2018 MEMBER SPOTLIGHTS
Quarter 1
Clayton Stambaugh
Illinois Department of Transportation
Aviation Facilities Specialist
You get what you give; kindness and patience are two keys to success in aviation.
Biography
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Clayton Stambaugh serves as an Aviation Facilities Specialist for the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) in the Office of Planning and Programming. In addition, he provides support to Department efforts relating to ports and waterways. He previously served as Airport Manager at Pekin Municipal Airport and sat on the executive committee with the Illinois Public Airports Association (IPAA) as First Vice Chairman.
Stambaugh participates on multiple projects with the Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) - Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Stambaugh is a standing member and committee communications coordinator for the TRB Committee on Intergovernmental Relations in Aviation. Stambaugh also leads marketing and communication efforts for the upcoming 10th National Aviation System Planning Symposium.
Stambaugh is a graduate of Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC), where he obtained a Master of Public Administration degree focusing on Aviation Administration while serving as a graduate assistant working with various partners in the National Airport Safety Data Program of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
His primary graduate research focused on using digital technologies, such as social media, to improve airport communication, public relations, and marketing. Stambaugh holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Aviation Management and an Associate of Applied Science degree in Aviation Flight from SIUC.
In addition, he holds a Commercial Pilot Certificate for Airplane Single and Multi-Engine Land with an Instrument Airplane rating, as well as a Remote Pilot Certificate.
Stambaugh taught Aviation Security Regulations and Management during the Spring 2018 semester at SIUC.
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YOUR STORY – HOW DID YOU GET INSPIRED TO WORK IN AVIATION?
My story is not unique. Like many, it all started with a desire to fly. Over time I became enamored with the people, machines, equipment, facilities, and the orchestration of it all. It’s a wonderful song and dance; I’m just glad to have a part.
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WHAT ARE CHALLENGES AND SUCCESSES YOU HAVE ENCOUNTERED ALONG THE WAY?
As a young practitioner, it can be difficult to have a seat at the table and be taken seriously. I’ve learned that consistency, follow-up, and a willingness to work and learn beyond expectations can help bridge any divide, be it generational or whatever gap that might exist. You get what you give.
These strategies are not groundbreaking, but something as simple as using technology can ease the application and elevate their results. Those of us from the digital generation should leverage our native wisdom whenever we can.
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THE FUTURE OF THE INDUSTRY - WHERE DO YOU SEE IT?
I anticipate that the aviation industry will grow in three distinct but interconnected segments, two of which have recently emerged in commercial space and autonomous systems. The segment surrounding manned flight will continue to grow as forecast and will demand a greater workforce that relies on systems management due in part to technology and theory already in practice.
Systematic understanding, which considers the interconnection and interdependence of all aviation segments, including other modes, will be required throughout the workforce. This will be critical in ensuring that safety keeps pace with ever-increasing complexity and movement. Considering the data to be captured and measured, the workforce will rely on artificial intelligence and machine learning to interpret issues/needs and manage related actions.
I’ve also got my fingers crossed for a new aircraft propulsion system that’s more powerful and far cheaper.
WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST TAKEAWAY FOR OTHER YOUNG PROFESSIONALS IN AVIATION?
Practice patience, embrace failure, and continue to learn. An inherent fault of our generation and the digital world we grew up in is a need and expectation for immediacy. Things rarely happen as quickly and directly as desired.
Whatever the end goal, remember that you may wait longer than expected, fail numerous times, and your course might not necessarily be what was expected. Be kind. Continue to learn and grow professionally and personally through the process.
Quarter 2
Chad Willis
Sacramento County Department of Airports
Senior Airport Planner
Unique backgrounds can still lead to a career in aviation.
Biography
Chad Willis serves as a Senior Airport Planner for the Sacramento County Department of Airports. Prior to this, he held similar roles with Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport Authority and the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT), where he was able to contribute to several very large infrastructure projects. Before working in aviation, Mr. Willis received a Masters of Arts degree in Bio-Archaeology and worked as Forensic Anthropologist, College Professor, and Environmental Consultant.
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Mr. Willis is also a standing member for the TRB Committee on Intergovernmental Relations in Aviation, as well as the Natural Resources Chair for the ACI-NA Environmental Steering Group.
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YOUR STORY – HOW DID YOU GET INSPIRED TO WORK IN AVIATION?
