ECU supports Army airborne through database development

Students and faculty in the College of Engineering and Technology are working on a $1.2 million research and development project to support the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division.

“The objective is to build a complex database system that has potential to result in productivity and efficiency gains for the Army,” said Erol Ozan, professor in ECU’s Department of Technology Systems and the principal investigator on the project. “It is a software development project where we apply innovation and state-of-the-art technology in our fields of expertise.”

The 82nd Airborne is based at Fort Liberty near Fayetteville. The airborne infantry division specializes in parachute assault operations in which personnel drop into hostile areas.

The database assists division leadership in planning airdrop missions and post-drop reporting. The ECU team is looking to improve report accuracy; system reliability and efficiency; accessibility by allowing multiple users at one time; processes that will support report customization; flexibility to allow for future integration with other systems; cybersecurity; and deployment of the system in a secure cloud-based environment.

The team completed the first stage of the project in 2022 through an initial $286,000 grant. The current pilot phase runs through Sept. 30 with $1.2 million in funding from the Civil-Military Innovation Institute’s role in the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Pathfinder program.

Though the research team may never end up on an Army recruiting poster, they feel they are serving the country in their own way.

“Being able to positively impact a community – in this case the Army that keeps us safe – knowing that I can contribute to our nation’s defense is pretty cool,” said Jethro Libutan, a junior computer science major and Brinkley-Lane Scholar from Durham who is working on the project.

Libutan and fellow computer science majors Grant Melvin and Francisco Maldonado meet at least once a week in person and spend roughly 20 hours each week on the project.

“I think it’s good for me to be able to get my hands on this and see what it’s like to work with a team outside of the classroom,” said Maldonado, a senior from Charlotte. “I like the idea of, in a sense, serving our country like this. It’s a really good opportunity. I think it will help prepare me when I enter the real world and get a job.”

Melvin said he enjoyed traveling to Fort Liberty to meet with Army personnel.

“Working with the people who actually use the product is really cool. It makes it feel like it’s more meaningful work,” said Melvin, a senior from Rocky Mount. “It’s not like we’re developing something that may be used by a corporation you can’t really see, but we get to go present to them and we actually know their names, so it makes it a lot better.”