UND signs $5 million research partnership with FAA
Last week, UND and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) signed an agreement to boost aeromedical research on campus – an agreement both parties say will enhance aviation safety.
The five-year agreement, which provides up to $5 million in funding, will assign an FAA research medical officer to UND, who will assist with the execution and planning of research activities. This is the first time the FAA has embedded a medical researcher into a university, which helps highlight the uniqueness of this partnership.
Joining UND President Andy Armacost for the ceremony — held at UND’s Carnegie Hall — was Dr. Melchor Antuñano, director of the FAA’s Civil Aerospace Medical Institute. Antuñano’s department will oversee the FAA’s role in the partnership.
Armacost said that robust collaboration between the School of Medicine & Health Sciences and John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences, helped bring this agreement to fruition.
“When you have deans who see an opportunity to work together, there are no barriers between the efforts,” Armacost said. “For Marjorie (Jenkins) and Bob (Kraus) to join forces to make this happen is really exceptional.”
