NASA awarded a team of Oklahoma State University researchers $5.2 million over the next four years to study low-level wind and turbulence forecasting.

The research aims to improve the safe operation of drones in both urban and rural environments, particularly in the field of advanced air mobility that could one day include autonomous transport of people and cargo.

NASA’s University Leadership Initiative Award totals $32.8 million and will also go to teams at Stanford University, the University of Delaware, North Carolina A&T State University and the University of South Carolina.

“Each of these teams is working on important problems that definitely will help break down barriers in ways that will benefit the U.S. aviation industry,” said John Cavolowsky, director of NASA’s Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Program in Washington, D.C.

Images and quotes courtesy Oklahoma State University / DALE Denwalt