UND signs $5 million research partnership with FAA
Five-year partnership will supplement work of recently established North Dakota Center for Aerospace Medicine
Last week, UND and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) signed an agreement to boost aeromedical research on campus – an agreement both parties say will enhance aviation safety.
The five-year agreement, which provides up to $5 million in funding, will assign an FAA research medical officer to UND, who will assist with the execution and planning of research activities. This is the first time the FAA has embedded a medical researcher into a university, which helps highlight the uniqueness of this partnership.
Joining UND President Andy Armacost for the ceremony — held at UND’s Carnegie Hall — was Dr. Melchor Antuñano, director of the FAA’s Civil Aerospace Medical Institute. Antuñano’s department will oversee the FAA’s role in the partnership.
Armacost said that robust collaboration between the School of Medicine & Health Sciences and John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences, helped bring this agreement to fruition.
“When you have deans who see an opportunity to work together, there are no barriers between the efforts,” Armacost said. “For Marjorie (Jenkins) and Bob (Kraus) to join forces to make this happen is really exceptional.”
Elizabeth Bjerke, associate dean and professor in the Odegard School, cited that UND has a long history of collaborating with the FAA. She added that the partnership with the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI) started to take shape over a year ago, with a team from UND visiting the CAMI headquarters in Oklahoma City.
Following UND’s visit to Oklahoma City, a delegation representing CAMI visited UND last fall and saw the University as a natural fit for the partnership.
This is due largely to UND’s existing infrastructure, Bjerke said. In addition to having one of the largest aviation colleges in the nation by enrollment, UND has the state’s only medical school, a Student Health Services that administers nearly 1,000 aviation medicals a year and a dedicated UND Counseling Center who have invested in becoming aviation trained psychologists.
“When the team from CAMI visited UND in November of 2024 and saw firsthand what we have here in terms of facilities and talented people, the idea of a more formalized partnership took hold,” Bjerke said.
Bjerke added that state funds appropriated in the most recent legislative session establishing the North Dakota Center for Aerospace Medicine, will assist the state’s pilots in obtaining medical care. The cooperative agreement with the FAA will boost research collaboration on campus, advancing scholarship in the discipline.
Dr. Marjorie Jenkins, dean of the School of Medicine & Health Sciences, agreed.
“This collaboration between the FAA and the University of North Dakota represents a transformational opportunity connecting the expertise and resources of the FAA, School of Medicine & Health Sciences and the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences,” she said. “This truly supports the mission of the North Dakota Center for Aerospace Medicine and will serve to advance scientific discovery, yield 21st century solutions, and improve the health, resilience and safety for all who take to the skies.”
“This cooperative agreement with the FAA strengthens UND’s national leadership in aviation and health research,” added UND Provost Eric Link. “By building on the work of the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences and the new North Dakota Center for Aerospace Medicine, we are advancing research and resources that will improve the health, safety, and success of pilots and aviation professionals across the country.”
Bjerke also emphasized that the collaboration is a university-wide initiative.
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