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NASA selected the College to design and deliver customized leadership training .

NASA’s Johnson Space Center recently selected Georgia Tech College of Management to provide leadership training for engineers, scientists, and technologists who will be instrumental in extending the agency’s reach deeper into space.

"We are extremely proud that NASA selected the College to design and deliver customized leadership training that will play a key role in NASA’s new Vision for Space Exploration programs,” says Dan Stotz, director of executive programs for the College.

NASA officials say they are placing high priority on management and leadership training to prepare the agency for future space exploration. The Johnson Space Center’s organizational functions include the Constellation Program Office, which is responsible for the overall development of space vehicles and infrastructure.

Tech’s training program for the Johnson Space Center will last a total of 15 days, broken into five three-day modules between June 2007 and November 2008, including courses on leadership, project management, vendor and contractor relationships, financial and risk management, and systems engineering.

The Georgia Tech Research Institute and H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering will assist the College of Management with the training. “We are pleased to bring the systems engineering and management experience of the Georgia Tech Research Institute into this partnership with NASA,” says Stephen Cross, vice president of GTRI.

The program’s 30 participants, including many former astronauts, will be active in developing NASA’s Crew Exploration Vehicle to replace the Space Shuttle, which is scheduled for retirement in 2010. Other major goals of NASA’s Constellation Program Office include launching the Crew Exploration Vehicle by 2014, completing the International Space Station, returning to the Moon by 2020 to establish a sustained human presence there, and leading human and robotic missions to Mars and other destinations.

"We’re very excited about this terrific opportunity to employ Georgia Tech’s strengths in management and technology to help NASA fulfill its ambitious mission,” says College of Management Dean Steve Salbu. “Our College does an excellent job of customizing leadership development programs for a wide variety of companies and organizations.”

In addition to NASA’s Johnson Space Center, other clients of the College of Management’s customized training programs include GE Energy, GE Healthcare, and the FBI Crime Labs.

News Inside News:

About Space Exploration programs-
Why Explore Space?

"Today," writes NASA Administrator Mike Griffin, "NASA is moving forward with a new focus for the manned space program: to go out beyond Earth orbit for purposes of human exploration and scientific discovery." Administrator Griffin makes the case for completing the International Space Station, "the most complex construction feat ever undertaken," as a stepping stone to future exploration.

"Using the space station and building an outpost on the moon to prepare for the trip to Mars are critical milestones in America's quest to become a truly spacefaring nation," Griffin writes. "I think that we should want that. I want that. I want it for the American people, for my grandchildren, for my great-grandchildren."


The How and Why of Returning to the Moon

NASA has unveiled the initial elements of the Global Exploration Strategy and a proposed U.S. lunar architecture, two critical tools for achieving the nation's vision of returning humans to the moon.

The Global Exploration Strategy focuses on two overarching issues: Why we are returning to the moon and what we plan to do when we get there. The strategy includes a comprehensive set of the reasons for embarking upon human and robotic exploration of the moon. NASA's proposed lunar architecture focuses on a third issue: How humans might accomplish the mission of exploring the moon.

Release link: http://www.gatech.edu/news-room/release.php?id=1376