Space grant colleges

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The space-grant colleges compose a network of 52 consortia, based at universities across the United States, for space-related research. Each consortium is based in one of the 50 states, the District of Columbia or Puerto Rico and consists of multiple independent institutions, with one of the institutions acting as the lead.

The U.S. Congress established the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program in 1988; NASA administers the program, and first took that role in 1989.

The program claims the following objectives [1]:

Establish and maintain a national network of universities with interests and capabilities in aeronautics, space and related fields;
Encourage cooperative programs among universities, aerospace industry, and federal, state and local governments;
Encourage interdisciplinary training, research and public service programs related to aerospace;
Recruit and train U.S. citizens, especially women, underrepresented minorities, and persons with disabilities, for careers in aerospace science and technology; and,
Promote a strong science, mathematics, and technology education base from elementary through secondary levels.

Space grant colleges are not to be confused with land-grant colleges (a program instituted in 1862), sea-grant colleges (instituted in 1966) or sun-grant colleges (instituted in 2003). There are 13 colleges or universities with land, sea and space designations; and two universities with all four designations.