Join Us
Your organization can participate in cutting-edge research and hone your own capabilities by partnering with our institute. AIDA3 is a multidisciplinary consortium with opportunities for additional members.Interested in Becoming a Partner?
Email Us!Partnership Tiers
Partnership tiers are outlined below. Download our info sheet (PDF) for more information. Interested in becoming a partner? Contact us at aida3@purdue.edu
Founding Members
Fee: $2.6 million/Y1 and $1 million thereafter
Benefits:
- Seat at Consortium Governance Council as Founding Member
- Co-Chair the Technical Steering Committee together with Director
- Tier I benefits
Tier I: Gold
Fee: $1 million/Y1
Benefits:
- Seat at the Consortium Governance Council
- Right to name a member in Technical Steering Committee
- Rights to intellectual property
- Tier II benefits
Tier II: Silver
Fee: $80,000/Y
Benefits:
- On-campus recruitment and workshops
- Active engagement and partnership to seek large-scale, external funding on strategic research at national levels
- Right to name member in Technical Liaison Team
- Tier III benefits
- Funding will typically go directly to seed funding for doctoral researchers/faculty
Tier III: Bronze
Fee: $20,000/Y
Benefits:
- Member logo on website
- Ability for researchers from member organization to attend seminars
- Access to research outcomes
Interested In Doctoral / Postdoctoral Fellowship?
See Requirements (PDF)Meet the Current Fellows
Watch this video to see what some of our current fellows are working on at the moment.
What Is The Fellowship About?
The AIDA3 Fellowship is a prestigious program designed to support doctoral and postdoctoral candidates in advancing research on physical AI in digital, autonomous, and augmented aviation. The fellowship was initiated through the partnership of Purdue University and the entrepreneurial UAV manufacturer Windracers LLC, which founded AIDA3 as a new center in 2024. Read more about our launch here.
Fellows will have the opportunity to work on cutting-edge projects that align with the center’s “Lab to Life” vision, ensuring their research has a tangible impact on real-world aviation challenges. By joining the AIDA Fellowship, you will be part of a vibrant community of researchers, industry experts, and innovators who are shaping the future of autonomous aviation.
Am I Eligible?
- Open to current Purdue students or those interested in applying to Purdue.
- Doctoral and postdoctoral candidates with a strong background in a technical area in AI/ML for aerial autonomy and aviation demonstrated in prior education or practical experience. Under certain conditions, master students are also accepted.
- Candidates must be passionate about advancing research in autonomous aviation and solving real-world challenges.
- Faculty advisors can come from any of the 5 colleges at Purdue university (College of Agriculture, College of Engineering, College of Liberal Arts, College of Science, or Polytechnic Institute); you can choose from existing affiliated faculty members or new faculty that are planning to join the center; please reach out to our director to discuss details.
- Documentation/confirmation by your faculty advisor/committee that your research will become an integral part of doctoral research and papers/thesis produced.
Why Should I Apply?
Key Benefits:
- Seed funding is committed for one year, with the goal to renew funding after one year for at least a period of 2 years.
- Access to state-of-the-art facilities, including the indoor testing facility PURT, smart operations center and outdoor operations for the ULTRA vehicle.
- Collaborate with world-class faculty from one of Purdue’s five colleges and interdisciplinary R&D teams involving engineers from industry partners like Windracers.
- Leverage advanced AI/ML technologies to develop innovative solutions for real-world aviation problems.
- Establish a scientific reputation through high-quality publications jointly with the AIDA3 team
- Translate research into actionable, real-world applications that solve critical challenges in aerial autonomy.
- Receive research funding for up to two years, with the goal to extend funding until graduation pending availability of funds. (see details in the policy document).
- Participate in demonstration events and showcase your research to your peers, other faculty members and industry partners.
What You Will Do:
- Collaborate on groundbreaking research and solve 5 key “problems” guiding AIDA3’s research portfolio related to R&D pillars such as UAV autonomy, human-autonomy teaming and cybersecurity. Read more about the problems to solve here.
- Conduct hands-on AI/ML experiments that combine rigorous scientific methods with real-world aviation scenarios.
- Develop software and algorithms for advanced UAV systems that are used in demonstrations with small and large UAVs, including the two large fixed-wing UAVs Earhart and Armstrong donated by Windracers.
What Are The Focus Areas?
As an AIDA fellow, your research will fall under one or more of our research areas, contribute to solving key challenges in autonomous aviation, and focus on one or more AI/ML technical areas.
Research Areas
- AI/ML-enabled human-autonomy teaming for scalable and safe remote UAV operations
- AI/ML for onboard systems advancing UAV autonomy
- AI/ML for aerial transportation and multimodal supply chain
- AI/ML for UAV-enabled meteorological and agricultural sensing
- AI/ML for cybersecurity in autonomous aviation
Key Challenges
- The 1:100 Challenge: One human operating 100 vehicles at the same time
- Simple to Use: Making a standard human operator 100% proficient after 2 hours of training
- Always Flying: 70% asset utilization
- Sensing Dynamically: sensing dynamically without constraints
- Attack Resilience: Making sure no outsider can take control
ML/AL Technical Focus
- Physics inspired neural networks
- Federated learning
- Reinforcement learning
- Model-based control
- Computer vision
- Edge computing
- Formal methods
- Safety verification and uncertainty quantification
- Large Language Models (LLMs)
- Explainability and interpretability of AI/ML
- Digital twins and fidelity simulations
- SLAM
- Embodied AI
How Do I Apply?
Application Deadline:
Applications are open on a rolling basis; however, we align our selection and start date with the dates of the different colleges and schools at Purdue University. So please contact us about your program of interest so that we can direct you to the right graduate coordinator, and or faculty member. We are actively recruiting for Fall 2025 now. Candidates for the 2025 fellowship competition are currently reviewed, and preselection of candidates for phase 1 will be made by March 2025, with final fellowships awarded based on successful phase 2 application by end of 2025.
Selection Process:
Step 1: Candidate evaluation based on CV, motivation letter, and work samples (e.g., GitHub projects) including indicated current program of study/current
Step 2: Research proposal submission (max 5 pages including references) developed by the fellow and his/her advisor in collaboration with the AIDA3 director. The plan should include:
- Problem statement aligned with AIDA³ objectives. It should also articulate the practical and the scientific research gap and the research aim/objectives
- Proposed AI/ML Method and approach
- Activities and timeline with milestones (at least semester based)
- Expected outcomes/deliverables: scientific artifacts to be published (data, papers, source code/algorithms) along with publication plan
- Roadmap for transforming research into real-world solutions
Have Questions? Ready to start the Process?
Read about the Fellowship Policies approved by the consortium governance council of AIDA3. Contact us with questions or to submit your application. We also invite you to join our weekly research meetings at 10 a.m. on Wednesdays to meet other fellows and their projects! Let us know if you are interested to join so that we can invite you!