Kent State University’s College of Aeronautics and Engineering has received more than $550,000 in funding through two major grants that further position the college at the forefront of advanced air mobility (AAM) research and workforce development.
A $400,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), awarded through a congressional appropriation, will support the launch of the Advanced Air Mobility Elevating Northeast Ohio (AAMEN) initiative. The project addresses the critical need to safely integrate emerging aircraft technologies, including unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles, into the National Airspace System.
Led by Principal Investigator Joycelyn Harrison, Ph.D., AAMEN unites Kent State faculty, students and regional partners to demonstrate beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) flight training and test airspace integration technologies. The project will use the government-owned Vigilant Spirit® Control Station to simulate and analyze coordination between traditional air traffic control and emerging low-altitude traffic management systems.
Co-Principal Investigators include Rubén Del Rosario, D.Eng., overseeing project execution, Jason Lorenzon, J.D., providing regulatory and testing expertise, and Syed A. M. Shihab, Ph.D., contributing airspace management insights. Graduate students Delonte Goodman, mechatronics engineering, and Amy Alrutz, aviation management and logistics, are actively supporting the research through systems analysis and regulatory planning, respectively. The team will test and evaluate airspace integration strategies, regulatory readiness, and the use of artificial intelligence in traffic management.
“This is exactly the kind of collaborative, interdisciplinary research we envisioned when establishing Kent State’s Center for Advanced Air Mobility,” said Christina Bloebaum, Ph.D., dean of the College of Aeronautics and Engineering. “It positions us to shape the future of flight, strengthening regional airspace management, advancing national infrastructure resilience, and building vital connections with government and industry.”
Complementing the AAMEN initiative is the $150,000 award from the Ohio Department of Transportation’s (ODOT) Student Transportation Advancement Research (STAR) program. The STAR program supports faculty-guided projects that challenge students to develop forward-thinking solutions to transportation issues.
Principal Investigator Shihab and Co-Principal Investigator Del Rosario, are leading the project to design a low-altitude airspace surveillance system optimized for reliability, robustness and resilience, known as the 3Rs, of Ohio’s low-altitude AAM infrastructure. Doctoral student Esrat Farhana Dulia and Caleb Adams, a recent aerospace engineering graduate and incoming master’s student, are contributing to system modeling, contingency planning and sensor network optimization.
The project will result in a software tool to support ODOT’s planning efforts and establish safety protocols to manage disruptions in AAM operations across major Ohio cities.
“These two grants reinforce our leadership in research that supports the safe, scalable integration of next-generation aircraft,” Bloebaum said. “Just as importantly, they provide our students real-world experience at the leading edge of transportation innovation.”
For more information on the College of Aeronautics and Engineering and the Center for Advanced Air Mobility, visit www.kent.edu/cae.