After a two-year hiatus, the UC Davis Drone Academy returned to campus this week for a four-day camp. The academy, which began in 2018 with support from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), serves high school students from under-represented backgrounds. It is co-sponsored by CITRIS and the Banatao Institute and the UC Davis Early Academic Outreach Program.
This year, 24 students came to UC Davis for the camp.
One of the academy’s main goals is to give the underrepresented students in the greater Sacramento and Yolo County area an opportunity to learn more about drones and aerospace, with a hands-on learning experience.
“These students have little or no aviation program at their high schools, so we wanted to offer (the opportunity) to them first,” said Nathan Metzler, academy director and CITRIS program manager at UC Davis.
Photo by Caleb Hampton/Davis Enterprise