Sputnik 1

Our nation must advance industries of the future or risk losing the race for the 21st century

Retrieved on: 
Friday, March 8, 2024

Today, the U.S. risks losing the race in global competitiveness, innovation and national security if we fail to double down in our commitment to accelerating technological innovation for a strong future.

Key Points: 
  • Today, the U.S. risks losing the race in global competitiveness, innovation and national security if we fail to double down in our commitment to accelerating technological innovation for a strong future.
  • It's also a once-in-a-generation workforce development opportunity for the nation's advanced industries to address their glaring needs for STEM and technician talent.
  • Of unfilled new positions, a sizeable portion are skilled technicians with two-year degrees and additional on-the-job "earn and learn" training such as apprenticeships.
  • If we don't leverage this landmark opportunity, we will lose the race for the 21st century.

Poptential™ by Certell Brings the Global Space Race to Life with Media-Rich Content

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, October 5, 2023

Poptential™ content harnesses an array of pop culture media to illustrate concepts, including excerpts from sitcoms, movies, animations, cartoons, late-night shows, and other sources.

Key Points: 
  • Poptential™ content harnesses an array of pop culture media to illustrate concepts, including excerpts from sitcoms, movies, animations, cartoons, late-night shows, and other sources.
  • Julie Smitherman, a former social studies teacher and director of content at Certell, Inc., commented on the significance of this year's space missions.
  • Cost-Efficient Space Exploration: The September 28th Bell Ringer dissects the differences between privately-funded space missions by SpaceX and publicly-funded space programs.
  • NASA and SpaceX – A Successful Relationship: The August 6th Bell Ringer explores the goals of various space programs, including expanding our understanding of space and establishing sustainable life on Mars.

Do 'sputnik moments' spur educational reform? A rhetoric scholar weighs in

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, October 3, 2023

From the publication of the landmark A Nation at Risk report on education in 1983 to the polarizing election of Donald Trump, one moment after another has been compared to the sputnik episode.

Key Points: 
  • From the publication of the landmark A Nation at Risk report on education in 1983 to the polarizing election of Donald Trump, one moment after another has been compared to the sputnik episode.
  • As a professor who studies the rhetoric of education reform, I know that what politicians and others call sputnik moments do not always live up to that name.
  • Some sputnik moments spark enduring public debates, while others are easily forgotten.

American education called into question

    • In the spring of 1958, Life magazine ran a series of articles entitled: “Crisis in Education.” One Life article compared the rigor of U.S. education unfavorably with that of the Soviets.
    • Another Life article referred to American education as a “carnival.” President Dwight Eisenhower read the Life articles and began advocating for what would become the National Defense Education Act of 1958.
    • It was a first-of-its-kind intervention in education policy and funding.
    • Ever since, pivotal events for education in the U.S. have been called sputnik moments.

Reagan and a flailing education system

    • In 1983, the National Commission on Excellence in Education published A Nation at Risk.
    • We responded by making math, science, and engineering education a priority.” Reagan cited NASA’s space shuttle program as evidence that the nation had succeeded.
    • But like sputnik, it spurred decades of discussion about the rigor of public education in the U.S.

Obama on competition with China

    • Obama needed to sell his proposal to the nation and to the House of Representatives, which the Republicans had taken control of in the 2010 midterm elections.
    • It also did not result in the creation of an Advanced Research Projects Agency for education.

Donald Trump’s election

    • Sure enough, Trump’s election did revitalize the national discussion of civic education.
    • There was also the Civic Learning for a Democracy in Crisis by the Hastings Center.
    • Even the Trump administration joined in the conversation with its 1776 report, which called for a patriotic form of civic education.

Why do we have sputnik moments?

    • Sputnik moments can be spontaneous or constructed through rhetoric after the fact, or they can fall somewhere in between.
    • In the late 1950s, critics of American education made the most of their moment by demanding a greater emphasis on math, science and language.
    • Because they capitalized on their moment, policymakers and education reformers have continued to be vigilant for more moments like sputnik ever since.

A solution to America's K-12 STEM teacher shortage: Endowed chairs

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, September 28, 2023

In the 2017-2018 school year, approximately 100,000 teacher jobs in STEM – or science, technology, engineering and mathematics – went unfilled at the high school level.

Key Points: 
  • In the 2017-2018 school year, approximately 100,000 teacher jobs in STEM – or science, technology, engineering and mathematics – went unfilled at the high school level.
  • At the middle school level, there were about 150,000 unfilled STEM educator jobs.
  • As a professor of education policy – and also as a former state secretary of education in Virginia – I have examined the STEM teacher shortage from multiple vantage points.
  • We think endowed chairs have the potential to retain and attract more STEM educators at the K-12 level, but it requires a willingness to rethink the ways that schools employ STEM educators.

What’s behind the gap?

    • There are fewer college students graduating with a bachelor’s degree in education that ever before.
    • Between 1959-1976, bachelor’s degrees in education were the most popular college major in the United States, and they accounted for about 20% of all degrees.
    • In 2021, K-12 teachers’ weekly salary was only $1,348 – about $660 less than the $2,009 earned weekly by other college graduates.

Prior efforts to close the gap

    • The Senate and House passed the National Defense Education Act of 1958, and Eisenhower signed it into law on Sept. 2, 1958.
    • This set in motion a national STEM education agenda for American colleges and K-12 schools for decades to come.
    • Fifty-three years later, President Barack Obama utilized his 2011 State of the Union address to advance the national STEM agenda.
    • But the goal of the 100,000 STEM teacher campaign was to narrow the gap, not end it.

