U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Administrator Bill Nelson held a Washington State Space Summit at Blue Origin in Kent on Wednesday. Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture Dean Mary Rezac told almost 200 representatives of the business, research and education communities that WSU is doing its level best to support the state’s massive space manufacturing workforce demands.
Senator Cantwell is advocating for the development of a space manufacturing institute in Washington in hopes of positioning the state as a preeminent leader in the space manufacturing industry. Washington is already home to 100 companies doing work in the field, some of whom have manufactured 40 percent of U.S. satellites in operation. It’s also home to about 1,000 space jobs that need to be filled today.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, had a simple message for educators producing relevant credentials: “Crank ‘em out. A lot of these start-up companies can’t get enough employees.”
Dean Rezac noted the college already is producing 1,200 STEM graduates a year – a significant increase since the Great Recession. She also spoke to WSU efforts to align transfer requirements with community colleges and create living communities that help increase retention and graduation rates to bolster throughput. These efforts are particularly important as Washington’s student body evolves. A quarter of Voiland’s student body come from low-income backgrounds, one-third are first generation college students, and one-third are students of color.
“We’re super proud of that. But we also know we’re missing a lot,” Dean Rezac said, also noting that Cougs In Space is the largest student club on the WSU Pullman campus.
She impressed upon the room the importance of reaching prospective students in their grade schools and middle schools to inspire them to pursue STEM careers.
“We do some of that but it’s hard,” Dean Rezac said. “It’s got to be a community effort.”
Four WSU students, one from WSU Everett and three from WSU Pullman, also represented the university at summit, showing and talking about their research during the tradeshow component before the panel discussion. Accompanied by Associate Professor Dr. Jake Leachman, the students met employers and other educators, answering questions about their projects, including efforts to study washing space suits of lunar space dust and build a better rocket.
