STEM opportunities: NASA and the Kennedy Space Center
Author: Shaun E. Scott, Ed.D. Associate Professor of Computer Science
STEM opportunities: NASA and the Kennedy Space Center
Shaun E. Scott
Ed.D. Associate Professor of Computer Science
In early January, Broadwater County resident Dr. Shaun Scott visited the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida as part of a group sponsored by the Montana Space Grant Consortium (MSGC). Dr. Scott is the MSGC representative at Carroll College where he is a Computer Science professor.
A number of students from across the state also attended as did the MSGC Director, Dr. Angela Des Jardin. Many of the smaller colleges from across the state were represented including Stone Child, A'Aniiih Nakoda and Salish Kootenai Tribal colleges as well as UM, UM-Western, and MSU-Billings. The majority of students were female, it was great to see so many female students interested in pursuing STEM opportunities!
The trip focused on making STEM opportunities more visible to Montana students creating enthusiasm to pursue STEM education and careers. After this experience, students will act as MSGC Ambassadors giving presentations and promoting MSGC, NASA and STEM at their own colleges as well as across the state.
The trip was amazing! First watching a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch (from the car) was ...almost indescribable. Learning about the history of the Saturn V program, the space shuttle program with an up close and personal experience with Atlantis as well as seeing the Martian rovers and learning about continued Mars exploration at KSC was so interesting and exciting.
The MSGC group was also given a "behind the scenes" VIP tour where we toured the 52-story Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), the crawler that carries the mobile launch platform (MLP) and rockets to the launch site, an on-site look at the Artemis launch site as well as a close drive by of the SpaceX Falcon 9 and potential Starship launch sites just to name a few.
My takeaway, everything is big, the engineering is the best in the world, the rockets, launch systems, assembly building, MLP, ...the engineering around everything is amazing! It's inspiring. I believe it truly gave all of the students the sense that they can achieve and be successful in a STEM career, perhaps with NASA, perhaps with the many companies who partner with NASA such as SpaceX, Boeing, etc., regardless of which small town they come from or their background! I think the students have been inspired to achieve!
Parents, students and kids of all ages, there are literally limitless opportunities stemming from a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education. Not only at NASA or their tech partners but also with the spinoffs that are applying space tech to solve challenges here on Earth.
To learn more, go to the MSGC site at https://spacegrant.montana.edu, for the KSC go to https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/ and to learn more about NASA go to https://www.nasa.gov/.
Please contact me via email at sscott@carroll.edu if you are interested in learning more about STEM opportunities with MSGC, in Montana, ...or even if you just want to visit about the KSC.
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PhotoCredit: Photo Credits: Shaun Scott
Image 1 Caption: MSGC group that participated in the trip
Photo Credits: Shaun Scott
Image 2 Caption: Artimus launch site...which was also used for ALL shuttle missions as well as the Apollo missions.
Photo Credits: Shaun Scott
