Morgan St. awarded $1.6M grant for student rocketry program

Daily Record Staff//February 11, 2019//

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From left, Landon Taylor, Morgan State University President David Wilson, NASA Astronaut Leland Melvin and Dean Marsh, managing director of North America for Dassault Systèmes, participate in a check presentation ceremony presenting Morgan State with a $1.6 million grant to fund a state-of-the-art rocketry lab and launch a student rocketry team. (Photo courtesy of Morgan State University) — From left, Landon Taylor, Morgan State University President David Wilson, former NASA Astronaut Leland Melvin and Dean Marsh, managing director of North America for Dassault Systèmes, participate in a check presentation ceremony presenting Morgan State with a $1.6 million grant to fund a state-of-the-art rocketry lab and launch a student rocketry team. (Photo courtesy of Morgan State University)

Morgan State University was selected to receive a three-year, $1.6 million Aerospace Workforce and Leadership Development Grant from nonprofit Base 11 tp fund a state-of-the-art rocketry lab and launch a student rocketry team, university officials announced Monday.

Former NASA astronaut Leland Melvin was on hand to formally present the check to and inspire university students who were in attendance, to pursue aerospace as the “Next Frontier.”

The commercial space industry is expected to become a $2.7 trillion economic sector in the next 30 years, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Yet the industry faces challenges in recruiting a diverse workforce. According to the National Science Foundation, African Americans make up just 5 percent of the science and engineering workforce.

The grant, which aims to improve diversity in the aerospace talent pipeline, was announced in June 2018, and drew proposals from eight Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Melvin was joined by experts from Dassault Systèmes, Blue Origin, SpaceX, Sigma Pi Phi fraternity and Base 11 in reviewing the applications.

The grant will fund the build-out of a liquid-fuel rocketry lab at Morgan State, as well as the recruitment and hiring of an aerospace faculty leader to create a world-class liquid fuel rocketry program. Morgan State aims to bring together these elements to successfully build and launch a liquid fuel rocket that reaches 150,000 feet by 2022.

Morgan State will house the fledgling rocket program in its Center for Built Environment and Infrastructure Studies (CBEIS) building, the home of The School of Architecture and Planning and some of the University’s engineering programs. CBEIS is a gold certified LEED green building with solar water heating panels and a bioretention pond. Designed for the needs of the modern university student, CBEIS is also the home to the only earthquake simulator on the east coast and a supersonic wind tunnel. Students studying in this contemporary facility have access to printing labs that contain 2D and 3D printers and a fabrication lab where students can use technologically advanced cutting tools.

The nonprofit Base 11, which focuses on increasing diversity in STEM fields, first entered the world of student rocketry in 2018, with the announcement of the Base 11 Space Challenge. This $1 million+ competition offers prizes for the first university team to design, build and launch a liquid-fuel rocket to the edge of space (100 kilometers) by the end of 2021. The challenge attracted entries from 32 teams from across the U.S. and Canada. Morgan State hopes to join forces with one of the teams competing in the Base 11 Space Challenge and help build a winning rocket.