Research

Embry-Riddle’s MicaPlex Facility Keeps Bringing Jobs to Florida

Research that could lead to more lightweight, efficient aircraft wings, orthopedic implants, and a host of other consumer technologies, spearheaded by Dr. Ali Tamijani of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, has received a highly competitive, five-year, $500,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) Early Career Award. An assistant professor of Aerospace Engineering at Embry-Riddle’s Daytona Beach Campus, Tamijani in 2017 received another early career faculty award through the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research’s (AFOSR) Young Investigators Research Program. That award, recognizing researchers showing exceptional ability and promise in conducting basic research, provided $360,000 in support for three years. Tamijani’s latest accomplishment reflects the depth of his expertise and confirms Embry-Riddle’s continuing transformation as a premier science and engineering institution, said Provost Lon Moeller. “The NSF Early Career Award is a tremendous achievement that will propel Ali’s research as well as his students to even greater heights,” he added. “We’re very happy for Ali and for Embry-Riddle.”

A prototype spacecraft capable of “hopping” from one asteroid to another effectively transforms water into steam, Embry-Riddle student-researchers have reported. The spacecraft’s steam-powered propulsion system suggests an endlessly renewable fuel that could be ideal for asteroid mining or “space prospecting,” said Aerospace Engineering Senior Ankit Rukhaiyar. Identifying renewable sources of spacecraft fuel has become increasingly important as NASA prepares to send humans to Mars and Earth’s finite supply of minerals keeps shrinking. Embry-Riddle’s steam-powered propulsion system suggests a way to keep spacecraft flying longer – in theory forever.

How old are each of the stars in our roughly 13-billion-year-old galaxy? A new technique for understanding the star-forming history of the Milky Way in unprecedented detail makes it possible to determine the ages of stars at least two times more precisely than conventional methods, Embry-Riddle researchers reported this week at the American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting. Current star-dating techniques, based on assessments of stars in the prime or main sequence of their lives that have begun to die after exhausting their hydrogen, offer a 20-percent, or at best a 10-percent margin of error, explained Embry-Riddle Physics and Astronomy Professor Dr. Ted von Hippel. Embry-Riddle’s approach, leveraging burnt-out remnants called white dwarf stars, reduces the margin of error to 5 percent or even 3 percent, he said.

A new technology for printing temporary labels on various types of materials – developed by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University researchers for Zyxogen, LLC, as part of an Airbus-sponsored project – could improve aviation manufacturing efficiency.

Someday soon, a “Drone Net” now under development by Embry-Riddle could provide a cost-effective way to protect small airports, university and corporate campuses, farms or other operations from irresponsible drone operators.