Three Groups Take Top Honors In Various Categories

Three student teams from Embry-Riddle’s Daytona Beach campus recently won first place, third place and honorable mention for their design proposals submitted to various categories in the 2011-2012 Design Competition for Universities sponsored by the FAA.

Now in its sixth year, the competition tasks U.S. college students with finding solutions to airport issues while gaining quality educational experiences and exposure to aviation and airport-related careers. Students may propose solutions in four technical areas: airport operations and maintenance; airport runway safety; airport environmental interactions; and airport management and planning. During this process, the teams investigate the challenges of airport operations, develop design solutions, conduct research and analyses to guide the design development process and write reports describing the design and their development process.

An Embry-Riddle team won first place in the category of Runway Safety with “iTaxi: Total Runway Awareness,” a proposed pilot navigation aid that could reduce the number of runway incursions caused by pilot deviations. The team’s design would supplement air traffic control instructions with navigational guidance as pilots follow assigned taxi routes. The tool would also highlight runway hotspots where mishaps could occur and alert pilots who deviate from an instructed route. The project’s team members were James Garvin, Anne Gray, Cassandra Gribbins, Joey Jaworski, Camilo Jimenez, Antoine Juhel and Shalinda Perera.

An Embry-Riddle team took third place in the category of Airport Operations and Maintenance with “eMerge.” The eMerge design consists of a distributed information-sharing system that could improve communication among response teams and the Emergency Operations Center during an airport emergency. The project’s team members were Nicole Andrade, Ren Araujo, Claas-Tido Boesser, Jennifer Cabrera, Angela Cox, Shannon Cummings, Michael Fitzgerald and Ben Graham.

Also in the category of Airport Operations and Maintenance, an Embry-Riddle team took honorable mention with its “Vehicle Operator and Pedestrian Training and Certification Program,” a centralized nationwide Web-based training and certification process that could help reduce the number of pedestrian/vehicle incursions on airport runways. The project’s team members were Amy Luckette, Rachael Lund, Gisela Muñoz, Luis Nieves, Thomas Portz, Nate Quirion, Alexandra Rossi, Ashley Sutherland and Tony Thomas.

All three teams were advised by Embry-Riddle faculty members Dr. Kelly Neville, an associate professor in human factors and systems, and Marty Lauth, an associate professor of applied aviation sciences.

“This competition is an incredible and, I believe, unmatched opportunity for students to learn about systems design and development,” Neville said. “The FAA is truly interested in the solutions our student teams develop, and so the students’ participation is not just a class exercise but rather an opportunity to begin contributing and making a difference in the world. This, together with the prize money and the invitations to network at aviation conferences, make this competition very rewarding. Our teams were enthusiastic about taking on the challenge.”

To meet the competition requirement that the students reach out to airport operators for guidance and evaluation of their design proposals, all three Embry-Riddle teams consulted with officials from Daytona Beach International Airport, including airport supervisor John Murray, projects engineer Carl Schweizer, fire commander Andrew Millwater, facilities engineer Eric Hakanen, security coordinator Justin Grindell, ground handling manager Rich Mather and business development director Stephen Cooke.

Students from the winning teams equally divide prizes of $2,500 for first place, $1,500 for second place, $1,000 for third place and $500 for an honorable mention. Embry-Riddle’s first-place team members will receive a plaque from the FAA and present their winning project at the Summer Series Workshop held by the FAA, the Transportation Security Administration and the Airport Consultants Council from July 18-19, 2012, in Arlington, VA. The students will also present their work at one other professional meeting during the academic year. Promising designs may also receive FAA funding to take their concepts to the next stage of development.

FMI: http://FAADesignCompetition.odu.edu