; (C) activities undertaken by the institution as part of research projects, including research projects sponsored by the Federal Government; and (D) other academic activities approved by the institution. (e) Statutory construction (1) Enforcement Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the authority of the Administrator to pursue an enforcement action against a person operating any unmanned aircraft who endangers the safety of the national airspace system. (2) Regulations and standards Nothing in this section prohibits the Administrator from promulgating any rules or standards consistent with maintaining the safety and security of the national airspace system. 351. Unmanned aircraft systems integration pilot program (a) Authority The Secretary of Transportation may establish a pilot program to enable enhanced drone operations as required in the October 25, 2017 Presidential Memorandum entitled Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Pilot Program and described in 82 Federal Register 50301. (b) Applications The Secretary shall accept applications from State, local, and Tribal governments, in partnership with unmanned aircraft system operators and other private-sector stakeholders, to test and evaluate the integration of civil and public UAS operations into the low-altitude national airspace system. (c) Objectives The purpose of the pilot program is to accelerate existing UAS integration plans by working to solve technical, regulatory, and policy challenges, while enabling advanced UAS operations in select areas subject to ongoing safety oversight and cooperation between the Federal Government and applicable State, local, or Tribal jurisdictions, in order to— (1) accelerate the safe integration of UAS into the NAS by testing and validating new concepts of beyond visual line of sight operations in a controlled environment, focusing on detect and avoid technologies, command and control links, navigation, weather, and human factors