Morrison Named Chair of Nation's First UAS Committee

Assistant Professor Steven R. Morrison has been named chair of the University of North Dakota's Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Research Compliance Committee. This new committee is the first of its kind in the United States, and will be an integral step in reviewing applications submitted by UND researchers who wish to operate UAS.

The use of UAS has received great attention in 2012. Their use in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as Pakistan and Yemen, to perform surveillance and targeted killings has been controversial. As a result of the 2012 Federal Aviation Administration Modernization and Reform Act, the FAA must formulate a plan to safely integrate UAS into the domestic national airspace by 2015. In response, a number of federal and state bills are pending that are intended to protect citizens' privacy by limiting the use of UAS.

The UND UAS Research Compliance Committee is charged with reviewing applications to preserve privacy and uphold community standards regarding surveillance. UND is a center of UAS development, training, and deployment, and is therefore an ideal location for a committee of this kind. Professor Morrison is a privacy expert, having published a number of articles on the Fourth Amendment and privacy in the digital age. The committee is composed of a number of stakeholders, including members of the Grand Forks County Sherriff's Department, the Fire Department, the State's Attorney's office, UND faculty, clergy, and the private sector.

The official UND press release is available at http://aerospace.und.edu/news/2012/10/uas-compliance-committee-launched.cfm.