Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Student Research

Intellectual and Professional Growth Through Research

An important role for any university is the creation of new knowledge. With an emphasis on applied research, student participation at the graduate and undergraduate levels enhances and broadens our students' learning experiences. Students have the opportunity to work directly with professors, peers, and industrial leaders on current aviation and industry-related problems.

Research opportunities are available through:

  • Center of Business & Transportation Research
  • Research Assistantships (MBA students)
  • Embry-Riddle Student Research Grants (graduate and undergraduate)
  • Class Projects
  • Academic Club Competitions
  • McNair Scholars and Honors Program
  • The Teaching Airport

Examples of Current Research

On Airlines Code-Share Optimization: A Modeling Framework and Analysis
International Journal of Revenue Management, Forthcoming.
Abstract: This paper presents an optimization-based modeling framework for evaluating the profitability of an operating carrier’s code-share agreements with multiple partnering carriers. The model examines the terms of under-negotiation agreements, including flights and the number of seats open for code share and associated fare discounts. The model provides a recommendation of the set of agreements to be accepted by the air carrier. The model explicitly considers the trade-off between the different agreements as well as the trade-off between the incremental revenue from the code-share agreements and the potential loss of revenue due to the displacement of the non-code-share passengers. A set of experiments that illustrate the model capabilities for hypothetical code-share scenarios is presented.
Authors:
  • Ahmed Abdelghany, Assistant Professor, College of Business, Embry-Riddle.
  • Worachat Sattayalekha, Graduate Student, College of Business, Embry-Riddle.
  • Khaled Abdelghany, Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental and Civil Engineering, Southern Methodist University.
Airspace Redesign Ocala Sectors. 2009. FAA.
  • Todd Waller, Researcher, and Amanda Daku, Graduate Assistant.
  • Jon Standley, Undergraduate Student Assistant.
CAART Cognitive Analysis Application Research Toolset, User Interface Evaluation and Development. 2008.
  • Project Lead, Jessica Sager, Graduate Assistant.
  • Lee Ann Douglass, Undergraduate Student Assistant.
Delta Airlines Assessment and Analysis of Hartsfield Airport, Atlanta, Georgia. 2008.
  • Todd Waller, Researcher.
  • Jon Standley, Undergraduate Student Assistant.
NASA Means Business.
Coalition for Space Exploration. Managed by the Texas Space Grant Consortium. Finalists. Final results will be announced in May 2009.
In the Fall 2008 semester, student teams from across the nation submitted preliminary ideas that NASA could use to better brand its Constellation Program, the human spaceflight system that will replace the Space Shuttle for missions to the International Space Station, Mars, and the moon. Each team also turned in a video production storyboard. The Embry-Riddle team’s proposed marketing campaign, titled NASA: The Journey Continues, outlines how NASA could win support for the Constellation Program from average Americans and ultimately from Congress by emphasizing the many anticipated contributions the program will make, not only to space exploration but also to everyday life on Earth. The plan recommends that NASA make more efficient use of existing news media, create a more consumer-oriented website, and schedule more community outreach programs.
  • Undergraduate Student Researchers: Nick Bartolotta, Eliot Bastar, David Bodnovich, Nicle Fossum, Maximillian Fox, Adam Kuebler, and Curtis Szajkovics
  • Faculty Advisor: Dr. Jorge Herrera, SAM Club
Market Forecast for Delta Air Lines Technical Operations Center with the Technical Sales and Marketing Team (TS&M).
Researched and developed a market analysis (20-year outlook) for the aviation industry to be used in conjunction with another Delta management project and the IATA. The student researcher, Scott Cunningham, used ACAS, a program adopted by many companies in the aviation industry for forecasting and developing analysis on the current and future status of any particular area in the aviation industry. The report findings conclude that there are several areas of interest when trying to determine the specific areas of the greatest growth and opportunities for first movers in the aviation industry. The areas of interest included Asia, the Pacific Rim, and the Middle East, due to their dramatic increases in fleet sizes over the next 20 years. The report also examines the current fleet size, forecasted fleet size, and average aircraft utilization per day in order to infer what the current and future aviation market holds. The report helped Delta determine where best to direct their efforts and resources in order to gain the competitive advantage during troubled times in the aviation industry.
  • Intern and Undergraduate Researcher: Scott Cunningham, College of Business, Honors Program
Optimizing Aircraft Utilization.
BA 420: Management of Production and Operations.
