The FAA-sponsored Airport Cooperative Research Program’s University Design Competition for Addressing Airport Needs provides an outstanding opportunity for individual students or student teams working under the guidance of faculty advisors to design solutions to real-world issues addressing our nation’s airports and the National Air System. 

Students win cash prizes ($3,000 for first place, $2,000 for second, and $1,000 for third place) in each of four different broad categories:

·         Airport Safety, Operations, and Maintenance

·         Passenger Experience and Innovations in Airport Terminal Design

·         Airport Environmental Interactions

·         Airport Management and Planning 

Airport needs embrace many disciplines including all engineering fields, environmental science, business, data science, computer science, psychology, and many others.  A variety of multidisciplinary topics are suggested, but students can come up with their own relevant topics for their design solution.  The Competition is an excellent open-ended design project for capstone courses and is also frequently used in other courses, for independent study, or as a professional society student chapter project. 

First-place winners present their work at an award ceremony at the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine in Washington, D.C., and also at a relevant national professional conference.  All expenses are covered.  

Interaction with airport operators and industry experts is required.  The Competition provides access to experts and airport operators through its program website.  

The Competition runs to May 10, 2024.  Students can work in either or both academic semesters.  Additional information regarding the ACRP University Design Competition can be found at the Competition website located at www.trb.org/ACRP/ACRPDesignCompetition.aspx.  The updated guidelines for submission are attached and can be found on the competition web page. 

The Airport Cooperative Research Program is part of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies.  The Virginia Space Grant Consortium manages the Competition on behalf of the ACRP.