Sinan Abdulhak selected for the Aviation Week Network’s 2025 20 Twenties Class
A celebration of the master’s student’s achievements took place at the 20 Twenties awards banquet in Washington D.C.
University of Michigan (U-M) Industrial and Operations Engineering (IOE) master’s student Sinan Abdulhak has been recognized as part of Aviation Week Network’s prestigious 20 Twenties class of 2025. This honor is awarded to 20 students from around the world who are expected to make a meaningful impact in aviation, aerospace or defense.
“Envisioning how human-machine systems of the future can empower our nation’s hidden aviation superstars is nothing short of exhilarating,” said Abdulhak. “Air traffic managers, dispatchers and many more commercial aviation professionals keep our world moving, and I’m excited to continue exploring how we can deliver the world-class tools they deserve.”
A celebration of his achievements took place at the 20 Twenties awards banquet in Washington D.C., held on March 6, 2025, along with another U-M winner, Elijah Simpson, who is pursuing a B.S.E. in Aerospace Engineering.
About Abdulhak
While at U-M, Abdulhak has been a part of many groups, including the Laboratory for Air Transportation, Infrastructure, and Connected Environments (LATTICE), which focuses on identifying and addressing research problems that contribute towards a safer and more efficient air transportation system.
While at LATTICE, he worked on a paper with his advisor, Max Li titled “CHATATC: Large Language Model-Driven Conversational Agents for Supporting Strategic Air Traffic Flow Management.” This paper explored the use of generative AI and large language models (LLMs) in strategic traffic flow management by developing and testing CHATATC, an LLM trained on over two decades of Ground Delay Program (GDP) data to assist traffic managers by curating and summarizing historical air traffic events. In July 2024, the research received the Best Paper Award at the International Conference on Research in Air Transportation (ICRAT).
Another major accomplishment was marked in August 2023 when he and his team placed first in the Nationwide FAA TFM-AID Design Challenge. Together, they created an interface that consolidated over 20 applications into a single platform to enhance the airspace flow program (AFP) workflow for FAA Traffic Managers, used to slow the rate of air traffic.
He also participated in a co-op with Delta Airlines in their Air Traffic Management department. There, he applied UX design principles to make data visualization more intuitive and developed analytical frameworks that have since become an integral part of the team’s daily operations.
After receiving his Bachelor of Science in Engineering from U-M IOE in 2024, Abdulhak decided to also pursue a master’s degree in IOE, which he aims to finish in May 2025. After graduating, Abdulhak plans to pursue a PhD in IOE to develop expertise in the design of human-machine systems for commercial aviation.
Photo credit: Tina de la Rosa