With so many moving parts and players involved when air travel is disputed, researchers can only imagine so far. With the help of a university-industry-NASA partnership, the Center for Air Transportation Resilience (CATRes), a NASA University Leadership Initiative (ULI), aims to improve the resilience of the US National Airspace System (NAS) and reduce the disruptive impact of major storms, facility outages, and other shocks. Helmed by Lead Principal Investigators Megan Ryerson, UPS Foundation Professor and chair of city and regional planning at Weitzman and Mark Hansen of the University of California, Berkeley, CATRes brings together academics and industry veterans nationwide to address these issues.
CATRes held a kickoff meeting on October 18, 2024, at ATAC headquarters in Santa Clara, California, in person and online, with researchers from the six universities involved, University of California Berkeley (lead PI), University of Maryland, University of Michigan, Morgan State University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Elizabeth City State University; airlines United Airlines, American Airlines, and Jet Blue; The Federal Aviation Administration; large airport (SFO, DTW) managers; Patty Clark Aviation Advisors; ATAC Corporation; an airline pilot; NASA representatives; Mead and Hunt; Vaughan College of Aeronautics and Technology; Lansing Community College; Community College of Philadelphia; and City College of San Francisco.
The kickoff included introductions and project overview; lightning talks from university researchers providing background on their organization and role in technical challenges: stress testing, hardening, and sustaining; lightning talks by select stakeholders (airlines, airports, and FAA focused on disruptions and needs; remarks from NASA’ a lunchtime talk from ATAC, a surprise visit from State Senator Josh Newman; an update on year one activities and milestones, management plan overview and implementation; a tabletop simulation to discuss two scenarios and how players in the room would react; workforce development introduction; lightning talks from education partners; and a Q&A discussion.
Expand Image
