Technological Leadership

Congratulations to our graduates

This year, our technological leadership program graduated seven students, our biggest graduating class to date. Spring 2023 graduate Jason Alexandre is stepping right into a career as systems engineer at Raytheon Missiles and Defense. Our first graduate from the Technological Leadership program, Parker Cohensitt, landed an exciting role as a Computer Design Technician at Hanger Inc., where he designs cranial helmets for infants.

Innovative courses

Current students created innovative projects in one of our core making class series, Designing and Making for an Interplanetary Future. In IPI 241 and 341, students get more than the traditional classroom experience as they learn tools and processes for solving global and interplanetary problems, with special consideration given to how technologies impact society.

New minor in Technological Leadership

We officially launched and welcomed the first students minoring in technological leadership. The minor aims to get more students involved in the hands-on, student-driven learning that is central to the Interplanetary Initiative’s educational programs. The minor is designed to enhance a student’s current major with courses that allow them to bring their own skills and interests to real research and projects. Students enrolled take courses in three core areas: inquiry, making and leadership.

Online Undergraduate Research Scholars program

This fall, we launched the Interplanetary Initiative’s Online Undergraduate Research Scholars program, supported by a grant from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. We brought on 18 online undergraduate students from 11 majors to contribute to six of our pilot projects. The students made invaluable contributions to our interdisciplinary research projects, including our Preventing Space War forum and JEDI Space project. The program will continue in fall 2023, and we look forward to welcoming our next cohort of students!