Winning the initial battle for young hearts and minds is key for the future of the space sector, and important work is being done with younger students. But that is only half the battle, as numerous science- and math-related professions are available once these children reach the university level, and keeping them moving toward space-related studies at the highest levels of education continues to be a challenge.
In this story, listen to in depth interviews from Jason Bates, Editor of SatelliteTODAY.tv, with:
While organizations such as the Space Foundation focus their education efforts on younger students and their teachers, the Society of Satellite Professionals International (SSPI), puts its focus into the university level, says Robert Bell, the SSPI executive director. “For the people I’ve interviewed, one standard question is what are the companies doing to find talent and nurture it. The all have similar answers, which is focusing on undergraduate student. They can’t afford to look at the high school student. They are too far away [from the workforce] and have too many choices. We came to the same conclusion with the SSPI scholarship programs. We had been giving them to undergrads, but they don’t know where they are going with it. Their interest may change. … The companies I talk to spend a lot of time doing talent scouting. They talk to universities and professors and develop internships. They want to see if the talent and interest are there and then stay in touch. The companies are good at this and very proactive.”
The SSPI sponsors scholarship programs and also operates various education related databases to help students interested in careers in the space field to find schools. The organization has a list of 1800 institutions that have programs related to the satellite sector. The SSPI also runs programs through its individual chapters throughout the United States as well as international chapters in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Nigeria, Japan and Brazil. The chapters raise money for scholarships, and the SSPI helps find recipients. “We’ve received about 50 applications for our scholarship programs, and normally it’s half that or less,” says Bell. The recession has gotten [students’] attention, so kids are thinking about space. Anything we can do to help this generation enter the workforce is a good thing.”
While inroads have been made by focusing on the students at the highest levels of education, the satellite sector still has a problem when it comes to competing for the next generation of engineers, says Bell. “I think it’s important for the industry to feel a competitive threat. We do some of the hardest things in the world and need the best and the brightest, but I don’t know if we’re getting the best and the brightest. We need to compete better with Google and Microsoft and Oracle, and the satellite business has not grown exponentially for a long time. There are a lot of exciting startups in the satellite business, and there are cutting-edge areas such as the satellite-cellular interface, imaging work and high throughput satellites,” he says. New companies such as SpaceX are generating some interest, but there are limited examples of these types of companies in the space sector. “For the most part, the satellite sector is big contractors building big, exquisite systems that have to work correctly. That’s not a business where you can get three or four years of experience and then jump and form your own company and invent the next big widget. … There is not a vast movement, but the space sector is more entrepreneurial in a way that is different than in the past decade. The idea of trying to make a difference is important to some people.”
NASA has an extensive network of programs for younger students but also puts in plenty of effort at the university level as well. In the 2010 budget for NASA’s Office of Education, about $182 million was focused on higher education, says Jim Stofan, acting associate administrator for education at NASA headquarters. These funds are spent on a wide variety of programs, such as supporting institutional research, providing support for graduate and undergraduate students and funds for faculty awards. In June, NASA awarded $16.8 million to colleges and universities throughout the United States to conduct research and technology development in areas of importance to the agency’s mission. The selections of 24 proposals are part of NASA’s Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, a program designed to assist states in establishing an academic research enterprise directed toward a long-term, self-sustaining and competitive capability that will contribute to the states’ economic viability and development. NASA also oversees the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program, also known as Space Grant. The national network of colleges and universities was instituted in 1989, and the schools work to expand opportunities for students to understand and participate in NASA's aeronautics and space projects. The Space Grant national network includes more than 850 affiliates from universities, colleges, industry, museums, science centers and state and local agencies that cover all 50 states, the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The 52 consortia fund fellowships and scholarships for students pursuing careers in science, mathematics, engineering and technology as well as curriculum enhancement and faculty development. Member colleges and universities also administer pre-college and public service education projects in their states.
Listen to more questions from Jason Bates' interview with Jim Stofan acting associate administrator for education, NASA Headquarters.
Among the programs for college students NASA planned this summer are the X-Hab Academic Innovation Competition, which calls for university-level students to design, manufacture and assemble an inflatable loft that will be integrated into NASA's operational hard-shell prototype lab unit. The goal of the competition is to encourage further studies in spaceflight-related engineering and architecture disciplines and requires undergraduate students to explore NASA's work to develop space habitats while also helping the agency gather new and innovative ideas to complement its current research and development. The winner of the competition, sponsored by NASA's Exploration Mission Directorate and the Office of the Chief Technologist's Innovative Partnerships Program, will demonstrate the submitted design during the 2011 Desert Research and Technology Studies or a similar field test. A separate event, dubbed RockOn!, brought 80 university students and professors from across the United States and Puerto Rico to NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia to learn how to build small experiments that can be launched on sounding rockets. The participants built standardized experiments that flew on a NASA Terrier-Orion suborbital sounding rocket set in June, along with 11 custom-built experiments developed at universities and flown inside a payload canister known as RockSat. The workshop, NASAs third, was funded by the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program in partnership with the Colorado and Virginia Space Grant Consortia.
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