Location:
United States
Mississippi 

Description:
Building a strong work force to populate one of the fastest growing industries in the nation is one of the challenges facing NASA's Commercial Remote Sensing Program (CRSP) at Stennis Space Center. On October 1, 1999, CRSP, along with NASA's Education and University Affairs Office at Stennis, announced a national program that is designed to meet that challenge.

The national plan is based on the successful approach demonstrated by the Mississippi Model for Workforce Development Education and Training (WDET), currently being implemented by CRSP's Mississippi Space Commerce Initiative. As NASA's lead center for commercial remote sensing, Stennis introduced WDET in the state of Mississippi two years ago. WDET has been given the task of ensuring that a trained workforce will be available to populate the rapidly growing remote-sensing industry. The Mississippi Model and the Mississippi Department of Education launched a program, which when fully implemented, will bring remote-sensing technology to every Mississippi student by 2003. This program has been the focus of national attention, bringing education officials from around the nation to Mississippi to observe the schools involved. Spatial Information Centers have been established in all Mississippi Community Colleges and Universities are investigating remote-sensing courses for existing disciplines.

NASA, the US Department of Education, the US Department of Labor, the US Department of Agriculture, the US Department of Interior and the US Department of Defense will work together to ensure that all students are exposed to remote-sensing technology. Industries, colleges and universities will also be part of the network. Additionally, NASA will draw on its existing partnerships with the Smithsonian Institution, National Geographic, the Public Broadcasting Service and the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment program.

Organization:
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Stennis Space Center (SSC)

Contact:
Brenda Pounds, Stennis Space Center, Building 1200, Stennis Space Center, MS 39529; Phone: (228) 688-3814; Fax: (229) 688-7528; Email: brenda.pounds@ssc.nasa.gov

Education Level:
Community College

Subject:
Remote Sensing

Program type:
Curriculum Development/Support
Educational Technology
Student Enrichment

Date Added to teachearth.com:
5/1/00