Building a Better NASA Workforce Meeting the Workforce Needs for the National Vision for Space Exploration (2007) / Chapter Skim
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5 Roles of Academia and of Nontraditional Approaches
5 Roles of Academia and of Nontraditional Approaches
Pages 44-54
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From page 44... ...
Many university representatives noted the impact of giving students opportunities to participate in spaceflight missions, especially small university-led missions such as Explorers and suborbital flight research using aircraft, high-altitude balloons, and sounding rockets. In these programs students can get firsthand exposure to space project technology development, mission design and development, and science data analysis.
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From page 45... ...
However, NASA, by making project opportunities available at the university for undergraduate students, can encourage engineering departments to focus the design experiences of its students on problems of interest to NASA, and thereby to develop skills needed in its workforce pipeline. National design competitions, student rocket and balloon projects, individual scholarships and fellowships, and research grants that encourage participation of undergraduates are all possible strategies to attract student interest in NASA-related areas.
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From page 46... ...
GSRP recipients work with faculty advisors at their home university as well as with NASA mentors at the various centers, acquiring skills that are important for the NASA workforce. Mentoring by NASA scientists and engineers and internships at NASA centers help to develop a cadre of potential master's and Ph.D.-level workers for the aerospace ecosystem, in general, and for NASA in particular.
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From page 47... ...
The ESS fellowship program has the same funding structure as the more general GSRP but focuses only on Earth system science topics, including climate variability and change, atmospheric composition, the carbon cycle and ecosystems, water and energy cycles, weather, and Earth's surface and interior. In FY 2006 177 slots were available in the ESS fellowship program, 21 more than in FY 1999 but 18 fewer than in FY 1994.
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From page 48... ...
Courtesy of Gary Swenson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 5.1 Declining support for sounding rockets and high-altitude balloon programs is being matched by an overall trend toward declining support for activities focused on providing flight system and program management experience for students and entry-level employees.
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From page 49... ...
In the end, DARPA's Grand Challenges program produced four winning teams and more than $170 million in investment over 2 years of competition. NASA could use its own Centennial Challenges prize program to achieve similar results, both financial and educational, by increasing the emphasis on this program beyond its current $9.7 million budget.
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From page 50... ...
Ever since NASA's inception, project scientists have served as on-site representatives of the teams of scientists who participate in NASA science missions and who work on a day-to-day basis with project managers and engineers to assist in weighing trade-offs between often-competing technical, budgetary, and scientific demands or constraints of a mission. The in-house NASA scientists provide the expertise to help project managers make effective decisions about such trade-offs in a fashion that is quite similar to the way experienced project managers and engineers help make "smart buyer" decisions.
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From page 51... ...
The aerospace industry 5See,for instance, NRC, Assessment of Balance in NASA's Science Programs, The National Academies Press, Washington, D.C., 2006, pp. 24-28 and 31-32, for a discussion of the need for research in microgravity sciences.
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From page 52... ...
• Hands-on experience for students is provided by suborbital programs, Explorer and other small spacecraft missions, and design competitions, all of which rely on continuing NASA support. • The Graduate Student Researchers Program supports the education and training of prospective NASA employees and deserves augmented support.
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From page 53... ...
Recommendation 6: Support involvement in suborbital programs and nontraditional approaches to developing skills. The committee recommends that NASA increase its investment in proven programs such as sounding rocket launches, aircraft-based research, and high-altitude balloon campaigns, which provide ample opportunities for hands-on flight development experience at a relatively low cost of failure.
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