Frequently Asked Questions

For all FAA Challenges, eligibility is limited to students from colleges and universities in the United States. Additionally, all team members, including all faculty advisors and students, must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States.

Because each FAA Challenge is different, please check the Eligibility section of the Guidelines Document of the Challenge you are interested in. This document can be found on the respective Challenge’s webpage. You can also check the specific Challenge’s FAQ section on this page.

An academic advisor may be a lawful permanent resident. If they are a U.S. Citizen or lawful permanent resident, we are allowed to send funds to the college/university on their behalf.

We understand that EOI’s are due early in the development process and teams will still be in the process of fleshing out many of the details of their concepts. We fully expect that teams’ concepts will change and evolve between the EOI and Proposal submissions, as in-depth research and analysis is conducted. Teams have the flexibility to change ideas as they work over the course of the semester, and the idea submitted in the EOI does not need to match the proposal submission.

EOIs are non-binding. If a team submits an EOI and then later decides not to participate in the competition, no further action is required.

The judging panels are made up of FAA experts who will evaluate each submission based on adherence to the guidelines and the published evaluation criteria for each deliverable.

The W9/Vendor Form must be filled out by the lead college/university. Typically, it is done through the college/university finance department. Your advisor should be able to help you navigate conversations with your institution to ensure the Wi is filled out correctly by the appropriate personnel.

Note: A completed IRS Form W9 is and acceptable substitution.

Yes.

Absolutely!, the competition is open to partnering colleges and universities, and teams can work across institutioins. Do make sure, however, that your team lead and advisor are both from the primary institution. If selected as a finalist, the lead (primary) institution will receive the finalist funding, so it’s important that your academic advisor is at the lead institution, so they can distribute funds accordingly and make sure the porject is managed according to univresity protocol.

No, students must be 18 years of age or older.

They can mentor the team as much or as little as desired. Some faculty take a very hands-off approach, while others are actively involved in all aspects of the team’s research and submissions. FAA Challenges allow faculty to be involved in the students’ work and product as much as they would like to.

Faculty advisors of finalist teams will be responsible for accepting the prize, submitting any university paperwork we require for the competition, and working with the university to make any necessary arrangements for the team to attend Forums. The advisor also ensures that teams submit their deliverables by the established deadlines and that Forum registration is conducted on time.

Faculty advisors must also sign the Faculty Advisor Approval Attestation Form for the Proposal Paper Submission and, if accepted as a finalist, for the Technical Paper Submission.

While advisors can contribute to the team’s work, it is expected that the bulk of the work is completed by the undergraduate and/or graduate student team members. Student team members are also expected to be the primary presenters of their work at the on-site Forum.

A post-doc can serve as your official advisor, as long as he/she is employed by the university to teach or conduct research, and can manage a prize in an official capacity behalf of your team.

Yes. At a minimum, team member participants must be an enrolled student during either the Fall semester when the Challenge is announced, or the following Spring semester. Students who graduate at the end of the Fall semester remain eligible to participate, may still contribute to the team’s work post-graduation, and may attend the Forum.