[494] MTSU Aerospace Joins ITT's $1.4B NextGen Team

Release date: June 2, 2010


News & Public Affairs contact: Randy Weiler, 615-898-5616 or jweiler@mtsu.edu
MTSU Aerospace contact: Dr. Wayne Dornan, 615-898-2788 or wdornan@mtsu.edu

MTSU Aerospace Joins ITT’s $1.4B NextGen Team


(MURFREESBORO) — Middle Tennessee State University’s aerospace department is one of 33 ITT Corp. team members involved in the Federal Aviation Administration’s Next Generation Air Transportation System to modernize the U.S. national airspace system, Dr. Wayne Dornan, department chair, said.
“We are very proud to be part of this team, which is considered the ‘who’s who’ in the aviation industry,” Dornan said.
Specifically, MTSU aerospace will provide support in air traffic management systems, human-factor research, technology assessment and large-scale demonstrations, Dornan added.
ITT, Boeing and General Dynamics received FAA System Engineering 2020 contracts worth up to $4.4 billion on May 26, they jointly announced last week. The contract for ITT, a White Plains, N.Y.-based high-technology engineering and manufacturing company, is $1.4 billion-plus.
“Being one of the ITT team members on this project will enable us to be involved in cutting-edge research and concept development that will be used to transform the national air transportation system,” Dornan said.
“It is impossible at this point to tell exactly how much funding will come to MTSU, but this is a huge victory for us,” said Dr. Mike Allen, vice provost for research and dean of MTSU’s College of Graduate Studies.
The department already had expansion plans under way before the contracts were awarded. A $3.4 million state-of-the-art air traffic control simulator will arrive in July and should be fully functioning by August, Dornan said. It will be located in the university’s Business and Aerospace Building.
Dornan said that once it’s installed, this simulator will “surpass the capabilities of the ATC simulator at NASA Ames Research Center in California.”
Allen, Dornan, Dr. Andrienne Friedli and Gail Zlotky recently traveled to Washington, D.C., “to present the MTSU assets and capabilities to ITT,” Allen said.
Friedli is a chemistry professor and interim director for special projects in the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs. Zlotky is an aerospace associate professor who will serve as director of the ATC simulator training and testing.
Allen praised the efforts of John Cothern, senior vice president in the Division of Business and Finance; Joe Bales, vice president for Development and University Relations; and university President Sidney A. McPhee for their extensive efforts to secure funding for the new equipment.
ITT officials tentatively have agreed to come to Murfreesboro in September to view MTSU’s facilities, Allen added.
Among other team members are Raytheon, United Airlines, Bell Helicopter and Northrop Grumman. Ohio University is the only other higher education-related team member.

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With three Nobel Prize winners among its alumni and former faculty, Middle Tennessee State University confers master’s degrees in 10 areas, the Specialist in Education degree, the Doctor of Arts degree and the Doctor of Philosophy degree. MTSU is ranked among the top 100 public universities in the nation in the Forbes “America’s Best Colleges” 2009 survey.

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