The Santa Noeta Consortium announced its inaugural class of FlyForward Fellows — graduate researchers, designers, and technology specialists placed across all three divisions.
SANTA NOETA — August 28, 2026
The Santa Noeta Consortium announced Friday that it has named its inaugural class of FlyForward Fellows, the graduate researchers, designers, and technology specialists who will work alongside the Consortium’s senior team on the region’s zero-emission retraining initiative this fall.
The Fellows — drawn from affiliated graduate programs — will be assigned across the Consortium’s three divisions: Santa Noeta Research, Santa Noeta Design & Performance Improvement, and Santa Noeta Innovations. Their first full project week begins September 2.
“We didn’t bring in observers,” said Dr. Elena Vance, Director of Research. “These are people who are going to do the work. The bar is professional, and the problems are real.”
The Fellows program is a cornerstone of the Consortium’s approach to the FlyForward retraining initiative. Rather than outsourcing analysis and design to external consultants, the Consortium has built its capacity around an integrated model in which graduate professionals work alongside experienced practitioners on problems that require all three disciplines simultaneously.
FlyForward, the zero-emission retraining initiative anchored at Santa Noeta Regional Airport (STQ), is in its second year. The initiative aims to retrain the airport’s 340-person ground and maintenance workforce for the clean energy systems the airport is scheduled to begin operating in 2028.
The Consortium expects to name a second cohort of Fellows in January.