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Today, the Federal Aviation Administration announced that it has selected six public sites to research and test the development of unmanned aircraft systems, commonly known as drones.

Among the six sites is Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Va., where the FAA will “conduct UAS failure mode testing and identify and evaluate operational and technical risks areas,” a release states. According to the FAA, all six of these congressionally-mandated test sites will be conducting critical research on drones, which will investigate the “certification and operational requirements necessary to safely integrate UAS into the national airspace over the next several years.”

“Safety continues to be our first priority as we move forward with integrating unmanned aircraft systems into U.S. airspace,” FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said in a statement. “We have successfully brought new technology into the nation’s aviation system for more than 50 years, and I have no doubt we will do the same with unmanned aircraft.”

In addition to Virginia, sites were also selected in Alaska, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, and Texas.

The FAA says they chose sites in these states because they meet certain geographic and climatic diversity requirements, in addition to other UAS research needs. Nowadays, drones are typically used by the military, for better or for worse, but the research that will be conducted at Virginia Tech and these other sites will explore the use of drones for other uses, like package delivery.