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STAYING AHEAD OF THE HERD Student Innovation Reaches NASA
Against the Current, Making History In the 2025 NCAA II rowing championship, Embry-Riddle’s Women’s Rowing team made program history — earning first place out of six teams by just two points and winning Embry-Riddle Athletics’ first NCAA II team title. Through rough winds, Embry-Riddle’s eight boat persevered — placing first by just under an eighth of a second. This win earned the team 18 points, but the competition wasn’t over yet. After a 10-hour weather delay, the four boat Grand Final began. Placing third, Embry-Riddle’s four boat scored eight points, securing the national title. Individual athletes stood out in the competition as well. At-Large Academic All-American and Electrical Engineering major Soleil Edwards (’26) became the first Embry-Riddle athlete to win the NCAA’s Elite 90 Award, and Head Coach Grant Maddock was named SSC Coach of the Year. “Two years ago, we made a deliberate choice to raise the bar by training harder and racing at a higher level. That commitment set the course for where the program is today,” shared Maddock. “I’m incredibly proud of how these women embraced the vision and trusted the process.” “What we’ve accomplished is special, but it’s just the beginning of what this team is capable of.”
Daytona Beach team designs cattle management UAV system, soaring to finals in national competition. At Embry-Riddle, innovation takes flight — sometimes all the way to NASA. This year, an engineering team at the Daytona Beach Campus advanced to the finals of NASA’s Blue Skies Competition. The challenge involved conceiving an aviation system to improve the production efficiency and decrease the environmental impact of farming practices, which can be operational by 2035. Their answer to an unmet need in cattle farming management? Sky Shepherd — an uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) designed to reduce noise disturbance, improve herd safety and enable faster veterinary response. “Our autonomous uncrewed aerial vehicle concept implements low-stress cattle management techniques to large ranches that are not currently able to implement aeronautical solutions in a practical way,” Team Lead Gus Gatti (’25) said.
Fellow Team Lead Tyler McConnell (’27) and team members Nathaniel Cook (’27), Bridget Kenney (’27), Lauren Augusto (’27) and Akshay Kaundinya (’25) were guided by Associate Professor Claudia Ehringer Lucas, who first taught them in an Introduction to Engineering course. “Being involved in this project has had a transformative impact on the students,” Dr. Lucas said. After nearly a year of work, the team traveled to NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center to present their concept, complete with infographics and research papers. “This was an awesome way to learn more about current areas of innovation in the aerospace industry and get perspective toward future areas of research,” Gatti shared. The project pushed students beyond their comfort zones into aeroacoustics and experimental battery technology, while teaching them the full lifecycle of innovation — from ideation to face-to-face venture pitching with industry leaders. In appreciation for their work, the team received a $9,000 stipend from NASA to attend the final forum. Competitions like Blue Skies highlight Embry-Riddle’s curriculum, emphasizing hands-on learning, industry mentorship and applied problem solving to prepare students for high-impact careers.
21 | Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
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