AerosPACE, a year-long collaboration between GT-AE, the Boeing Company, and three other universities has been recognized by the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) with an Excellence in Engineering Education Collaboration Award.

ASEE's Corporate Member Council (CMC) presented the award to participants in the Aerospace Partners for Advancement of Collaborative Engineering (AerosPACE) program during ceremonies held June 16 at the Indiana Convention Center.

The award went to The Boeing Company, Georgia Tech, Brigham Young University, Purdue University and Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in recognition their joint participation in AerosPACE, a program that developed curriculum for real-life, hands-on learning and capstone design experiences for graduate students and seniors.

AerosPACE teams at each of the participating schools used and developed a collaborative computer aided design (CAD) software and a social learning website to complete their work. Using different materials, each team had to design, build, test, and deploy a UAV that is capable of accurately monitoring agricultural crops and delivering useful information on irrigation, pesticide use, and vegetative health.

Three of the schools were responsible for physically housing one of the UAVs during the construction process, but the project teams were composed of students from every school.

Each student had to contribute to the concept, design, testing, and deployment of at least one UAV -- even if it was physically located hundreds of miles away.

The results of their collaborations were showcased in April, when representatives from each of the teams came to Georgia to launch their vehicles before an audience that included many high-ranking Boeing officials.

Read more about the project.