UND Aerospace student receives first-ever UAS training scholarship

At a ceremony guaranteed to please more than 100 scholarship recipients last weekend, University of North Dakota John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences student Kristopher Chachula was presented with the first-ever UAS training scholarship.

The event took place in the Memorial Union Ballroom—packed to capacity with UND alums, faculty, parents, students and guests—during the spring UND Aviation Parent's Weekend. This new award—a UAS training scholarship—is given to a senior graduating with a major in UAS. It will provide both the ground and flight training required for factory training in Sensurion Corp.'s MAGPIE. This is the first UAS training scholarship awarded at UND.

Chachula, a senior studying UAS, from Orange County, Calif., received a scholarship for hands-on training in one of the world's first Federal Aviation Administration certified small UAS, Sensurion's MAGPIE MP-1.

Chachula, an intern with the Northern Plains UAS Test Site, was previously a console operator for UND and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) operating the International Space Station Agricultural Camera. As an aviation aficionado and commercial pilot, many of Chachula's hobbies revolve around the research, operation and history of flight.

“We recognize the hard work, the career-minded diligent efforts, and your commient to making the UAS industry the best it can be,” said Sensurion Aerospace VP for Business Development Dan Johnson, a UND Aerospace alumnus. “We are proud to be your sponsor and to have this opportunity to work hand-in-hand with one of UND's finest. We sincerely value the relationship we have with UND and look forward to supporting their program and students for many years to come."

Chachula's training curriculum in the MP-1 will include classroom instruction focusing on systems, operation and field maintenance; flight training that will put him side by side with a flight instructor at the controls of the MP-1; and operational training involving the aircraft's Ground Control System, among other programs.