On Monday, Feb. 22, President John Johnson hosted a special alumni reception in Houston, Tx. as part of the Presidential Tour. More than 100 Houston area alumni and friends networked and listened to special guests Astronaut Nicole Stott ('87, DB), Astronaut Alvin Drew ('95, WW) and guest speaker, EVP & CFO of Continental Airlines, Zane Rowe ('91, DB). Zane (right) shared how his degree from Embry-Riddle helped advance his career. Zane received the Eagle of Excellence Award for his achievements in the aviation industry and for his service to the university.

Nicole Stott (middle) and Alvin Drew (right) spoke about their experiences aboard the space shuttle Endeavor and returned a number of Embry-Riddle items that she brought with her to the space station. These items will be on permanent display at the Daytona Beach campus. View photos.

Alumni Benjamin Goodheart ('01, '06, PC) and Graham Johnson ('01, PC), along with Johnson's wife, Jamie Johnson, incorporated Mercy Wings Network in Jan. 2010. Goodheart, President, and Johnson, Executive Director of Aviation, had been looking for ways to perform humanitarian work in their spare time when a massive earthquake hit Haiti, inspiring Jamie Johnson, Executive Director of Aid, to come up with the idea to ask pilots to donate their time to transport supplies to Haiti. Goodheart and Johnson then formed Mercy Wings Network.

They reached out to pilots to donate their time and aircraft to deliver supplies to Haiti and potentially other disaster-stricken areas of the world. It has since grown into a "nonprofit organization with the sole mission of providing rapid air response to assist in disaster relief and recover efforts. Our network brings aid organizations with a need for air transportation together with operator than can provide aircraft and services for a charitable cause. As our network grows, we are linking together aircraft and crews with fixed-based-operators and maintenance facilities to help make the logistics of relief delivery easier for everyone involved." An example of one of their missions includes moving a portable, solar-powered field hospital from Colorado to Haiti to help treat earthquake victims there.

Mercy Wings Network is a nonprofit corporation pending IRS 501(c)(3) status. Find out more information and how you can help. Mercy Wings Network was also recently featured on GeneralAviationNews.com.

Radio Talk Show Host and Embry-Riddle Alumnus to Join President's Speaker Series

To help cultivate a more informed electorate, Embry-Riddle is offering "The President's Speaker Series," a series of town hall forums about topics in the public interest in 2010. All events are free and open to the public.

On April 2, 2010 at 5:30 p.m. Jerry Doyle ('79, DB) will join President John Johnson in the College of Aviation Atrium. Doyle, best-known for his role as Michael Garibaldi in the Sci-Fi hit Bablyon 5, is now a nationally syndicated radio talk show host and author of the newly-published Have You Seen My Country Lately?: America's Wake-Up Call. Afterwards, he will sign copies of his new book which will also be on sale at the event. Read more about Jerry Doyle in the Spring 2009 issue of LIFT.

Find more information about upcoming President's Speakers Series events.

Three decades after the Clean Air Act banned leaded gas in cars, more than 200,000 general aviation aircraft still burn leaded fuel, which has been cited as a public health hazard. But that is about to change, as momentum builds to find lead-free fuel alternatives for general aviation aircraft.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is leading the change with a plan to phase in lead-free renewable fuel in its training aircraft, the nation’s largest collegiate fleet. The university is partnering with Swift Enterprises, developer of a biofuel that has been tested by the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Technical Center with promising results. “We believe this effort by Embry-Riddle and Swift will guide the way to a large-scale switch by the general aviation industry to alternative fuels,” said Richard “Pat” Anderson, associate professor of aerospace engineering and chief investigator in the research project.

Engineers in the Eagle Flight Research Center, a laboratory in the College of Engineering at Embry-Riddle’s Daytona Beach, Fla., campus, will perform the certification testing needed to enable more than 40 Cessna 172s, nearly half of the university’s fleet of 95 aircraft, to use Swift fuel. Anderson is the research center’s director. When the changeover is complete, Embry-Riddle will be the first large aviation organization to move to unleaded, renewable aviation fuel. Read more.

Researchers at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University are inviting partners to join them in the Green Flight Challenge, a high-exposure contest to produce and fly an aircraft that can average at least 100 m.p.h., reach 4,000 feet, and achieve more than 200 passenger miles per gallon.

Embry-Riddle is one of 18 elite competitors selected to take part in the Green Flight Challenge, which will culminate in a two-day 200-mile race in Santa Rosa, Calif., from July 10 to 17, 2011. A prize of $1.5 million, one of the largest to date for an air race, is being offered by the competition’s sponsors, NASA and the Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency (CAFE) Foundation.

The Embry-Riddle researchers, working at the university’s Daytona Beach, Fla., campus, plans to use a Stemme S-10 motor glider, which has a mounted nose and retractable propeller. The team proposes to replace the glider’s reciprocating engine with a more energy-efficient electric motor, which would be powered by a hybrid system of batteries and fuel cells.“Our biggest challenge will be weight,” says Richard Pat Anderson, associate professor of aerospace engineering and principal investigator in the Embry-Riddle effort. “We’ll use high-performance batteries or hydrogen fuel cells to make electricity drive the engine.” Read more.

Alumni Awards Program

Don't forget to submit your nominations for your fellow alumni to be awarded in one of seven categories by March 31, 2010!

You can print the application, fill it out and mail it in, or you can submit the application online and simply attach supporting documents. Learn more.

Has a little voice inside you ever pushed you to support a worthy cause? Did you then question your ability to make a significant difference?

Well, here are six ways you can be a big help to us today and tomorrow. Read more.