BINGHAMTON, NY – William Ziegler, professor and director of the Binghamton University Scholars program, will discuss “Undergraduates Soar on Airport Projects – A Federal, State, County and Private Partnership,” at the Binghamton University Forum luncheon program, Wednesday, Jan. 18. Lunch will begin at 11:30 a.m. and the program will start at noon in the Old Union Hall of the University Union.

Since 2009, Ziegler’s undergraduate students, regular participants in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Design Competition for Universities, have won four first-place awards, a second-place award and an honorable mention. The students have presented their award-winning designs in Chicago; Philadelphia; Minneapolis; Denver; Boulder, CO; Oshkosh, WI; and Arlington, VA. One of the designs is currently under construction at the Greater Binghamton Airport as the result of a $1.4 million grant from the FAA.

The technical design competition invites undergraduate and graduate students to tackle airport issues that fall within broad categories including airport operation and maintenance, runway safety/runway incursions, airport environmental interactions and airport management and planning.

Ziegler, recipient of this year’s Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Faculty Service, is a faculty master of Newing College, a 1,500-student residential living/learning community on campus. Nominated by Binghamton University as U.S. Professor of the Year, a program that celebrates outstanding instructors across the country, Ziegler has been a consultant to and/or supervised student projects at well over 100 organizations including IBM, Lockheed Martin, Borg-Warner, Corning Inc. and NYSEG.  In addition, he has authored numerous papers that have been published by organization such as the IEEE, ACM and ASEE.

The Binghamton University Forum is a membership organization comprised of business, professional and community leaders that brings nationally known authorities to speak at functions throughout the year.  For more information, call the Forum office at (607) 777-4390.