical Lead: Cooper Kenney Payload EE/CS Lead: Chiara Deangelis Telemetry Lead: Alan Guyster Recovery / Flight Dynamics: Sama Ahmed Safety Officer: Khoi Ton	Torito Team Chief Engineer: Drew Brickell Program Manager: Krystal Walford Data Acquisition Lead: Marwan Abdelwahab Test Stand Lead: Joshua Hachmeister Fluids Lead: Ramy Ismal, Drew Kralovance Fire Suppression Lead: Riley Birkley Ground Station Control EECS: Ethan Zylman Ground Station Control Mechanical: Alessandro Martinez
	Marketing Chief of Marketing: Sage Bundhund Marketing Officer: Hunter Hawkins Public Relations: Jayce Williams Public Relations: Conner Schilaty Multimedia Officer: Janna Abdelghani Multimedia Officer: Angel Hernandez Web Developer: Daniel Misherky	Operations Chief of Operations: Joshua Garcia Fundraising Chair: Valeria Melendez Outreach Chair: Shreya Bhatt Logistics Chair: Luiza Ferauche

Upcoming Events

EVENT

SOAR All-Hands GBM

Tuesday, January 20
7:00pm - 9:00pm

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Join SOAR for our first event of the semester where you can learn about each of our projects, discover where your skills fit best, and see how you can contribute this year. All majors and experience levels are welcome. This is the first opportunity of the year to connect and grow with SOAR! With all hands on deck, the sky is not the limit.

🗓️️ Tuesday, January 20th
⌚ 7:00 PM
📍 Hall of Flags (ENB)

*Location maybe subject to changes.

RSVP

IREC Updates

We have been selected for 2026 IREC! Currently, undergoing Progress Report 2 in our competition. This wouldn’t have been possible without our talented and hardworking leads and members. Let’s keep the mission going and the countdown to launch day moving.

To get more involved with IREC and be prepared, check out the following resources:

Chief Engineer Cesar Briones	Progress Updates: • Setting up Epsilon3 Sponsorship Upcoming Tasks: • Learn Epsilon3
Payload Mechanical Cooper Kenney	Progress Updates: • Waiting for motors and aluminum to arrive Upcoming Tasks: • Finalize payload for assembly • Finish rover design • Finish Cubesat and mill out of aluminum
Payload EECS Chiara Deangelis	Progress Updates: • Order filter for IR camera • Order Ultrasonic or LiDAR sensor • Started flowchart for whole system Upcoming Tasks: • Test final version of state machine • Finish final version of Rover PCBs • Finish first version of YOLO model for camera
Airbrakes Mechanical Duc Nguyen	Progress Updates: • Completed 3D Printed Prototype Upcoming Tasks: • Finish jigs and designs • Numerical calculations to validate designs • Iterating 3D prototypes of designs
Airbrakes EECS Chris Fernandez	Progress Updates: • Most tasks from last semester were completed! Upcoming Tasks: • Research Kalman filter and related topics • Finish new PCB with Servo controller • Start prototyping the Kalman filter
Aerostructures Ninh Vu	Progress Updates: • Updating master assembly and master sheet Upcoming Tasks: • Finish CAD of structural components and integration of principle bay • Research FEA and Fin Flutter • Prepare jigs for manufacturing process
Telemetry Alan Guyster	Progress Updates: • V2 with state machine and Kalman filter is working • RFM96W initialization successful though transmission is off Upcoming Tasks: • Get HAM Technician certified • Fix RFM96W encoding/decoding • Test Yagi antenna • Radiation profile of antennas • Range test RFM96W and make adjustments as needed
Recovery / Flight Dynamics Sama Ahmed	Progress Updates: • Monte Carlo simulation working, but isn’t working with sweep angle Upcoming Tasks: • Conduct battery longevity test • Find other features of RocketPy and implement airbrakes into simulations • Do Monte Carlo simulations • Finalize camera subsystem (pending ERSA decisions)
Safety Officer Khoi Ton	Progress Updates: • Vibrational test setup completed Upcoming Tasks: • Test documents and SOPs • Learn Epsilon3 • Building testing equipment

Torito Liquid Propulsion Updates

The Torito team within SOAR is our dedicated group working on a liquid-propulsion launch vehicle. This year’s project involves designing and testing plumbing, valves, fuel delivery, and all vital systems required for a rocket powered by liquid propellant.

The work provides students with hands-on experience in propulsion mechanics, systems integration, and launch preparation. To get more involved with Torito, check out the following resources:

Torito is also exploring in-house PCBA and PCB production to introduce members to microelectronics and manufacturing workflows. If this sounds interesting to you, now is the perfect time to join Torito.

Test Stand Joshua Hachmeister	Progress Updates: • Lecture/Torito templates • SolidWorks document • Post test document Upcoming Tasks: • TBD
Fire Suppression System Riley Birkley	Progress Updates: • Tested nozzles for the water pump Upcoming Tasks: • TBD
DAQ Marwan Abdelwahab	Progress Updates: • Ordered PCBs, finalizing design • Purchasing fiasco, working on figuring out reimbursements Upcoming Tasks: • TBD
GSC EECS Ethan Zylman	Progress Updates: • TBD Upcoming Tasks: • TBD
GSC Mechanical Alessandro Martinez	Progress Updates: • Purchasing new materials • 3D Printing! Upcoming Tasks: • TBD

Current Sponsors

SOAR would be unable to do everything we do without the help of our amazing sponsors. We are deeply grateful for their generosity and continued support — it truly makes a difference. If you or your company are interested in sponsoring SOAR and helping support the development of future engineers, feel free to reach out to us via email.

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THANK YOU FOR READING !

JAN 2026

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