In support of its regulatory mission to ensure safety of commercial aviation and space transportation operations, the Congress has provided authority to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States (US) government to conduct research and development (R&D) at universities (not including contracts) using two distinct approaches: traditional Aviation Research Grants research grants and the Centers of Excellence (COEs). While isolated and episodic research may be best served by individual research grants (IRGs), strategically executed, long-term research programs are well-served through COEs. COEs are better suited than IRGs to stimulate economic growth through more effective workforce development, increased innovation creation and diffusion, and increased alignment with industry needs. COEs accomplish this by educating the professionals of the future, developing a research network that makes available specialized resources over the course of a decade, and solving strategic problems in research areas critical to industry and the nation as needed. This paper summarizes the benefits of COE-style research and then provides three examples of research collaboration currently being executed by the COE CST.
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