Partnership is a starting point

  • Published
  • By Michael P. Kleiman
  • 377th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
Kirtland Air Force Base, NM --  A formal signing April 22 at the University of New Mexico's Zimmerman Library involving Kirtland AFB's two Air Force Research Laboratory directorates, Directed Energy and Space Vehicles, and the host academic institution, initiated an educational collaboration that benefits all participants. For all the briefness of the formal ceremony, the groundwork to reach the actual signing took several years to execute.

"Our partnership with the University of New Mexico will significantly enhance research and development efforts at both directorates and it will also allow us to tap into the best and the brightest future scientists and engineers," said Casey DeRaad, technology outreach director, Space Vehicles Directorate, and AFRL partnership program director. "On the flip side, our professional and dedicated staffs at both directorates can serve as mentors to help guide students into the research and development career field and provide that bridge from academia into the workforce."

The educational partnership runs through April 22, 2016, but it can be extended or modified with a written amendment to the original document.The collaboration can also be dissolved without penalty by either participant providing a 30-day before to the termination date. The new arrangement between both UNM and AFRL facilitates joint research projects, enhances career choices for university students, expands technology design and development in the state, and increases science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programs' opportunities in New Mexico's elementary, middle and high schools, as well as at the collegiate level.

"This is a very important day for UNM, for the state of New Mexico and for the community of Albuquerque. It is also an important day for UNM students," said UNM President Dr. David Schmidly. "The strategic alliance between the two (UNM and AFRL) can only mean good things."

For its part of the collaborative effort, AFRL will lend laboratory equipment and transfer surplus gear to UNM, will make staff available to instruct science classes and support the initiation of said courses and materials, will use UNM faculty and students in its own projects, work with the university in designing a specific program that offers academic credit for participating in a defense-related project, and provide career counseling and academic support to UNM students.

AFRL and UNM have partnered in other areas, such as the Configurable Microsystems Innovations and Applications Center, where collegians with the assistance of instructors design, develop and construct operational satellites employing technologies such as space plug-and-play avionics. NASA chose UNM to build a spacecraft known as "Trailblazer" for launch next year.

"The signing has set a framework for a much stronger relationship. There are a lot more opportunities for us to build on including the University Nanosatellite Program. I would like to see UNM be more of a player in that," said Col. William Cooley, Phillips Research Site commander and materiel wing director, Space Vehicles Directorate. "With the directorate's Battlespace Environment Laboratory coming here, UNM students will have the opportunity to work with the best scientific minds in space weather. The signing is a starting point, but there is a lot more work to be done. The real work will come with the UNM faculty gets matched up with AFRL's scientists and engineers."