A Career-focused Undergraduate Space Sciences Program at Carthage College

Abstract:

For the past fifteen years, Carthage College has supported a multi-disciplinary, career-focused space sciences program with no courses and no faculty FTE assigned to it. Despite the informal and unofficial nature of the program, dozens of students have used their experiences in the program to secure careers in aerospace and the program has received continuous external funding. In this presentation, I will describe the funding strategy, the partner network, and the project selection and project management approach that has continuously sustained a portfolio of authentic research projects. These projects, utilizing parabolic flight, suborbital spacecraft, sounding rockets, and orbital flight experiments, are selected for their career relevance, appropriate completion timeframe, and suitability for undergraduate disciplinary content. The guiding principles of effective project management and systems engineering approaches will be described and demonstrated to be pillars of an efficient low-FTE approach to undergraduate collaborative project work. Remote technologies and communication tools are critical to maintaining cohesion and goal awareness in a diffuse and dynamic team that relies heavily on peer mentorship for its success and sustainability. These tools and their implementation will be described in detail. The continuity of the program depends heavily on the enculturation of these values, principles, tools. I will discuss the intentional recruiting and retention strategy that brings first-year student into the program and provides them with meaningful and developmentally appropriate roles on the team. Finally, career outcomes for students in the program will be assessed and compared to non-participants graduating from the same department(s).