The 15th Polish-American Conference on Science and Technology took place on the 28-29 of May 2015 in Columbus, Ohio. The conference was hosted by the Ohio State University, the co-organizer on the American side. More than 40 people attended from the Polish side, and a similar number from the American side. The Institute of Aviation was represented by Director Witold Wiśniowski, Vice-director Rafał Kajka, Head of Scientific Board Roman Domański, and Professor Piotr Wolański.
The organizers of this year’s conference were the Institute of Aviation in Warsaw and the Ohio State University.
The objective of the conference was to exchange ideas and tighten relations between Polish and American partners in the field of innovative solutions and high technologies.
The conference was divided into four panels: Aerospace technologies, Energy and the environment, Defense and security, Materials and manufacturing technologies.
Director Wiśniowski gave a presentation recalling the origins and history of the Polish-American Conferences on Science and Technology and detailing the developing areas of academic collaboration between the Institute of Aviation and Ohio State University. A concrete manifestation of this cooperation was the presence at this year’s conference of a group of PhD students from the Institute of Aviation who are currently studying at Ohio state University as part of an undergraduate and PhD student exchange program between the two institutions.
Later during the conference Professor Roman Domański gave a presentation titled “Development strategies for the Polish energy system”. Professor Piotr Wolański gave his presentation titled “Research on the application of continuous rotating detonation to gas turbine” detailing the research program “Turbine engine with detonation combustion chamber”, which was realized at the Institute of Aviation in the years 2010-2015.
The conference brought together many important representatives of Polish academic, military and government institutions as well as of Polish industry. The American side was represented by academics from leading US universities and representatives of leading aerospace companies such as GE, Pratt & Whitney, UTC, Lockheed martin, etc. The Polish side was led by representatives of the Polish Parliament: Member of Parliament Bogusław Wontor, Chairman of the Parliamentary Group for Space, Member of Parliament Maciej Mroczek, Vice-chairman of the Parliamentary Group for Space, and Counsellor-Minister Paweł Pietrasieński from the Polish Embassy in Washington, D.C.
A very special moment of the conference was the awarding of the Honorary Decoration Bene Merito to Meyer Benzakein, Witold Wiśniowski and George Osypowicz, members of the Organizing Committee of the Polish-American Conferences on Science and Technology, by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland, in recognition of their meaningful and long-lasting contribution to building Poland’s position on the world stage. The Decorations were awarded in the name of the Minister of Foreign Affairs by Counsellor-Minister Paweł Pietrasieński from the Polish Embassy in Washington, D.C.
The conference was organized by George Osypowicz – Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Polish American Conferences on Science and Technology, in collaboration with Mike Benzakein – Director of the Power and Energy Center at the Ohio State University, and Witold Wiśniowski – Director of the Institute of Aviation.
The conference was graced with the honorary patronage of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the Ministry of Economy.
