The Georgia Institute of Technology has been selected by the Federal Aviation Administration as part of a multi-university team for the new Center of Excellence (CoE) for General Aviation. The CoE, called Partnerships to Enhance General Aviation Safety, Accessibility, and Sustainability (PEGASUS), will concentrate research and development efforts on general aviation safety issues including airport technology, propulsion and structures, airworthiness, flight safety, fire safety, human factors, system safety management, and weather.

Along with Georgia Tech, PEGASUS will be led by Purdue University and Ohio State University as core integration members. Core team members include the Florida Institute of Technology, Iowa State University and Texas A&M University. PEGASUS affiliate members are: Arizona State University, Florida A&M, Hampton University, Kent State University, North Carolina A&T State University, Oklahoma State University, Southern Illinois University (Carbondale), Tufts University, Western Michigan University, and University of Minnesota, Duluth.

"The new FAA COE will reenergize and push the envelope of the general aviation sector while improving safety. We are excited and honored to be an integral part of this coalition of universities," said Dimitri Mavris, Boeing Professor of Advanced Aerospace Systems Analysis, and Director of the Aerospace Systems Design Laboratory (ASDL) at the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering. Prof. Mavris, who led the proposal effort for Georgia Tech with Dr. Hernando Jimenez, will act as co-director for PEGASUS at Georgia Tech and as one of the center's coordinators for research. "The team of Georgia Tech AE researchers for PEGASUS brings forth abundant expertise and state-of-the-art capabilities across the center's areas of research," added Prof. Mavris. The team is comprised of Prof. Lakshmi Sankar, Prof. Massimo Ruzzene, Prof. Eric Johnson, Prof. Vitali Volovoi, Prof. Julian Rimoli, Prof. Karen Feigh, Dr. Hernando Jimenez, Dr. Jimmy Tai, Dr. Michelle Kirby, Dr. Holger Pfaender, and several other ASDL research faculty.

"The FAA continues its goal of working to reduce general aviation fatalities by 10 percent over a 10-year period, from 2009 to 2018," said Acting FAA Administrator Michael Huerta in a statement released by the FAA. "The Center of Excellence program is a valuable tool in providing the critical data we need to reduce those accidents."

The FAA's COE program is a cost-sharing research partnership between academia, industry, and the federal government. The FAA plans to invest a minimum of $500,000 per year during the first five years of the new 10-year agreement with PEGASUS.

For more information about the FAA Centers of Excellence program, visit the COE webpage here.

To read more about the FAA's announcement of PEGASUS here.

For more information about The Georgia Institute of Technology and the Aerospace Systems Design Laboratory, contact Kara Kelch at 404-894-0203 or Kara.Kelch@asdl.gatech.edu.