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My story is typical for many of those that work in aviation; it started with a desire to fly. I began training for my private pilot’s license while still attending high school. From there, my interest in aviation maintained even while my educational interests shifted.
Several years later I was working for the Department of Defense in Afghanistan, and my long hours spent in military aircraft and working on military airfields reignited my interests in the aviation industry. When I returned stateside, I promptly began a career working with the ADOT and their Aeronautics division, and from then on my career has been strongly rooted in airport management.
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WHAT ARE CHALLENGES AND SUCCESSES YOU HAVE ENCOUNTERED ALONG THE WAY?
As a young professional, I encountered skepticism from older colleagues in my abilities to spearhead projects and lead others. I had to routinely work harder and learn faster than my more established peers to overcome the perception that young professionals cannot be leaders. Fortunately, I have been able to demonstrate my willingness to put in the work and assist others wherever I could.
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THE FUTURE OF THE INDUSTRY - WHERE DO YOU SEE IT?
We are in a major time of change for the aviation industry. With the advent of TNCs, autonomous vehicles, autonomous aircraft, drone cargo deliveries, and the largest looming wave of industry retirements we have seen, it is an exciting time to be in aviation.
WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST TAKEAWAY FOR OTHER YOUNG PROFESSIONALS IN AVIATION?
It’s a great time to be in the aviation industry with dynamic changes and a large contingent of established professionals that are near retirement. If you work hard to develop leadership skills and keep up with the latest trends, there will be ample opportunity for advancement.
Quarter 3
Chris Groh
Kutchins & Groh, LLC
Airport Planner and Co-founder, Runway.VC
Biography
I'm at airport planner at the airport planning firm, Kutchins & Groh, LLC. While my role is somewhat fluid, my primary focus is on the financial aspect of airport projects, such as: forecasting demands, conducting rate studies, assisting with grant management, and overall geared towards project funding and/or increasing airport revenue.
I'm also a co-founder of Runway.VC – an organization dedicated to building a community of aviation enthusiasts interested in the future of the aviation. Our community is designed to virtually reach across the various silos within the industry and connect people with ideas to push aviation into the future. We really believe that since innovation doesn't happen in a vacuum, people should stop focusing on the future of a certain part of aviation and start focusing on how the various parts will work together.
I also host a podcast semi-frequently to talk with various industry experts and disruptors about what they are working on and how they see the future.
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YOUR STORY – HOW DID YOU GET INSPIRED TO WORK IN AVIATION?
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Despite growing up around it, when I finished with my graduate program, I didn't really think about a career in aviation. (Although, truth be told, I didn't know where I would end up.) I did, however, know that I wanted to be in an industry that was old school in how it operated, but was going to soon be faced with some major innovation challenges. After doing some research, it occurred to me that aviation was exactly this industry.
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WHAT ARE CHALLENGES AND SUCCESSES YOU HAVE ENCOUNTERED ALONG THE WAY?
The biggest challenge is still one I work through today. Since I have a degree in Economics with an MBA, I don't have any background or formal education in aviation. When I first started I was constantly having to look up terms and asking questions on how things worked. Luckily after doing this for a little while, reading the FAA's airport handbook, and constantly Googling, I'm getting a better handle on things (although I turn to my phone for a quick search).
I see my successes coming out of wrapping up a project and seeing the recommendations implemented. Whether it’s something like helping an airport negotiate new airline agreements or developing a new strategy to combine various funding sources to finance growth, these are the issues that help airports grow. It’s always a great feeling to be able to go to an airport, look at a new project, and say "I played a small part in this."
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THE FUTURE OF THE INDUSTRY - WHERE DO YOU SEE IT?
While I think things like "flying taxis" and the Hyperloop are fun to talk about, my interests are around what impact will data processing and machine learning have on the industry. More data is being produced and captured now than ever before and the requirements to process that data is becoming cheaper and more advanced. The ability to learn from this data and make adjustments when necessary will allow both airports and airlines to be more efficient and provide a better passenger experience.
Also, as the collection of this data becomes more important to stakeholders and tenants, airports have an opportunity to generate some additional ancillary revenue. Depending on how data is collected and managed, this revenue could be a major contribution to an airport's bottom line.
WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST TAKEAWAY FOR OTHER YOUNG PROFESSIONALS IN AVIATION?
