Aerospace Vehicle Flight Test Laboratory Operations for Workforce Development

D. L. Edberg, Ph.D.
Director, Uninhabited Aerospace Vehicle and Space and Launch Vehicle Laboratories
Aerospace Engineering Department
California State Polytechnic University Pomona
Email: dedberg@csupomona.edu
Phone: (909) 869-2618

Through the proposed Aerospace Vehicle Flight Test Laboratory Operations for Workforce Development program, California State Polytechnic University Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona, or CPP) proposes to continue and extend its current laboratory programs in order to expand our workforce development programs involving education, research, hands-on training and outreach activities. This program will be conducted in CPP facilities on campus, except for some student-run flight-testing operations that will occur at suitable off-site locations. The program will benefit engineering students at CPP and eventually regional K-12 schools. We request engineering project funding to support student interns in developing flight testing capabilities and peer advising, as well as continuing to adapt our existing laboratory operations in order to support these workforce development activities. In addition to its current Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Laboratory (UAV Lab), Cal Poly Pomona has recently established a second “flight” laboratory called the Space and Launch Vehicle Laboratory (SLV Lab). The initiation of this second lab is intended to support the “space” activities and curriculum of our students, just as the UAV Lab supports “air” activities. In 2009-2010, activities in both of these labs were supported by funding from a NASA Aerospace Workforce Development Grant, as well as funding from external industries such as the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Northrop-Grumman Corp., the San Gabriel Valley section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), and members of the local industry who provided material and fabrication support to our students. We hope to continue such relationships and initiate new ones with funding requested in this proposal.