A space engineering program at Morehead State University geared towards high school girls is getting a $4 million grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission.
SpaceTrek is a two-week residency that lets its attendees build and launch their own satellites, collect mission data and present it to scientists at MSU’s Space Science Center.
The grant will expand SpaceTrek to involve more institutions from both Kentucky and West Virginia.
Jennifer Carter is the creator and director of the program. She says she’d like to use the opportunity to bring SpaceTrek to other regions.
“If you build a program that you are going to be potentially giving to other very capable institutions, you need to be looking at industry and have industry experts on your team,” Carter said.
Carter says she’s been in talks to start a similar program at West Virginia University as part of the grant.
She says its been a pipeline for women to enter the aerospace workforce.
“Since I've been running that program, I have watched girls who've, I'll use the word graduate, from SpaceTrek, move on into aerospace degree programs or related programs,” Carter said.
Carter says other students who have attended the program have also gone into fields like electrical engineering and computer science.
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