Executive Board
Meet our diverse, hard-working executive board of scholars and leaders
Ken Weintraub- President
Ken is a senior from Northern Virginia majoring in Aerospace Engineering. His favorite part of SGT is how it builds a strong community of talented and passionate aerospace students and how it connects those students with professors and the aerospace industry. Ken is also the president of the Michigan Aerospace Cybersecurity Team (M-ACT) and an Instructional Aide (IA) for the x88 MBSE course series. Ken loves playing piano, music, spending time with friends, learning and doing new things, photography, water, cooking, and flying. He is not a fan of pulling all-nighters in the UGLI or the Dude. Fun fact: astronauts cannot cry in space because there is no gravity to make their tears flow. Maybe that was more of a sad fact.
Ethan Landt - Vice President
Ethan Landt is a senior from Hawaii majoring in aerospace engineering. Coming from Hawaii where his community was very close knit, his favorite part of SGT is getting to be a part of a community where he can experience that closeness while being at such a big school. He’s also the Lead Systems Engineer of the Michigan Aerospace Cybersecurity Team (M-ACT) and Head Lifeguard of the school pools. When he is back home, Ethan spends time helping his community as a volunteer firefighter and working as a snorkel guide / divemaster on several boats. Some of his passions include running, swimming, freediving, spearfishing, scuba diving and anything that includes being active.
Alex Kripfgans - Academic Chair
Alex is a sophomore from Ann Arbor pursuing Aerospace Engineering with minors in mathematics, computer science, and jazz studies. His favorite parts of SGT are connecting with fellow engineers at social events (especially ice skating!) and learning about UM’s broad research topics during Professor Seminars. Outside of SGT, Alex is the structures lead on the x88 MBOP-NS project, a member on multiple MASA sub-teams, and involved in turbomachinery research. In his free time, Alex enjoys playing soccer at Mitchell, creating and performing music, and working out
Mathew DeMeulenaere - Outreach Chair
Matt is a junior from Bridgman, Michigan majoring in Aerospace Engineering with a minor in Computer Science. His Favorite part about SGT is all the social events and the friends he has made across the department. Outside of SGT, Matt is a member of MRUN, the university run club. In his spare time he enjoys spending time with friends, playing hockey, tennis, and golf. Fun Fact: Earlier this year almost his entire house decided to drive 20 hours to Houston to watch Michigan win the National Championship!
Peter Belkin - Treasurer
Peter is a senior from Fairfield, CT majoring in Aerospace Engineering with minors in Business and Math. His favorite part of SGT is making friendships across the aerospace community and helping others do the same. Outside of SGT, Peter also serves as the Chief Engineer of the Michigan-Blue Origin Payload Team (M-BOP) and is involved in industry sponsored hypersonics research. Peter is also an avid rock climber, and enjoys playing soccer, basketball, and spikeball when the weather is (rarely) warm in Ann Arbor.
Joel Sawyer - Initiates Chair
Joel is a junior from St. Joseph, MI majoring in Aerospace Engineering with a minor in Climate and Space Sciences. His favorite part about SGT is making new friends in the aerospace department and forming deeper connections with professors. Outside of SGT, Joel is involved with other groups at Michigan such as M-PWER, BLiSS, and WCBN-FM. Joel loves Spotify, hiking, watching football, binging TV shows, and playing Spikeball.
Ben Donaldson - Social Chair
Ben is a senior from Santa Cruz, CA majoring in Aerospace Engineering with a minor in physics. He enjoys getting SGT members together in social settings and giving them opportunities to be active and build a community within SGT. Ben is also involved in MRacing and works for Intramural sports to help build a community within the rest of the Michigan community. He enjoys playing volleyball, golfing, and baking in his free time.
Mason Melville - Webmaster
Mason is a junior from Brighton, MI majoring with a degree in Aerospace Engineering and a minor in CS. His favorite part of SGT is being part of a community of passionate aerospace engineering students and professors. Mason is also a Propulsion Engineer and Software Engineer on the Michigan Aerospace Cybersecurity Team (M-ACT). Outside of school he enjoys playing hockey, hiking, reading, weightlifting, hanging out with friends, wakeboarding, and doing stuff outdoors.
Matthew Wu - Fundraising Chair
Matthew is a sophomore in aerospace engineering with a minor degree in meteorology under the Climate and Space Engineering department. He's originally from London and has a passion in commercial aviation. His favorite part about being in SGT is the sense of community within the aerospace department, and he is looking forward to building more connections between students, faculties, and the wider engineering community. Matthew is also the propulsion lead of M-Fly, and is part of the Engineering Honors Program. In his free time he enjoys flying planes, and is currently working towards becoming an airline pilot.
Noah Vogel - Secretary
Noah Vogel is a junior from Ann Arbor, Michigan, majoring in Aerospace Engineering with a minor in Electrical Engineering. He finds his favorite part of being in SGT is the opportunity to connect with a community of driven, creative, and talented peers, as well as enjoying unique experiences like the student-professor dinners. Outside of SGT, Noah leads projects in Michigan Bioastronautics and Life Support Systems (BLiSS), where he directs the development of an advanced contaminant control system for future lunar and Martian missions. He is also a member of the Michigan Aerospace Cybersecurity Team (M-ACT). In his free time, Noah enjoys playing the piano, watching movies, and playing tennis.