Leading HSI aims to provide a ‘foundation for future space exploration’

 

POSTED ON Aug 17, 2021

 

The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) has announced an initiative to promote career opportunities in the aerospace and defense industries. Recently, the UTEP Aerospace Center and W.M. Keck Center for 3D Innovation in collaboration with the El Paso Chamber hosted a technology forum. (Photo courtesy of NASA: Rockets and Space Vehicles)

According to UTEP, during the two-day event, senior leaders from Blue Origin, NASA, Lockheed Martin Space, and Delalune Space spoke to 150 students from the UTEP Aerospace and Keck Centers.

In an address given by UTEP President Heather Wilson, she stressed the importance of a strong aerospace, defense, and advanced manufacturing workforce.

“Our responsibility is to develop talent and to advance discovery – meaningful discovery that can have a positive impact on the community and the economy that we serve,” Wilson said. “We want to be the university of choice that every company looking for talent in this region comes to because they know that we are really good at what we do, and we will work with them to provide opportunity for our graduates and advance meaningful discovery.”

In the statement, via UTEP Communications, Ahsan Choudhuri, Ph.D., associate vice president for the UTEP Aerospace Center, said that partnerships with aerospace contractors bring job and internship opportunities.

“UTEP is already a major force in future space exploration,” Choudhuri said. “We produce a lot of talented engineers. We will be one of the largest producers of aerospace and defense talent in our nation and also ensure that the aerospace and defense industry has the diversity needed to sustain the 21st-century workforce.”

UTEP graduate mechanical engineering student Brenda Caraveo is a research assistant on projects involving the collection, processing, storage, or use of materials found on the moon.

“UTEP is really inspiring us,” Caraveo said. “They are bringing in companies to work with us and mentor us. They are bringing in equipment that we can use. UTEP is really pushing us to be that foundation for future space exploration.”