The future of the U.S. Aerospace industry depends on the ability of the industry to attract, train and retain a skilled scientific and engineering workforce. NASA has set "human capital" and workforce development as a top priority. An agency goal is to enlarge and enhance a pool of talent by influencing the K-20 educational "pipeline" that feeds this pool. LaSPACE has provided many programs that address this pipeline, particularly focusing on higher education, as well as supporting faculty and K-12 teacher enhancement. Aerospace education must involve all segments of the university community. One of the goals of the consortium involves attracting students to aerospace careers. Not all students go to graduate school and much of the technical workforce, both now and in the future, is composed of BS level graduates. Thus, it is important to encourage undergraduate students to pursue majors that will lead to more technically capable graduates. LaSPACE conducts several programs that address this issue of workforce development. MRS - Minority Research Scholars Program LURA - LaSPACE Undergraduate Research Assistantships ACES - Aerospace Catalyst Experiences for Students HASP - High Altitude Student Payload NASA Academy NASA USRP - Undergraduate Student Research Program LaSPACE Scholarships - ((Replaced by LURA [see below] )) Other Links...   Many other opportunities for undergraduates can be found around the nation. Some are listed here for your convenience. : Ames Research Center NIAC Student Visions of the Future Program (NSVFP)     Minority Research Scholars (MRS) A new initiative under the LaSPACE Fellowship/Scholarship Component, introduced in the Spring of 2006 the MRS Program helps address the challenge to strengthen the educational base among member institutions, in concert with state and NASA needs, based upon an analysis of institution roles and expectations.  The MRS sub-program is designed to help attract more minority students to STEM fields at LaSPACE institutions to: (i) promote diversity in STEM education, (ii) attract/retain U. S. undergraduates in STEM fields, and (iii) involve more consortium institutions and students in Space Grant.  There are potential STEM students who are not eligible, for a variety of circumstances, for the state's college tuition program (TOPS), and therefore have difficulty in obtaining a higher education.  The MRS subprogram provides a means to help such students and, hopefully, retain them in STEM fields.  MRS program requirements include a high school diploma with a 2.5 GPA, admission to a LaSPACE campus, U. S. citizenship, minority status, no TOPS or equivalent scholarship award, and a STEM education program plan.  MRS students are expected to spend some time working on a research project with one or more faculty members.  A LaSPACE MRS award carries an annual stipend of $4,000. for students.  Applications are reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis.  There is, currently, no proposal deadline.  Click here to see the latest MRS Guidelines. LURA Program For ten years, LaSPACE conducted a competitive Undergraduate Scholarship Program that offered $1250 in tuition assistance per semester. In 1998, Governor Foster and the Legislature introduced an aggressive and sweeping scholarship plan titled TOPS (Tuition Opportunity Program for Students), which provides free tuition for all students that meet the eligibility criteria. Students who meet higher criteria also qualify for added stipends. The implementation of TOPS rendered our Scholar basic tuition assistance approach somewhat less critical to helping good students afford a college education. Thus, reflecting goals of providing research experiences for undergraduates, we replaced the existing program with a new initiative - The LaSPACE Undergraduate Research Assistantships (LURA). We will continue our support for undergraduates who are selected to attend NASA Academies or other NASA internships. The top students, who are the target candidates for LaSPACE scholarships, also receive a TOPS stipend. We target this group of the best and brightest science and engineering students and encourage and recruit them to matriculate at Louisiana Schools. Click here to see the latest LURA Guidelines. HASP Program The High Altitude Student Platform (HASP) for faculty/student research is a new, innovative approach to both education and space related research. It is the logical extension beyond our current LaACES student-built BalloonSat experiments, flown on small latex sounding balloons. HASP is a re-usable facility that will carry many (up to twelve), more capable student experiments to higher altitudes (120K feet) for extended flight durations. HASP will enable research projects in space physics, atmospheric chemistry, remote sensing, and the like, plus technology development/testing projects in areas as varied as signal processing/telemetry, MEMS devices, new detector techniques and autonomous operations, to cite but a few. It may also be used as the "flight test" platform for many micro- and nano-satellites being developed at a number of space grant universities. HASP is a facility that can be reused in subsequent years for a continuous program of student training and workforce development The overall objective for HASP is to provide a full experiment life cycle experience to STEM students, encompassing design, construction, testing, flying and analyzing data, to prepare them for the real-world situation they may face upon graduation, and to make them more attractive to Aerospace employers. A first flight using a 1,000,000 cubic foot, polyethylene, zero-pressure balloon is baselined to carry 600 lbs. to 120K feet for about 20 hours in September, 2006, launched from Ft. Sumner, New Mexico. Experiment ‘seats’ are available to schools in Louisiana and throughout the National Space Grant Network. The experiments to utilize these ‘seats’ will be selected competitively based upon short proposals submitted to LaSPACE. Proposal guidelines and due dates are available at the following link. Click here to see the latest HASP Guidelines. Click here to see the HASP Website.   Scholars Program (Replaced by: LURA) (DISCONTINUED: There will be NO further scholarship competitions.) In addition to the graduate student fellowship program, the Louisiana Space Consortium had operated a scholarship program for undergraduate students on consortium campuses - - LaSPACE Scholars. This scholarship program was open only to U. S. citizens, either enrolled or about to enroll as full time undergraduate students on one of the consortium campuses, to pursue studies in a space- or aerospace- related field. The Scholars received $2500. per academic year to be used to cover tuition, fees, books and expenses related to their educational program. The maximum length of tenure for a Scholar under this program is four (4) years. Renewal of the scholarship for a subsequent year was contingent upon the availability of funds, remaining a student in good standing at the institution, continuing to pursue an aerospace related field of study and meeting the original eligibility requirements. An annual progress report submitted by each Scholar as well as an attached assessment and recommendation from the campus coordinator at the Scholar's institution provided the data needed to track progress and determine continuation in the program. In addition, Scholars may be asked to participate in meetings describing their experience to interested audiences. LaSPACE scholarship funds were provided by subcontract to the LaSPACE College or University in which a winning candidate was enrolled. The campus assumed responsibility for administering and distributing these monies according to its standard procedures. The LaSPACE Council strongly encourages significant cost sharing on the part of the participant's institution, such as the wavier of expenses incurred by the institution in administering the scholarship. Indirect and overhead charges are waived for all scholarship stipends as per the institutional agreement in the NASA proposal. The program had five competitions. However, no competition for the 1999-2000 or 2000-2001 academic year was held because there were no vacancies. There have been a total of 54 scholarships awarded to students at 8 schools. Twenty-six were female; 6 were African-American; one was handicapped; and 2 were Asian. Forty-three have graduated. Seven graduated Summa Cum Laude; 8 graduated Magna Cum Laude; and 4 graduated Cum Laude. Fragmentary follow-on data shows that at least 17 have gone on to graduate school. There will be no further scholarship competitions. Other Opportunites: NASA Astrobiology Academy: Excellence in Leadership           (Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California)