The air transportation system is so much more than just getting from point A to point B! 

At LATTICE, we are deeply committed to ensuring that our excitement for broadening participation in learning about, experiencing, and leaving positive impacts on the air transportation system and infrastructure does not remain confined to our research and lab settings! 

How do we make learning about this fascinating system (and related, adjacent STEM topics) more accessible? How can we infuse excitement for infrastructure and transportation throughout a community, from students to adults and many more individuals? How can we facilitate hands-on learning experiences, activities, behind-the-scenes tours, and dialogue? 

Below are some examples of recent outreach-related events; please contact Max either by email (maxzli@umich.edu) or via phone (+1 217-419-5173) for additional information, or if you have an outreach-related idea that you'd like to collaborate on! We would love to hear from you.

We had a fantastic opportunity with the University of Michigan Girls in Science and Engineering (UM WISE GISE) day camp to take the campers on a tour of Delta Air Line (DL)'s hangar facilities and various stops within the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW). Along with Max and Prof. Gökçin Çınar, the campers learned about aircraft (we saw an Airbus A330!), aircraft design, aircraft maintenance, airline and airport operations, and air traffic control.

First up, the Delta Air Line hangars! We were super excited to see an Airbus A330 aircraft in the hangar, and got to walk around it, taking in the sheer size of the aircraft. Maintenance activities were occurring on the starboard engine, and we got to see how complex the engine components were by peering inside it while the cowling was partially opened. We also were given a tour of the cabin interiors and the flight deck!

After the hangars, we made our way into DTW (passing through a TSA security checkpoint, of course!), where we split into groups to go see various airport facilities (e.g., passenger lounges) and the ramp control towers at the Edward H. McNamara Terminal, which handles predominantly Delta Air Lines flights. The campers saw how ramp controllers meticulously look after aircraft around the terminals and gate/ramp areas. We were surrounded by computer displays of live airport surface camera feeds, airport surface situational displays, among others! We also visited the Delta Air Lines operations center within the McNamara Terminal, before ending our tour onboard a Boeing 717 while it was parked at the gate.

All pictures, unless credited otherwise, were taken by Max Li, Gökçin Çınar.