CITRIS Aviation, a multicampus research initiative of the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society and the Banatao Institute (CITRIS) at the University of California (UC), has selected six student teams to progress to the second phase of the 2025–26 CITRIS Aviation Prize competition.
This year’s challenge centers on designing the operational framework for the California Airlink, a proposed intercampus air transportation system linking the four CITRIS campuses, Moffett Federal Airfield and several regional airports via electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Anchored by the Berkeley Space Center at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, which is proposed to serve as both a research hub and a testbed, the California Airlink connects these sites through existing aerospace and drone programs that prepare students, researchers and communities for the future of flight.
Teams were asked to propose strategies for selecting a site for an eVTOL vertiport, routing low-altitude air traffic, and managing emergency procedures and weather-aware operations — work that will ultimately support a scalable simulation framework validating future infrastructure and system design.
“As we advance toward a future in which eVTOL aircraft operate alongside conventional air traffic, the CITRIS Aviation Prize plays a critical role in preparing the next generation of engineers and researchers to design that future responsibly,” said Ricardo Sanfelice, director of CITRIS Aviation and chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UC Santa Cruz.
“This year’s focus of the California Airlink pushes student teams to grapple with the real complexities of integrating emerging aviation technologies into the national airspace, where safety, reliability and rigorous systems thinking are paramount.”
Submissions in the first phase of the competition reflected broad interest across academic levels and disciplines, with teams that included undergraduate and graduate students representing fields such as aerospace engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, applied mathematics, and economics. Reviewers evaluated proposals for their clarity of vision, feasibility and overall potential to advance a safe, efficient Airlink network across Northern California.
The following teams will move on to Phase 2:
- UC Berkeley:
- Team members: Zhe Fu, Jordan Kam, Jean-Luc Lupien, Andrew Park, William Su, Katie Wang
- Advisers: Mark Hansen, professor of civil and environmental engineering; Raja Sengupta, progressor of civil and environmental engineering; Vishwanath Bulusu, aerospace researcher, Crown Consulting Inc.
- UC Davis:
- Team members: Nils Fleig, Joey Lee, Ryan Sieh, Connor Trieu, Miumiu Zou
- Adviser: Nathan Sedlander, adjunct professor of social and climate entrepreneurship
- UC Davis:
- Team members: Benjamin Brundage, Theresa Dinh, Luis Gomez, Prasannadatta Kawadkar, Adrian Munoz, Jesse Sandoz, Stephie Soloarivony, Abigail Zheng
- Advisers: Camli Badrya, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering; Cinbin Joseph, postdoctoral fellow of mechanical and aerospace engineering
- UC Davis:
- Team members: Aditi Agrawal, Lucas Bauckman, Alparslan Ege Erdogan, Kailey Gotfried, Joshua Hill, Alex Monroy
- Adviser: Zhaodan Kong, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering
- UC Merced:
- Team members: Sachin Giri, Matthew Huynh, Oliver Htway, Alex Jones, Anthony Luna, Nadiya Rowshan
- Adviser: Francesco Danzi, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering
- UC Santa Cruz:
- Team members: Reva Agarwal, Amber Borjigin, Deeptesh Day, Neha Hingorani, Nataniel Jayasaleen, Eddie Ramos, Nicolas Vaillancourt, Kenneth Wirjadisastra
- Advisers: Daniel Fremont, associate professor of computer science and engineering; Javier González-Rocha, assistant professor of applied mathematics
In the months ahead, the teams will expand their proposals into comprehensive frameworks for vertiport placement and operations designs, supported by technical mentorship from CITRIS Aviation faculty and experts in the aviation industry. Regular project review meetings will provide targeted feedback to guide the teams’ progress and offer the students insight into real-world aviation engineering practices.
“Through the CITRIS Aviation Prize, students work on real-world problems in advanced air mobility, designing innovative air transportation concepts with safety and efficiency at their core,” said González-Rocha. “The competition helps students grow as engineers by bridging classroom learning with real-world decision-making, uncertainty and impact.”
Competition awards will recognize excellence in teams’ designs, including the second annual Atech Award for Most Innovative Design for Air Mobility, which will be accompanied by a $5,000 cash prize.
Teams will present their final designs in late spring to a judging panel of aviation experts from CITRIS Aviation, NASA Ames, and sponsoring companies and organizations. Evaluations will consider overall innovation, technical rigor and economic feasibility.
This marks the third year that NASA experts have served as judges for the CITRIS Aviation Prize. Engineering staff have also held information sessions on technical topics for student competitors.
Now in its fourth iteration, the CITRIS Aviation Prize launched in 2021 with a mission to advance the science and design of sustainable air mobility.
“We are thrilled that the work of the teams will contribute to advancing air mobility through a concrete, system-level application, exploring flights between the CITRIS campuses at Berkeley, Santa Cruz, Merced and Davis,” said Alexandre Bayen, director of CITRIS and the Banatao Institute, Liao-Cho Innovation Endowed Chair and professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences and of civil and environmental engineering at UC Berkeley, and founding associate provost for the Berkeley Space Center.
To learn more about the competition and stay updated on the teams’ progress, please visit the CITRIS Aviation Prize webpage.