David R. Criswell, Ph.D., Director, UH
The Institute
for Space Systems Operations is the operating agent of the State of Texas Line
Item--"The Houston Partnership for Space Exploration." The mission of HPSE/ISSO
is to advance the intellectual and economic development of the high technology communities
associated with the NASA-L. B. Johnson Space Center for the benefit of Houston, the
University of Houston, the University of Houston Clear Lake, and Texas. The primary
strategic goals are to:
To achieve these goals ISSO and NASA-JSC established the Post-Doctoral Aerospace Fellowship Program. It is a qualitatively new type of partnering between NASA-JSC, University of Houston, University of Houston Clear Lake, and the State of Texas. The Fellowship program utilizes state and federal resources to:
In 1995 forty teams of university and NASA researchers submitted proposals to the new joint ISSO (UH-UHCL)-JSC fellowship program. A peer review committee selected 16 teams to conduct two- to three-year duration research projects at NASA-JSC. Between May, 1996 and January, 1997 fifteen fellows were selected from over 150 applications. The fellows are employees of the University of Houston and the University of Houston Clear Lake. The fellows are supported under cost-sharing grants from the Houston Partnership for Space Exploration (50%), five colleges, the Energy Laboratory (UH), and the Texas Center for Superconductivity-UH. The colleges are: the Conrad Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management (UH), Cullen College of Engineering (UH), College of Optometry (UH), College of Pharmacy (UH), College of Natural and Applied Sciences (UHCL), and the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (UH). Investigative teams conduct research at four directorates of NASA-JSC (Engineering, Space and Life Sciences, Mission Operations, and Information Systems) and the Office of Safety, Reliability, and Quality Assurance.
The program is now entering its second year of full operation. This report details the impressive results that have been achieved in 8 to 17 months by the fifteen teams of university-federal researchers. One team was not implemented because a key faculty member accepted a position at another university.
Rapid progress is possible because of the enormous resources and national programs conducted at NASA-JSC. In 1996 JSC supported $400 million on development of the Space Station and over $97 million on research, advanced engineering development, and development and implementation of advanced aerospace operations. The fifteen Fellowship projects tap only a tiny fraction of the potential R&D activities suitable to graduate and post-graduate research and development. On average, each project leverages State and university funds by approximately 20 to 1 through use of in-kind NASA resources. In the first year and a half, university faculty investigators have competed for and won over $1.6 million of new research grants and established relations with several small and large companies.
The aerospace fellows, under the guidance of the faculty and JSC investigators, are mentoring graduate students, teaching research courses, writing and presenting technical papers and proposals, and forming new collaborative teams with research groups both within the Houston area and outside. As projects are completed, new requests for proposals will be circulated and new projects established.
ISSO is also exploring with JSC the establishment of joint long-term programs to develop new tools for technology roadmapping, engineering design, collaborative research, and systems engineering.
In 1995 Texas passed New York state to become number 2 in total high-technology employment. California is first.[1] Texas had over 313,000 high technology jobs and nearly $30 billion in high technology exports. However, Texas still trails New York in the total number of high technology companies, associated pay roll, and high-tech workers per 1,000 employees. The Bank of Boston recently surveyed over 4,000 companies founded by graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Those companies now employ over 1.1 million people and generated world sales exceeding $230 billion per year.[2] This is approximately 30% of the economic output of Texas.
MIT, Draper Labs, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, and the Departments of Electrical Engineering and Physics at Stanford are premiere examples of universities and departments that grew to great prominence in cooperation with United States government research organizations such at the Department of Defense, DARPA, NSF, and NASA and also seeded major new industries. The 1990s is an era of declining federal discretionary funds. More efficient utilization of federal and state resources is needed. The cooperative Texas-JSC Fellowship program makes innovative use of the strengths of state universities and the massive federal aerospace program.
In November, 1995, the Japanese Diet enacted the Science and Technology Basic Law that reflected the deep concerns by legislators over the rate of development of new science and technology in Japan.[3] A key action is the effort to advance the recruitment and training of excellent young researchers by expanding the Japanese post-doctoral program by a factor of 2.6. As many as 10,000 new positions will be created by the Japanese government both in Japan and abroad. Texas, Houston, and NASA can learn from the Japanese commitment to the advancement of research and development. The joint UH-UHCL-JSC Post-Doctoral Aerospace Fellowship program provides Texas, Houston, and NASA one of several cost-effective means to expand their communities of young research scientists and engineers. The joint State-federal program provides challenging and multi-disciplinary R&D and attracts the best talents from around the world. Joint State-Federal research, development, and applications programs and projects are accelerating the development of new economically important technologies, knowledge, and services. This unique State-Federal partnering can significantly accelerate the growth of high technology "smart" jobs in Texas and the nation.
References
[1]"Texas Passes New York as No. 2 in High-Tech Jobs," Wall Street J. (5
March 1997): T2.
[2]MIT: The Impact of Innovation. Preface by W. M. Ayers, Chief Economist, Boston
Bank, The Bank of Boston (March 1997). 22pp. and Appendix.
[3]H. Hayashida. "Science Policy in Japan," Science 272 (14 June 1996):
1567.
Photo--Dr. David Criswell (l.), Director of the Institute for Space Systems Operations, seeks closer university ties to the NASA community. He is shown here at the Science & Research Building with Dr. Glenn Aumann (r.), director of the Energy Laboratory.
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