A team of Florida Tech College of Aeronautics students advised by professor Debbie Carstens won second place at the 2024-25 Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) University Design Competition. Ralph Rocco ’25 MSA, master’s student Austin Wood and Ph.D. student Carlie Swords will split a $2,000 cash prize for their winning project, Airfield Lighting for Enhanced Runway and Taxiway Awareness (ALERT-X).
They completed their project over a semester in Carstens’ Human Performance 1 course, which gives students an opportunity to apply theoretical concepts to the real world. In this case, the project addressed airport safety, operations and maintenance.
“I’m very proud of my students for their effort throughout the semester in creating a design idea to address airport challenges,” Carstens said.
The annual competition encourages students to design innovative and practical solutions to challenges at airports. Submissions are made across four categories: Passenger Experience and Innovations in Airport Terminal Design; Airport Environmental Interactions; Airport Management and Planning; and Airport Safety, Operations, and Maintenance.
The competition is funded by the Federal Aviation Administration and administered by the Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) of the Transportation Research Board. Goals include raising awareness of the program’s benefits and the importance of airports to the national airspace system infrastructure; increasing academic involvement in the program and addressing airport operations; and engaging students in the conceptualization of robust systems.