The endowed chair as a potential solution

    • Traditionally, an endowed chair is a prestigious faculty position funded through annual spending from a university’s endowment fund.
    • The benefit of an endowed chair is that it will be paid for decades to come by the interest on investment.
    • An endowed chair could also provide funding for teachers and students to have access to state-of-the-art learning technology.
    • An endowed STEM chair salary may never outpace what educators could earn if they entered the private market.

Slingshot Aerospace Hires Former Spaceport Cornwall Head Melissa Quinn and Former Axiom Space Counsel Megan Sieffert

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, June 6, 2023

Former Head of Spaceport Cornwall, Melissa Quinn , has joined Slingshot Seradata on June 1, 2023 and will succeed Tim Fuller as General Manager when he retires on July 1, 2023.

Key Points: 
  • Former Head of Spaceport Cornwall, Melissa Quinn , has joined Slingshot Seradata on June 1, 2023 and will succeed Tim Fuller as General Manager when he retires on July 1, 2023.
  • On June 12th, former NASA Office of Inspector General attorney-adviser and Axiom Space Associate General Counsel, Megan Sieffert , will join Slingshot as General Counsel.
  • Quinn brings a wealth of space operations experience and a deep understanding of the industry to her new role at Slingshot Aerospace.
  • Throughout her career, Quinn has demonstrated exceptional leadership and a remarkable ability to navigate the evolving landscape of the space industry.

Sputnik ATX VC, Austin-Based Venture Capital Fund, Announces 11th Cohort

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, February 23, 2023

Sputnik ATX , an Austin, Texas based venture capital firm that backs early-stage, high-growth startups through a unique accelerator program, today announced the selection of the newest startup cohort for Winter 2023.

Key Points: 
  • Sputnik ATX , an Austin, Texas based venture capital firm that backs early-stage, high-growth startups through a unique accelerator program, today announced the selection of the newest startup cohort for Winter 2023.
  • These five startups will participate in Sputnik ATX’s intensive 13-week accelerator program designed to fast-track sales, growth and development.
  • “Sputnik ATX invests with a firm belief that talent can come from anywhere.
  • “Venture capital can work as a revolutionary force to change the world around us, so we look for startup founders that are looking to solve big, global problems,” said Joe Merrill, Founder and General Partner at Sputnik ATX.

Nasal Vaccines Global Markets and Pipeline Analysis Research Report 2022 - Trends and Sales Forecasts through 2027 - ResearchAndMarkets.com

Retrieved on: 
Monday, January 9, 2023

The "Nasal Vaccines: Global Markets and Pipeline Analysis" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Key Points: 
  • The "Nasal Vaccines: Global Markets and Pipeline Analysis" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
  • This report examines trends and sales in the global market for nasal vaccines through 2027.
  • Nasal vaccines achieve both: They eliminate the use of needles, thus reducing the cost of vaccines and facilitating mass vaccination.
  • The report examines all forms of nasal vaccines, such as nasal drops or sprays, but excludes intramuscular and oral vaccines.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Global Tech Security Commission Co-Chair Keith Krach Deliver Briefing on Advancing U.S. Technological Leadership

Retrieved on: 
Friday, September 30, 2022

The conversation was hosted by the Global Tech Security Commission a partnership between the Krach Institute and the Atlantic Council.

Key Points: 
  • The conversation was hosted by the Global Tech Security Commission a partnership between the Krach Institute and the Atlantic Council.
  • The Apollo program is a good example, said Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
  • About the Global Tech Security Commission:
    The nonpartisan Global Tech Security Commission is a partnership between the Atlantic Council and Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue.
  • The Commission is co-chaired by Keith Krach , chairman and co-founder of the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue and former U.S.

Linux and Open Source Veterans Sign On to Form CIQ Leadership Team

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, August 31, 2022

RENO, Nev., Aug. 31, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Nine cloud and Linux veterans have signed on to form the leadership team for CIQ, the company building the next generation of software infrastructure for enterprises running data-intensive workloads atop the Rocky Linux enterprise Linux distribution. This follows a successful funding round in May and a teaming with Google Cloud in July.

Key Points: 
  • RENO, Nev., Aug. 31, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Nine cloud and Linux veterans have signed on to form the leadership team for CIQ, the company building the next generation of software infrastructure for enterprises running data-intensive workloads atop the Rocky Linux enterprise Linux distribution.
  • "The CIQ team has a legendary degree of experience building and running Linux-based infrastructure at scale for some of the most demanding applications.
  • Gregory M. Kurtzer, co-founder and CEOKurtzer is a 20+ year veteran in Linux, open source and HPC.
  • CIQ is the founding support and services partner of Rocky Linux , and the creator of the next generation federated computing stack.

Slingshot Aerospace Acquires Numerica’s Space Division and UK-Based Seradata

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, August 3, 2022

Slingshot Aerospace, Inc ., a company building space simulation and analytics products to accelerate space sustainability, today announced that the company has acquired Numericas Space Domain Awareness (SDA) division and UK-based Seradata.

Key Points: 
  • Slingshot Aerospace, Inc ., a company building space simulation and analytics products to accelerate space sustainability, today announced that the company has acquired Numericas Space Domain Awareness (SDA) division and UK-based Seradata.
  • We are constantly improving our customers abilities to monitor, simulate, and optimize their space flight operations, said Melanie Stricklan, Co-founder and CEO, Slingshot Aerospace.
  • The Space Domain Awareness division of Numerica will be fully integrated into Slingshot Aerospace.
  • Slingshot Aerospace, Inc. builds space simulation and analytics products that help worldwide commercial and government organizations accelerate space sustainability to create a safer, more connected world.