The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has chosen the University of Oklahoma and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to lead a new Air Transportation Center of Excellence for Technical Training and Human Performance (COE TTHP) tasked with conducting research and development on technical training for the aviation industry.
Specifically, the new COE TTHP will research innovative new training methods, human issues impacting training, and new technologies, including mobile learning and ways to collect and manage training data.
“This world-class, public-private partnership will help us focus on the challenges and opportunities of this cutting-edge field of research,” FAA Administrator Huerta said. “We expect this team will help us educate and train aviation professionals well into the future.”
Aviation training experts from the two universities will partner in leading research projects. Faculty and students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels will also be able to participate in research activities.
There are currently 12 FAA COEs. These cover a range of topic areas including 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.
The FAA expects the new COE to be operational in the next few months.
