{"id":136118,"date":"2023-07-06T15:43:52","date_gmt":"2023-07-06T19:43:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=136118"},"modified":"2025-10-10T16:45:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T20:45:17","slug":"ucf-to-advance-space-exploration-careers-through-department-of-education-partnership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-to-advance-space-exploration-careers-through-department-of-education-partnership\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF to Advance Space Exploration Careers Through U.S. Department of Education Partnership"},"content":{"rendered":"

As growing interest in space exploration creates new interdisciplinary opportunities for workers of all trades, UCF is the site lead for a program intended to help inspire young minds to consider the career possibilities that industry developments could offer.<\/p>\n

Lisa Martino<\/strong><\/a> \u201909 \u201912MA<\/strong> and Sara Shaw<\/a>, both lecturers of career and workforce education in the Department of Educational Leadership and Higher Education, have developed the Middle Grades Career and Technical Education (CTE) Accelerator, a professional development program to help lead the charge into the next frontier. The program is intended to help middle school teachers learn how to incorporate space-related career exploration into their curriculum \u2014 thus increasing the talent pipeline to this emerging, high-demand field. This follows the push by the U.S. Department of Education and NASA to support space education in schools across the nation.<\/p>\n

UCF and Old Dominion University in Virginia are the first schools in the nation to pilot the program thanks to a project grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Luminary Labs, an innovation consulting firm, is running the Middle Grades CTE Accelerator on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education and awarded Martino a $110,000 grant for this program.<\/p>\n

The initiative has two parts: a two-week intensive professional development and one full year of mentorship and eight Zoom meetings throughout the year. Martino says the first week of the intensive focuses on what these educators need to know about these types of careers and how to guide students toward them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe second week, they’re going to focus on developing lesson plans and assignments, and they’re going to create their own curriculum for their specific classrooms related to space career exploration,\u201d she says. \u201cOnce they’re done with the two-week training of intensive work, they’re going to have this portfolio of deliverables, lesson plans and assignments.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two-week summer intensive is specifically geared toward middle school teachers as it is important to start introducing students to this emerging industry early, Martino says. This is so they understand the courses that align with their career goals beginning in their freshman year of high school and will help guide them toward a space- or STEM-related career.<\/p>\n

“Did you know that in space, you can’t smell food in microgravity? So how do you prepare food that is appetizing?\u201d Martino says. \u201cThere are all these things that people can do. You’ll need chefs, you’re going to need a tour guide. You can be a tour guide on the space shuttle, but you’ll have to know the galaxy.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the future commercialization of space travel on the horizon, Martino says there will be a greater need for people of various talents to work in this field to keep up with economic development, global competitiveness and national security.<\/p>\n