The University of Cincinnati will be collaborating with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in a forward-looking effort to promote space-based research in honor of Neil Armstrong -the first man to walk on the moon and a former professor at the college, WCPO reported.

The planned Neil Armstrong Space Science Institute will promote interdisciplinary space-based research and encourage students to pursue degrees in space science and engineering fields. The institute will also serve to manage and preserve space-related research data with an on-site research and learning commons.

The University of Cincinnati entered a Space Act Agreement with NASA's Ames Research Center, clearing the way for collaboration between its researchers and NASA experts. Faculty and students will also have access to the advanced facilities at NASA's research center.

"This will open up new opportunities for many students to follow," UC Vice President for Research William Ball said.

The agreement allows NASA experts and researchers at the college to collaborate in four areas: intelligent systems and structures; nanomedicine and biomedicine; environment and sustainability; and analytics and cyber security, the Cincinnati Business Courier reported.

School officials expect all four areas to be up and running within five years, but the first focus will be on research related to unmanned aerial vehicles or drones.

"During the past two decades, unmanned aerial vehicles have proved themselves to be extremely capable for military applications," UC College of Engineering and Applied Science Interim Dean Teik Lim said in a news release. "We also have aerospace faculty who have worked on UAV research for a number of years and developed prototypes that are being geared toward firefighting, seek-and-rescue missions and other non-military applications."

The university also honored Armstrong by starting a new award and scholarship in his name. The Neil Armstrong UC Forward Innovation Award will be given to a team of students whose works creates transformative inventions, innovations or solutions.

Armstrong taught at University of Cincinnati from 1971 to 1979. Armstrong died in 2012.