This report on optimizing aircraft utilization was conducted for SkyView Consulting Partners. The report attempts to give readers a better understanding of how the fleet development factors have affected and changed the aviation industry as well as the future of fleet development and utilization. The four key elements of fleet planning examined are 1) factors that affect fleet development, 2) historical practices of fleet planning, 3) the evolution of fleet development, and 4) new industry trends in fleet development and planning. The majority of the information learned came from interviews with planners and those knowledgeable on this and related subjects. In addition to the personal interviews, the book titled Buying the Big Jets by Paul Clark provided excellent guidance when conducting the interviews. The project provides a well-rounded analysis of how airlines are changing and being affected by the changes around the world and its inner workings with regard to aircraft fleet planning and aircraft utilization. The results will prove helpful for companies seeking to revamp or benchmark their fleet planning departments in order to remain viable competitors in the airline industry.
  • Undergraduate Researcher: Scott Cunningham, College of Business, Honors Program
General Aviation Airport Funding Strategies. FAA-Sponsored Research Project.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the current financial environment of publicly owned and operated general aviation airports, and to develop an outlook for future potential. Commissioned by the FAA’s Center of Excellence for General Aviation Research (CGAR), the study focused on basic airport demographic data and the views of airport managers of GA airports regarding their facility’s current financial situation, access to finding resources, state, local, and private sector, current fuel handling activity, T-hangar vacancies, other concepts for enhancing revenue, and attitudes toward attaining financial self-sufficiency.
  • Principal Investigator: Massoud Bazargan, Ph.D.
  • Co-Investigator: Vitaly Guzhva, Ph.D.
  • Graduate Student: Hsin-Cheng “Hester” Kuo
  • Undergraduate Students: Joshua C. Daisey, Duane Minor
Undergraduate Group Research Projects for BA 418 Airport Finance and Administration:
Student groups select a small to medium sized general aviation airport within a two-hour driving time from Daytona Beach. Students conduct literature/Internet search, and telephone and personal interviews of airport managers to better understand and assess funding sources for past, future, and current airport improvement projects. Recent research has included the following airports: Ormond Beach, DeLand, New Smyrna, Spruce Creek, Flagler, Space Coast Regional, Orlando Sanford, and Orlando International. Examples of research solutions are:
  • Issuing municipal bonds to fund improvements at private airports (Spruce Creek)
  • The most cost-effective upgrade of airport lighting system
  • T-hangar lease rates at other airports in the area
  • Determining the optimal time to start airport expansion (for example, when the airport reached 70% capacity, earlier or later).
FAA’s Design Competition for Universities, First Place, 2007-2008
The American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) student club at Embry-Riddle’s Daytona Beach Campus, led by College of Business students Joost Vlek (project lead & graduate student), Richard Genge, and Andrew Wilhelm (undergraduate students) was the first-place team in the category of Runway Safety/Runway Incursions. The student designed a system that innovatively used GPS technologies to mitigate runway incursions caused by ground vehicles operating around runways. Their proposal recommends using GPS technologies in a new way to decrease runway incursions caused by ground vehicles operating around runways.
Wide-Body Aircraft Boarding Strategy: Singapore Airlines 2007
The boarding of passengers into the double-deck high capacity A-380 aircraft by Airbus presents a major challenge for the airlines. This study is focused on developing a Monte Carlo simulation model to measure the duration of the boarding process under different scenarios. The study considers the A-380 seating configuration delivered to and operated by Singapore Airlines. This aircraft started commercial flight from Singapore in Oct 2007. This study considers various boarding strategies with 1, 2, and 3 jetways and doors for boarding passengers. It highlights the differences and compensations in times for boarding the passengers as the number of doors to the aircraft are varied. The focused was on keeping the boarding strategy separate from the simulation modules so that any boarding strategy can easily be studied and evaluated. Popular boarding strategies such as back-to-front, window-middle-aisle, and random were evaluated for the total boarding times. The simulation model has animation capability that makes it easier to see how the passengers are moved through the two-decks and aisles within each deck. The results are very encouraging and certainly prompt the need to initiate a study at A-380 with different seating capacities.
  • Graduate Researcher: Stefan Staschinski, Graduate Research Project
  • Advisor: Massoud Bazargan, Ph.D.
Airspace and Airport Evaluation for the Santiago de Chile International Airport. Applying ARENA and SDAT simulation and analysis tools. 2006-2007. USTDA.
  • Project Lead, Sean Lewansdowski, Graduate Researcher.
Airport and Aerospace Research. Analysis and Evaluation of the Procedures of Departures, Arrivals, and Taxiing for JFK Airport, New York, JetBlue Airlines, 2005-2006.
  • Researchers: Florian Hafner, Project Lead. Dupree Ramsey, Graduate Assistant.
Narrow-Body Aircraft Boarding Strategy: AirTran 2005. BA 610 Airlines Optimization and Simulation Systems.
Airlines today employ various strategies to cut costs and become lean and efficient. One of the ways that this can be achieved is by improving the boarding process since airplanes only make money while they are in the air. This study uses a simulation approach to study various boarding strategies in use today by the major airlines. The simulation study involved AirTran Boeing 737-700 short-haul fleet aircraft.
  • Graduate Researchers: Juan Ruiz, Project Lead; Victor Cole
  • Advisor: Massoud Bazargan, Ph.D.