University of Akron Selected to Join FAA Center of Excellence
The University of Akron has been selected by the Federal Aviation Administration as part of a multi-university team for the new Center of Excellence (COE) for Technical Training and Human Performance (COE TTHP). The FAA COE will conduct research and development on technical training for air traffic controllers, aviation safety inspectors, engineers, pilots and technicians. FAA will fund the COE with a minimum annual funding commitment of $1 million per year for at least five years. FAA may renew the initial COE cooperative agreement for an additional five years following a successful evaluation.
The FAA will take advantage of advancements in teaching, such as part-task training, modeling, immersive human-in-the-loop simulation, and adaptive learning technologies that are standard in other technical workforces. The COE will examine human factors issues such as changes in learner expectations and academic best practices for training a new generation of learners. The center will also research innovative training methods for this new generation. This includes new technologies such as mobile learning as well as new ways of collecting and managing training data.
The Center of Excellence will be led by The University of Oklahoma and Embry-Riddle University as core integration members. The University of Akron is among the core team members along with University of Wisconsin-Madison, Purdue University, Ohio State University and Drexel University.
Dr. Chen Ling, associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, who led the proposal effort for The University of Akron, will act as co-director for COE TTHP at the University of Akron. The COE team at The University of Akron includes Dr. Shengyong Wang, Associate professor and Director of Aerospace Systems Engineering in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dr. Forrest Sheng Bao, Assistant professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Dr. En Cheng, Assistant Professor in Computer Science.
The FAA’s Center of Excellence program is a long-term, cost-sharing partnership between academia, industry and government. Congress authorized Air Transportation Centers of Excellence under the Federal Aviation Administration Research, Engineering and Development Authorization Act of 1990. This legislation enables the FAA to work with center members and affiliates to conduct research in airspace and airport planning and design, environment and aviation safety, as well as to engage in other activities to assure a safe and efficient air transportation system.
The FAA has established 12 Centers of Excellence in critical topic areas focusing on: unmanned aircraft systems, alternative jet fuels and environment, general aviation safety, commercial space transportation, airliner cabin environment, aircraft noise and aviation emissions mitigation, advanced materials, general aviation research, airworthiness assurance, operations research, airport pavement and technology, and computational modeling of aircraft structures.
For more information about the FAA Centers of Excellence program, visit the COE web page at http://www.faa.gov/go/coe .