FSGC Strategic Plan and Goals 2006-2010

(i) Vision

The Florida Space Grant Consortium will support the expansion and diversification of Florida's space industry, through providing grants, scholarships, and fellowships to students and educators from Florida's public and private institutes of higher education.

(ii) Mission

The FSGC’s mission is to help meet NASA’s needs in research and education within the infrastructure of Florida’s institutions of higher education.  Through meeting NASA’s needs for an educated workforce and NASA-relevant research activities, Florida benefits by developing a more diverse end productive research environment and a more productive workforce which, in turn, help Florida’s economy to become more diverse. 

(iii) Goals

(a) FSGC’s Long Term Goals and Objectives:

• Fund research with strong student involvement that supports NASA's Mission Directorates (Aeronautics Research, Space Exploration, Science, and Space Operations) with an emphasis on Space Exploration and Science.
• Create public programs that support literacy in science, engineering, technology, and mathematics for the citizens of Florida.
• Increase interest and learning in the areas of science, engineering, technology, and mathematics, using the challenge of NASA’s Mission Directorates
• Recruit women, underrepresented minorities, and the disabled for careers in math, science, engineering and technology.
• Encourage interdisciplinary education and training, research, and public service programs related to aerospace and encourage collaborative development programs among universities, industry, and federal, state, and local governments.
• Facilitate the post-graduate training of K-12  teachers

(b) Short Term Goals for 2006

• Increase minority awards
• Increase industry involvement in Space Grant activities
• Develop and promote Florida Space Grant opportunities for student research activities/space missions (e.g. Florida University Nanosatellite Design Competition) 
• Identify resources within and outside the Florida Space Grant network, share information across the network, and identify sources of financial and other support. 

(c) To achieve these goals, the FSGC:

• Marshals the strengths of its affiliated universities in cooperative efforts to strengthen our respective instructional and research programs, and
• Fosters joint programs and cooperation with public and private agencies and corporations with compatible objects.

(d) To realize these programmatic objectives, the FSGC:

• Provides seed funding for research programs requiring cooperative efforts between universities and industries under the Florida Space Research and Education Grant Program
• Provides fellowships for doctoral and masters students engaged in space related research, and
• Provides opportunities for undergraduate students to engage in research programs under faculty mentorship.

Through consensus of the advisory board, FSGC has focused its programs in 4 main areas.

• Scholarship and Fellowships,
• Joint grant program (seed money for space-related research),
• Undergraduate research experiences through mentored research and payload development
• Teacher mini-grants to incorporate aerospace-related programs into their curriculum and including education and training into the grant program.

(iv) Strategies

The FSGC is well positioned to influence workforce preparation programs in all levels of the pipeline.  Although SG is primarily a higher education program, the post-graduate training of classroom teachers is important.  The products of their classroom are the undergraduate and graduate students who populate our state universities.  The better-prepared these students are when they enter the university, the further they can go – the better they are able to take advantage of the resources available for their learning experiences. The Final report of the Commission on the Future of Space and Aerospace in Florida identifies education and research as two key components for a healthy space/aerospace industry.  6 out of 18 recommendations touched on these two elements. 

1. Integrate space and aeronautics industry needs into the State’s clusterbased workforce development programs.

2. Ensure that space industry talent currently involved in the Space Shuttle program is retained after 2010.

3. Establish a Center for Mathematics and Science Education Research to enhance K-12 mathematics and science instruction quality.

4. Improve K-12 mathematics and science teacher availability through a greater emphasis on teacher recruitment.

5. Expand enrollment in, completions of, and retention of graduates from post-secondary degree programs in mathematics, science, and engineering, with emphasis on aerospace fields.

6. Provide hands-on opportunities for students to experience and learn about the aerospace industry.

7. Increase general awareness of aerospace activities.

8. Create a center of excellence with focus on space and aeronautics research and technology.

FSGC is uniquely positioned to team with the various organization and institutions which share similar goals.

(a) Scholarships and Fellowships. 

• Enable exceptional students to pursue their dreams of being involved in the space program – whether through graduate, undergraduate, or Community College technician training programs. 
• Require students who received awards from FSGC to participate in some form of outreach – either to the community or through the schools.
• Research symposium for graduate students

(b) Higher Education

• Provide students with hands on experiences for understanding STEM
• Enable undergraduate students to participate in student launch activities and student payload development programs

(c) Research

• Support research through education-research activities
• Work closely with KSC to support KSC programs and supply students and faculty for internships
• Foster collaboration among KSC engineers, university faculty and industry partners
• Use the proximity of the Zero-G flight opportunities to sponsor flights for researchers, students, and teachers

(d) K-12 Teacher training

• Professional Development programs for teachers must be content-rich.  A proven way to accomplish that is to use Higher Education scientists and engineers to teach parts of the Professional Development Program programs. 
• Build relationships – partnerships between K-12 and Higher Education. 
• Adding a K-12 component to each of our programs. 
• Support Project Launch and Teach Space through administrative support – serving on committees.

(e) Outreach

• Provide speakers to schools, museums

(f) External Relations

• Support state education initiatives.
• Work with Space Florida to develop and support educational programs
• Solicit input from Advisory Board members to better serve the students in their institutions