AAE PhD student Arjun Rao named a 2016 PEGASAS Outstanding Researcher
AAE PhD student Arjun Rao has been recognized by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) with a 2016 PEGASAS Outstanding Student Researcher Award. He will be honored at the PEGASAS Annual Meeting on June 8th, 2016 at Iowa State University.
Rao is a PhD candidate in the systems Engineering major under AAE Associate Professor Karen Marais. He specializes in General Aviation (GA) safety, including fixed-wing and rotorcraft. His Ph.D. research focuses on identifying high-risk precursors to aviation accidents through the integration of historical accident analysis, identifying abnormal conditions from flight data, and subject matter expert (SME) opinion. This research is carried out as part of the Rotorcraft ASIAS (R-ASIAS) project, which is supported and led by the FAA.
Purdue is a lead institution for Partnership to Enhance General Aviation Safety, Accessibility and Sustainability (PEGASAS). The Center of Excellence focuses on research and testing efforts on safety, accessibility and sustainability to enhance the future of general aviation. AAE Professor William Crossley is the director of the PEGASAS center. Dr. Marais supports the efforts of PEGASAS by working on effective communication among the center’s researchers.