WASHINGTON — The Transportation Research Board’s Airport Cooperative Research Program has selected winners for its latest ACRP University Design Competition. This annual competition encourages students to design innovative and practical solutions to challenges at airports.

Four first-place winners were chosen across the four technical challenge areas: Airport Environmental Interactions; Airport Safety, Operations, and Maintenance; Passenger Experience and Innovations in Airport Terminal Design; and Airport Management and Planning.

“TRB congratulates these students for their winning proposals and their innovative spirit. We look forward to their continued contributions to the industry in the years to come,” said Ann Brach, TRB executive director.

The first-place winning teams in each category are:

Airport Environmental Interactions Challenge:
Hunter Lisle, Zackrey Schaeder, and Christopher Sidor from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s School of Graduate Studies won first place for their proposal titled Modernization of Deicing Operations Utilizing Uncrewed Aircraft Systems. Their faculty advisers were Chuyang Yang and Ryan Wallace.

Airport Safety, Operations, and Maintenance Challenge:
Kathleen Brening, Tomas Chacon, Brian Finn, Andrew Kirschenmann, and William Seaman from University of Colorado, Boulder, won first place for their proposal titled Tool Aerie. Their faculty adviser was Azadeh Bolhari.

Passenger Experience and Innovations in Airport Terminal Design Challenge:
Kyle Choate, Jakeb Jackson, and Kayla Kamposh from Lawrence Technical University won first place for their proposal titled BreatheWell Modular Seating System. Their faculty adviser was Julia Jovanovic. 

Airport Management and Planning Challenge:
Dale Klika, Jason Kwong, and Yinxiao Zhang from Purdue University won first place for their proposal titled Parking Availability & Routing Knowledge Systems (PARKS). Their faculty adviser was Mary Johnson.

Additionally, teams from University of California, Berkeley, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Lawrence Technical University, and Bowling Green State University won second-place awards. Teams from St. Louis University, Kent State University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Florida Institute of Technology, and Lawrence Technical University won third-place awards.

Students were invited to propose innovations in any of the four technical challenge areas. The competition requires that students work with a faculty adviser and that they reach out to airport operators and industry experts for advice and to assess the practicality of their proposed design solutions. ACRP manages the competition while funding is provided by the Federal Aviation Administration. Volunteer panels of airport industry practitioners review and judge the submissions based on a standard scoring criteria.

Winning teams receive $3,000 for first place, $2,000 for second place, and $1,000 for third place, and will be given the opportunity to present their proposals at an industry professional conference or workshop in 2026.

The names of all winners and copies of designs receiving place awards will be made available at https://www.trb.org/ACRP.

The Airport Cooperative Research Program is an industry-driven, applied research program that develops near-term, practical solutions to airport challenges. The ACRP is managed by the Transportation Research Board, which is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine — private, nonprofit institutions that provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions related to science, engineering, and medicine. The National Academies operate under an 1863 congressional charter to the National Academy of Sciences, signed by President Lincoln. For more information, visit https://national-academies.org. 

Contact:
Solomon Self, Media Relations Officer
Office of News and Public Information
202-334-2138; news@nas.edu