The NASA Space Technology Research Fellowships are brand new grants to support graduate students pursuing masters or doctoral degrees in relevant space technologies and disciplines. The goal of the program is to provide the U.S. with a pipeline of highly skilled engineers and technologists to improve its competitiveness. NASA’s plan is to build up the program to support as many as 500 active students per year.
“These fellowships will develop America’s technology leaders for tomorrow, leaders that will help us out-innovate, out-educate and out-build our competitors and maintain our leadership in space,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. “President Obama has said, ‘America’s competitiveness rests on the excellence of our citizens in technical fields.’ These grants are an investment in America’s intellectual capital and our nation’s future.”
2011 is the inaugural year for the NASA Space Technology Research Fellowship. Recently NASA announced that 81 deserving students from all over the U.S. have earned one of these fellowships. Vicki and I are thrilled to see that students from the University of Maryland, the University of Virginia, and Cornell University represented 7 of the award winners. Curious if anyone from your school made the cut? See the full list of recipients.