KINGSVILLE October 16, 2026) — A group of scientists from Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK) received a three-year, $950,000 grant from NASA to conduct research in Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), like drone delivery and air taxis. The next step in the grant, entitled Transdisciplinary Research and Education on Impacts of AAM Vertiports and Emergency Response in Urban and Rural Communities (TRAVE), is to collect the community’s feedback on AAM.
“As part of the grant activities, we will soon start a large-scale survey by sending out letters to 10,000 randomly selected addresses in South Texas,” said Dr. Hua Li, industrial engineering professor and graduate coordinator and principal investigator for this grant.
“Considering the low response rate for surveys in general, we are trying our best to promote this survey and encourage residents who receive the letter to complete the survey,” Li said. “We also will offer $30 Amazon e-gift cards to the people who complete the survey.”
The three-year grant was from NASA’s MUREP Aeronautics Community Engagement Impact Research (ARI) 2.0 program. Serving as co-principal investigators are Dr. Jieming Chen, Regents Professor of Sociology in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences; and Dr. Haibin Su, Professor of Geosciences in the School of Mathematics and Physical Sciences at TAMUK.
Also, part of the grant is the Autonomy Research Institute (ARI) at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Del Mar College and the Corpus Christi Army Depot. Tye Payne is the co-principal investigator representing TAMUCC and ARI.
Researchers will use an area probability random sampling method to select households and residents for participation. “Individuals selected for the study will be invited to complete a survey about their opinions, attitudes, expectations and concerns regarding AAM and related infrastructure, including vertiports, as well as the potential use of AAM technologies in emergency response and other community service,” Li said.
Each selected respondent who completes the survey will receive a $30 Amazon gift card in appreciation of their time and participation.
“Participation in the study is voluntary and responses will be used for research purposes. The findings will help researchers better understand community perspectives and identify issues that should be considered as AAM technologies and infrastructure are developed,” he added.
The grant project has three objectives, Li said. The first is to identify and analyze the needs, impacts, benefits and feasibility of vertiports and emergency response in urban and rural communities.
The second objective is to enhance the communities’ awareness and knowledge of AAM, especially vertiports and emergency response through strong collaboration with different partners and stakeholders. The final objective is to create an active pathway to train the next generation of workforce skilled in AAM.
About Advanced Air Mobility
The term Advanced Air Mobility or AAM refers to new and highly automated aircraft systems, like air taxis and drones, used for transporting cargo and passengers between locations that are not easily served by traditional transportation methods.
Vertiports refer to a designated area of land, water or structure used for the landing, takeoff and servicing of vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (VTOL).
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