We constantly hear about how small the aviation industry is when it comes to the professionals working in it. My takeaway to young professionals would be to take advantage of that and reach out to various people to learn more about what they are working on and how they see the industry evolving. You'd be surprised how many people in leadership roles are willing to jump on a phone call for a few minutes to talk about things they are working on.
Quarter 4
Dr. Amber Woodburn McNair
The Ohio State University
Assistant Professor
Invited into aviation via mentorship; now expanding airport planning education and research.
Biography
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Amber Woodburn McNair, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of City and Regional Planning (CRP) and holds an affiliated position with the Center for Aviation Studies (CAS) at The Ohio State University.
Her education background includes a BS (UC Berkeley, 2009) and MS (UT Knoxville, 2013) in Civil Engineering and a PhD (University of Pennsylvania, 2016) in City and Regional Planning, all with an emphasis on transportation systems.
At OSU, she integrates air transportation and airspace planning in both her teaching and research with graduate and undergraduate students. Her most recent funded work includes a study of the economic impact of the Columbus Regional Airport Authority’s three airports (John Glenn, Rickenbacker, and Bolton Field) on the State of Ohio.
She has also conducted work that uses unmanned aerial vehicles to capture high-resolution aerial views of transportation corridors to analyze auto-centric urban form and identify interventions for complete street design.
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YOUR STORY – HOW DID YOU GET INSPIRED TO WORK IN AVIATION?
My path to a career in aviation is primarily the result of effective mentorship. Aside from the typical childhood phase where we all want to be an astronaut, I did not grow up with a particular interest in aviation. However, I was always interested in the link between the built environment and social impacts. This interest led me to pursue an undergraduate degree in the Civil Engineering program at the University of California, Berkeley.
During my senior year, I worked with Dr. Megan Smirti Ryerson (at that time, she was still a graduate student) and Dr. Mark Hansen as one of their undergraduate assistants working in aviation research topics. From there, I went on to pursue graduate degrees with Dr. Ryerson as my advisor and completed my dissertation entitled “Pushback in the jet age: Investigating neighborhood change, environmental justice, and planning process in airport-adjacent communities”.
I remain fascinated in the global-local nexus inherent in airport facility planning. As I continue my professional career, I hope to expand what we know about the economic, environmental, and equity issues pertinent to planning airport-adjacent communities.
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WHAT ARE CHALLENGES AND SUCCESSES YOU HAVE ENCOUNTERED ALONG THE WAY?
I regard some of my biggest successes as the challenges I overcame…
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…while in engineering undergrad: Paying for my education.
…while in the workforce: Learning how to address and rise above sexism.
…while in engineering graduate school: Deciding to leave to pursue a PhD in planning.
…while writing my dissertation: Knowing when to stop writing my dissertation.
…while working at OSU: Recruiting doctoral students.
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THE FUTURE OF THE INDUSTRY - WHERE DO YOU SEE IT?
Skyrocketing for decades and decades! Our industry has the extraordinary resilience to face crises. While North America and Europe become more mature markets with still high growth rates, commercial aviation is in an astonishing ascent phase in most of the rest of the world. This is not without raising questions on our ability to accommodate this growth in a safe and sustainable way. Both sides of the Northern Atlantic Ocean shall continue to lead the way, especially with their advanced Air Traffic Management (ATM) modernization program NextGen and SESAR.
The future of airports will be in the age of disruption and diversity. On the airport landside, we already see the rise of Transportation Network Company (TNC) (Uber, Lyft, and more). Autonomous vehicles, and even more innovative modes such as drone-taxis and hyperloop at some airports, will be next. In the terminal side, passengers expect quick, efficient processes as well as a personalized experience from curbside to gate, making flying commercially as easy as travelling by train – which may be contradictory with growing security threats requiring strengthened policies. On the airside, larger aircraft bring new business opportunities along with technical and operational challenges.
New users such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and commercial spacecraft are other game-changers. We should not underestimate the potential impact of these new players. The U.S. is largely ahead in supporting these blooming industries with appropriate policies and regulatory frameworks.
WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST TAKEAWAY FOR OTHER YOUNG PROFESSIONALS IN AVIATION?
Even though you are “young”, never underestimate your potential to lead and mentor. A Graduate Teaching Assistant substantially changed the course of my professional career because she saw potential in my ideas and knew that I could make meaningful contributions to this industry.
I think we would all do well to act on our capacity to invite underrepresented groups into the air transportation industry and amplify those who are bringing new ideas and perspectives to the fore.