FAA Awards $20 Million to Embry-Riddle
for Research in General Aviation
Daytona Beach, Fla., Oct. 2, 2002 -- U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta has announced the award of a $20 million contract to the FAA Center of Excellence for General Aviation, a consortium led by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. The money will be used in the areas of training, safety, and security.
The FAA created the center in April 2001 with $2.5 million in grant money and selected Embry-Riddle to lead it.
The announcement by Mineta came after a tour of the new $13.5 million Aviation Building on Embry-Riddle's Daytona Beach, Fla., campus, which includes advanced technologies and laboratories in air traffic control simulation, air traffic management research, and meteorology. Accompanying the Secretary was Rep. John Mica of Florida, chair of the House Subcommittee on Aviation.
Addressing students in the audience, Mineta said, "Embry-Riddle students are dedicated and focused on what they are going to do in the future, and the future is why I am here today. The research and training here are more important now in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 tragedy than at the time the grant was made in April of 2001."
Embry-Riddle will use the money for research projects proposed by the FAA and the Center of Excellence. Research is likely to include areas such as air traffic control, free flight, composite materials, avionics and aircraft communications, and crashworthiness and survivability.
"The FAA has recognized our strength to help resolve aviation research challenges over the next 10 years," said Steven Hampton, associate provost for graduate programs and research at Embry-Riddle.
The FAA award is an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract, which means the Department of Transportation can issue delivery orders for research totaling up to $20 million.
Making up more than 90 percent of the entire U.S. civilian fleet, general aviation aircraft are used by individuals, corporations, air taxi operators, law enforcement agencies, agricultural businesses, and commuter airlines. General aviation serves 13,000 U.S. airports and thousands more heliports and seaplane facilities.
The Center of Excellence consortium of universities includes Florida A&M University, University of Alaska, University of North Dakota, and Wichita State University.
Embry-Riddle, the world's largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, meets the needs of students and industry through its educational, training, research, and consulting activities. Embry-Riddle educates 24,000 students annually through the master's level at residential campuses in Daytona Beach, Fla., and Prescott, Ariz., at more than 150 teaching sites in the United States and Europe, and through distance learning.
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