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The Dave Abrams and Gene Banning Pan Am Research Grant

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  • Applications Closed
Wings over the world
Wings over the world

Please be advised that the Dave Abrams and Gene Banning Pan Am Research Grant is temporarily on hold, and not accepting applications at this time. UM Special Collections supports international research and usage of our many aviation history collections. Until the grant process is resumed, please feel free to contact our remote research assistants at asc.library@miami.edu, or call us at 305-284-9552 for assistance. We look forward to reinstating these grants and experiencing the creativity, out-of-the-box thinking, and rich new ideas that stem from them.


Applications Closed

Please be advised that the Dave Abrams and Gene Banning Pan Am Research Grant is temporarily on hold, and not accepting applications at this time.



About Dave Abrams and Gene Banning

After graduating from the University of Miami, Dave Abrams (1919-2005) joined Pan American Airways and worked for 42 years as a meteorologist, navigator and Director of Flight Operations for Latin America. Abrams was instrumental in the formation of The Pan Am Historical Foundation after the company shut its doors in 1991, and in finding a home for the Pan Am’s archives and memorabilia.

Gene Banning (1918-2006) was one of the longest serving pilots for Pan Am. His aviation days started with the infamous flying boats in 1941 and ended with Boeing 747s in 1978. An avid researcher, Banning was a guiding member of The Pan Am Historical Foundation from its inception and the author of Airlines of Pan American since 1927 (McLean, Va.: Paladwr, 2001).

About the Pan Am Historical Foundation and the University of Miami Libraries

The Pan Am Historical Foundation is a group dedicated to preserving the heritage of Pan American World Airways. For more information about the Foundation, visit http://www.panam.org/. The Special Collections of the University of Miami Libraries preserves and provides access to research materials focusing on the history and culture of Florida, the Caribbean and Latin America. The Pan American World Airways, Inc. Records consists of hundreds of boxes of materials and reigns as the most avidly consulted single resource in Special Collections. For more information about the Special Collections of the University of Miami Libraries, visit https://www.library.miami.edu/specialcollections/index.html.

Past Winners

  • 2019: Elizabeth Manley, “Imagining the Tropics: Women, the Professionalization of Caribbean Tourism, and the Conjuring of Island Fantasy, 1890 – 1980”
  • 2018: Henry Knight Lozano, “The Flights That Bind: Pan Am’s California-to-Hawai’i Route & Hawaiian Promotion and Statehood, 1936-1966”
  • 2017: Bryce Evans, “Pan Am: A Gastronomic History”
  • 2016: Sean Seyer, “Independent Internationalism in the Air: Pan American Airlines, the Pan American Union, and the 1928 Havana Convention”
  • 2015: Josue Sakata, Boston Public School Primary Source Sets
  • 2014: Hadassah St. Hubert, “Visions of a Modern Nation: Haiti at the World’s Fairs”
  • 2013: Ken Fortenberry & Gregg Herken, “Point of No Return: Solving the Mystery of the Lost Clipper”
  • 2012: Felipe F. Cruz, “Flight of the Toucans: Technology and Culture in the Brazilian Airspace”
  • 2012: Gordon H Pirie examined Pan Am’s role in civil aviation to, and from, in post-colonial Africa
  • 2011: Jonathan Ruano, “Pan American Airways, the South Atlantic Route and Rise of the American Empire”
  • 2010: Houston Johnson, “Taking Off: The Politics and Culture of American Aviation, 1927-1929”
  • 2009: Augustine Meaher “Pan Am Arrives Down Under: A Diplomatic and Aeronautical Accomplishment”
  • 2009: Roger Turner, “Pan-Am’s Contribution to the Development of Aeronautical Meteorology”
  • 2007: Jennifer Van Vleck “No Distant Places: Aviation and American Globalism, 1924-1968”