MoreA dirigible at the University of Delaware takes surveying to new heights.
Jan. 22, 2009----Thanks to a generous donation from alumna Rachel Jewett Ledbetter, the University of Delaware has acquired a non-rigid airship, better known as a blimp, that will be used as an environmental research and monitoring platform for a myriad of research and education applications. Ledbetter graduated from UD in 1944 with a degree in chemistry.
The University community was invited to view the airship, known as the Low-Altitude Environmental Analysis Dirigible (LEAD) for the first time on Tuesday, Jan. 14, in its temporary home in the Center for Applied Coastal Research. An official unveiling and dedication will take place later this spring.
Believed to be the first of its kind in a university setting, the UD blimp project crosses three colleges and is expected to impact thousands of students taking more than 50 courses, ranging from Geographic Information Science, Coastal Field Biology, Geological Oceanography, and Population Ecology to Meteorology, Surveying, Hydrology, and Microclimatology. ...
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