UCF Receives $25,000 from Northrop Grumman for Training Space Workers

Participating in the check presentation at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex Rocket Garden are, from left: Robert Crabbs, associate director of UCF's Florida Space Institute; Jaydeep Mukherjee, director, NASA Florida Space Grant Consortium, and interim director, Florida Space Institute; Sreela Mallick, assistant director, NASA Florida Space Grant Consortium; Roy D. Bridges, Jr., director, Space and Science Services, Northrop Grumman Technical Services, and Roy Tharpe, Space Gateway Support deputy chief of operations at Northrop Grumman and chairman of the National Space Club Florida Committee. — Participating in the check presentation at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex Rocket Garden are, from left: Robert Crabbs, associate director of UCF’s Florida Space Institute; Jaydeep Mukherjee, director, NASA Florida Space Grant Consortium, and interim director, Florida Space Institute; Sreela Mallick, assistant director, NASA Florida Space Grant Consortium; Roy D. Bridges, Jr., director, Space and Science Services, Northrop Grumman Technical Services, and Roy Tharpe, Space Gateway Support deputy chief of operations at Northrop Grumman and chairman of the National Space Club Florida Committee.

The UCF Research Foundation has been awarded $25,000 by Northrop Grumman to administer a program designed to give as many as 32 qualified college students real-world experience in the space industry.

Most of the funding, $20,000 will support specialized training for college students interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and put them in direct contact with space coast contractors and the types of projects they would be expected to complete in the space industry.

“We want to support STEM students locally who have the capability to be hired by the local space industry, said Jaydeep Mukherjee, director of the NASA Florida Space Grant Consortium and interim director of the University of Central Florida’s Florida Space Institute.

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