This is the second time that Portman, 21, has received the scholarship, which is awarded annually to a college student in good academic standing, who is pursuing a degree in aerospace engineering, or aeronautical engineering. Previously, Portman received AIAA's Cary Spitzer Digital Avionics scholarship and Georgia Tech's Gregory R. Matheson Memorial scholarship.

The San Francisco native is currently finishing up a summer internship in the Office of Research and Engineering - Vehicle Performance Division -- within the National Transportation Safety Board in Washington, DC. He plans to continue his education to the master's level before pursuing a job in industry in flight testing, flight ops, or aviation safety.

Portman is mentored by AE professor Dr. Amy Pritchett.

"Dr. Pritchett and I have been conducting research into various topics relating to aviation safety and some human performance. This past semester, I completed a research assignment looking into the events of Asiana Flight 214 and creating a theoretical design for a context dependent total energy alerting system."