Daily Staff Writer

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Airworthiness Assurance Center of Excellence (AACE) will soon have a new home on Iowa State’s campus. The FAA selected ISU and Ohio State University to lead a group of nine universities in identifying and solving technological problems related to national aircraft safety.

Their research will be conducted in the fields of aircraft inspection, maintenance and repair, crashworthiness, propulsion, advanced materials and landing gears.

Although many schools are involved, the contract is with ISU. The contract has the potential to be a $10 million per year award for up to 10 years.

The FAA officials hope the center will become self-supporting within this time.

As the contract holder, ISU has the responsibility for the technical management of AACE.

“Everyone who flies on planes is concerned about safety, and we are developing it here,” Joel Snow, director of The Institute for Physical Research and Technology, said.

ISU President Martin Jischke also expressed similar ideas.

“The new Center of Excellence will tackle one of the most important challenges we face today — how to make air travel safer.

“The center will be a national focal point for aircraft research and testing to ensure the highest reliability and safety. It perfectly fits Iowa State’s expertise in airplane reliability and in developing inspection techniques that are useful to the airline industry,” Jischke said in a recent press release.

Originally, the FAA had planned on only having one lead university, but Ohio State’s strengths and weaknesses complimented ISU’s perfectly, officials said.

In their proposal submitted in February, Ohio State showed strength in their sophisticated management information system, where as ISU showed strength in their science and technology management.

“Iowa State has had a world class research center operating here for years,” Snow said. “It made sense for the FAA to choose us.”

Faculty, staff, graduate students and a few undergraduate students will have an opportunity to work on this project.

Snow said the center will create many new jobs, and he hopes it will attract other businesses to Ames.

“This has already begun with Visionaire,” Snow said. “I want Ames to be a magnet for new research and development companies in the aircraft field.”

In a press release, Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley said ISU has once again shown it’s a shining star among American academic institutions.

“The highly competitive selection process recognized Iowa State’s leadership and outstanding work already in progress,” Grassley said. “Iowa State will play a key role in working for safety in the skies in the 21st century.”