International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

Special Issue: 2026 BCAAS Safety Research Symposium

Introduction

Welcome to the IJAAA Special Issue: 2026 BCAAS Safety Research Symposium.

In January 2026, the Boeing Center for Aviation and Aerospace Safety (BCAAS) at Embry-Riddle hosted the third annual Safety Research Symposium online and in-person at the Embry-Riddle Daytona Beach campus. The Symposium is designed to bring together faculty, staff, and students from across Embry-Riddle’s three campuses to share completed projects, works in progress, and research ideas. The 2026 Symposium included 17 presentations and 10 posters. Topics covered a range of safety areas including data analytics, AI applications, safety culture, and innovative approaches to known problems. In addition, this year we added the opportunity to submit papers for this Special Issue. We are pleased to share five papers that discuss some of the works in progress presented at the Symposium. Works in progress are designed to elicit dialogue, provide feedback to authors, and support further development of research. The papers here represent evolving research with preliminary findings for the purpose of sparking additional discussion on key topics.

The mission of the Boeing Center for Aviation and Aerospace Safety is to lead and foster innovation and collaboration among industry, government and academic leaders, focusing on research, the student experience, professional education and industry engagement that will enhance aviation and aerospace safety. In addition to the Symposium, BCAAS programs include a Safer Skies guest speaker series, a Safer Skies podcast series, an internal seed grant program, safety curriculum development support, and internship support for students, among other initiatives. To keep up with BCAAS activities, follow us on LinkedIn and sign up for our newsletter.

Special Issue Guest Editors: Dr. Kristy Kiernan and Dr. Becky Lutte