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Past and Future Meet at Embry-Riddle

1928 Biplane and EcoCAR Vehicle Signify University’s Momentum

President Johnson speaking

Clyde Dawson, left, listens as Embry-Riddle President John P. Johnson speaks at the ceremony welcoming the plane home.

Archive of biplane flying

T. Higby Embry is pictured flying the biplane in 1928.

Students posing for photos

A group of Embry-Riddle students, the future of aviation, pose for photos near the historic aircraft following the ceremony.

The past and the future crossed paths at Embry-Riddle in September when the university took possession of a 1928 WACO biplane and a 2009 prototype hybrid SUV from General Motors.

The delivery of the two vehicles show how much the university has changed since its early days.

The restored 81-year-old biplane is one of the first airplanes purchased by T. Higby Embry and John Paul Riddle, who in 1925 founded an airmail service and flight training company that became today’s Embry-Riddle.

The SUV was donated by GM to the EcoEagles, a team of Embry-Riddle students and faculty who are taking part in a national competition to reengineer the car’s power system to minimize its fuel consumption and emissions, in effect, to design a car for the future.

Back in 1928, the Embry-Riddle Company taught people how to fly in WACO biplanes. Today, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University prepares pilots for the airlines, corporate aviation, and the military, using a fleet of sophisticated aircraft and advanced flight simulators on campuses in Daytona Beach, Fla., and Prescott, Ariz.

And that’s not all. The university offers more than 30 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in business, engineering, and technology, including doctoral programs in aviation and engineering physics.

At Embry-Riddle, student engineers are designing airplanes and rockets, not to mention the energy-efficient family cars of tomorrow. Others, with their professors, are helping the Federal Aviation Administration develop satellite-based air traffic management for the Next Generation Air Transport System, which will make air travel safer, more efficient, and less expensive.

Degree programs are available in fields ranging from air traffic management, applied meteorology and safety science to communications, human factors and space physics. Undergraduate business degrees and an MBA prepare the business leaders of tomorrow.

Furthermore, several Embry-Riddle degrees can be pursued at more than 130 teaching sites worldwide and through online instruction.

From aviation’s past to the technologies of tomorrow – Embry-Riddle remains true to its roots while it shapes an exciting future. We invite you to join us on the journey.

Historic Embry-Riddle Biplane Returns Home after 81 Years

Daytona Beach, Fla., Sept. 28, 2009 -- Eight decades after it was first acquired by the Cincinnati, Ohio-based company that became Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, a WACO biplane Model 10 has returned home.

In a ceremony today at the university’s Daytona Beach, Fla., campus, the historic plane was handed over by its most recent owner, Clyde Dawson, who restored it, to Embry-Riddle President John P. Johnson.

The ceremony took place 81 years to the day after T. Higby Embry and John Paul Riddle purchased it in 1928 for their flight training and airmail service company.

For more information read The Embry-Riddle Story.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Takes Delivery of Vehicle to Transform into Next-Generation EcoCAR

Eco car with engineering students

The EcoEagles are aerospace, civil, computer, electrical, mechanical, and software engineering students, as well as students majoring in aviation, business, engineering physics, and human factors.

Mirmirani holds keys

Maj Mirmirani, dean of engineering, Daytona Beach campus, proudly displays the key to the prototype hybrid car donated by GM for the EcoCAR project.

Advanced vehicle technology competition for college students aims to minimize fuel consumption and reduce emissions.

Daytona Beach, Fla., Sept. 17, 2009 – The EcoEagles, a team of student engineers from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, took delivery today of a 2009 Saturn Vue donated by General Motors. The Embry-Riddle team will transform the Vue into a more energy-efficient vehicle and prove they are the next generation of automotive engineers.

Embry-Riddle is one of 17 U.S. and Canadian universities taking part in EcoCAR: The Next Challenge, a competition to redesign and reengineer a 2009 Saturn Vue to further minimize fuel consumption and reduce emissions while retaining the vehicle’s performance and consumer appeal. The effort is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and General Motors (GM). EcoCAR seeks to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers by giving them tools and experience to secure a more energy-efficient future.

In the first phase of the competition, the Embry-Riddle student engineers designed a virtual model of their vehicle using advanced software and computer modeling tools, which earned them keys to the vehicle so they can turn their cutting-edge simulations into reality. In the second phase, they now begin to work under the hood of the vehicle and, ultimately, take it to the road. The team will incorporate an extended-range electric vehicle powered by a 1.3 liter diesel engine and fueled by B20 biodiesel into the Saturn Vue.

"EcoCAR gives students hands-on design and engineering experience," says Darris White, mechanical engineering professor at Embry-Riddle and faculty advisor of the EcoEagles. "Our students have worked hard this past year, and they are excited about the opportunity to integrate their designs into the vehicle."

The other 16 university teams competing in EcoCAR include: Georgia Tech; Howard University; Michigan Technological University; Mississippi State University; Missouri University of Science and Technology; North Carolina State University; Ohio State University; Pennsylvania State University; Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Texas Tech University; University of Ontario Institute of Technology; University of Victoria; University of Waterloo; University of Wisconsin-Madison; Virginia Tech; and West Virginia University.

EcoCAR is a three-year competition that builds on the 20-year history of DOE advanced vehicle technology competitions by giving engineering students the chance to design and build advanced vehicles that demonstrate leading-edge automotive technologies. GM provides vehicles, vehicle components, seed money, technical mentoring and operational support. DOE and its research and development facility Argonne National Laboratory provide competition management, team evaluation, and technical and logistical support. Through this important partnership between government and industry, EcoCAR aims to inspire and support the next generation of scientists and engineers to unite around the common goal of sustainable mobility. Additional information about the EcoCAR competition and photos are available on the Web at:

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, offers more than 30 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in its colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business, and Engineering. Embry-Riddle educates students at residential campuses in Prescott, Ariz., and Daytona Beach, Fla., through the Worldwide Campus at more than 130 campus centers in the United States, Europe, Canada, and the Middle East, and through online learning. For more information, visit www.embryriddle.edu.