Credit: Georgia Institute of Technology
By Archana Pyati
Say “NASA,” and almost certainly the first thing that comes to mind is space exploration. Missions such as Artemis II, Apollo 11, the James Webb Telescope, and Perseverance have given us glimpses of Earth and our moon, the solar system, and the far edges of the Milky Way through iconic imagery, data, and first-hand observation.
But NASA is also behind multiple breakthroughs in commercial flight over the past century. In fact, before NASA officially opened its doors in 1958, its predecessor – the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics – focused exclusively on aeronautical research, building wind tunnels and other facilities to test jet propulsion and other advances in aerodynamics to move aircraft with speed, efficiency, and safety. NASA continues the tradition of developing new aviation and air mobility technologies – including hypersonics and drones – through the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD).
NASA also trains and educates the next generation of aeronautics innovators and professionals through partnerships with research universities. One such program, the University Leadership Initiative (ULI), is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Since launching in 2016, ULI has educated more than 1,100 students at 100 universities through large-scale, multiyear research projects that advance NASA’s aviation priorities, including high-speed flight, advanced air mobility, airspace management and safety, and electrified propulsion.
ULI project teams include a principal investigator and a lead research team as well as multiple researchers and experts from other academic institutions and industry partners. Undergraduate and graduate students (and even high schoolers) are at the heart of these large, collaborative teams; under ULI, students are the ones conducting experiments, managing different aspects of the project, and presenting papers on their research. Through ULI, students (alongside faculty and industry advisors) develop solutions to persistent challenges in aeronautics while also gaining skills to prepare them for careers in aerospace, aviation, and other fields.
Forrest Carpenter was a ULI student researcher on a Texas A&M University project on making supersonic aircraft more efficient. In a NASA website article, he said the project challenged him to be more than “just an engineer” by providing him with leadership and management skills. Carpenter earned a doctorate and is now working with NASA as principal investigator on a project aimed at reducing noise from sonic booms.
Proposed Cuts to NASA Research and Education Programs
ULI’s milestone arrives at a critical moment for NASA’s research and education programs. The president’s FY27 budget request proposed major cuts to all of them, including a 35% reduction from last year for aeronautics research and education. The House Appropriations Committee has proposed a less drastic cut of about 9%, which is still less than the $1 billion in congressional appropriations that AAU recommends for the ARMD.
Faculty at several AAU member universities have been awarded funding as lead or partner investigators on NASA ULI projects. Here are a just few examples:
- Georgia Tech University’s Adam Steinberg, professor of aerospace engineering, is the lead investigator on a project that is developing combustion technology to lower emissions and environmental impacts from civil supersonic transport. Additional Georgia Tech engineering faculty have participated as partner researchers on other ULI-funded projects.
- The University of Texas at Austin received ULI funding for research on autonomous or unmanned air cargo transportation, led by Ufuk Topcu, professor of aerospace engineering.
- Purdue University engineering researcher Timothee Pourpoint also won a ULI award as the lead investigator on a project that seeks to refine optical and laser sensors for hypersonic vehicles to maintain control and stability in flight.
- University of Colorado, Boulder researcher Eric Frew received ULI funding to develop improvements in drone communications in challenging terrain and at long distances from operators.
- Carnegie Mellon University material scientists Anthony Rollett and Jack Beuth received ULI funding to develop 3D printing and other advanced materials for aviation manufacturing.
- University of California, Berkeley engineering faculty Mark Hansen and Raja Sengupta won a ULI award to test models and scenarios towards creating a more resilient National Airspace System, the 29 million square miles of airspace where 2.9 million airline passengers and 45,000 flights travel every day.
In an interview for an article on NASA’s website, John Cavolowsky, director of NASA’s Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Program, which oversees ULI, observed that the program offers students a chance to innovate, develop new technologies, and build skills they can apply in the real world.
“There are no better ways in my mind to help develop that talent within the students than to engage them in identifying big problems and then give them the resources they need to use their creativity to solve them,” Cavolowsky said.
Archana Pyati is editorial and content officer at AAU.