Georgia Tech aerospace engineering graduate student Mohit Gupta is on his way to Germany to compete in the final phase of the Airbus Fly Your Ideas competition, May 27.

The 22-year-old India native is a member of a team of international engineering students who put together Multifun, a hybrid battery-piezoelectric composite structure intended for next-generation aircraft design. 

The team that wins the final competition will receive 30,000 Euros and a chance to pitch its concept to Airbus officials. The runner-up will receive 15,000 Euros.

Gupta is the only student from the United States represented in the final stage of this world-wide competition, which attracted more than 100 teams. He collaborated with his team-mates -- from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and India -- using Google Drive, Google Hang-out, and email.

"I have never met any of them, but we have worked well together. Because of the time differences, there was always someone working on the project," he said.

"And this is the way the industry is doing collaboration because they want to take advantage of

expertise around the world. So it was good practice."

Their project involves the harvest of energy that is generated naturally by aircraft wing vibration. Rather than letting it dissipate, the team proposes the use of a piezoelectric material to collect the energy and store it in battery fibers.

Though spread out across the globe, members of Team Multifun are united in their relationship with Indian Institute of Science Professor Dineshkumar Harursampath, GT-AE PhDAE '99, a former doctoral student of Dr. Dewey Hodges. It is Harursampath's concept that Multifun has been finessing for the Airbus competition.

"Professor Harursampath was my mentor, as an undergraduate," says Gupta, who now works in Dr. Hodges' lab.

"They are both so smart. I am very lucky to be working with them both."