HIGHER EDUCATION
VSGC has a well-established focus on higher education in Virginia. We offer scholarships, fellowships and internships as well as faculty development. Please read more about our programs and faculty development opportunities below.
Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP)
The Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP), a program of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, is sponsoring a national competition for universities that engages students in addressing issues relating to airports and the National Airspace System. The Competition builds upon the former FAA Design Competition for Universities which has now become an ACRP program funded by the FAA. The Competition is managed for the ACRP by the Virginia Space Grant Consortium. You can learn more about the ACRP Design Competition here.
The ACRP (Airport Cooperative Research Program) Graduate Research Award is intended to stimulate thought, discussion, and research by those who may become the future airport managers, operators, designers, and policy makers in aviation. The focus of this graduate student research program is on applied research on airport and related aviation system issues to help the public sector continue to improve the quality, reliability, safety, and security of the U.S. civil aviation system well into the foreseeable future. The ACRP Graduate Research Awards website can be found here.
Internships
In response to the increasing demand for skilled Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) workers in Virginia, the Virginia Space Grant Consortium (VSGC) has created the Commonwealth STEM Industry Internship Program (CSIIP). CSIIP links companies and students in STEM, including but not limited to high-need areas such as Information Technology, Cybersecurity, Engineering, Physical Science and Financial majors (Finance, Economics, Accounting, Statistics). Learn more about CSIIP here.
The Virginia Space Grant Consortium (VSGC) in partnership with the Virginia Community College System (VCCS), NASA Langley Research Center and NASA Wallops Flight Facility, is offering the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Takes Flight at Virginia’s Community Colleges initiative. STEM Takes Flight provides a suite of programs for Virginia community college students pursuing STEM majors (exclusive of allied health and business) and faculty in STEM disciplines statewide. You can find more information on STEM Takes Flight here.
NASA Internships is a NASA-wide system for the recruitment, application, selection and career development of high school, undergraduate, and graduate students primarily in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines. Opportunities for students in other disciplines are available.
The direct link for NASA internships can be found here.
Faculty Development
Virginia Space Grant Consortium (VSGC) in conjunction with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Wallops Flight Facility offers a professional development opportunity for Community College STEM Faculty.
This two-day, residential workshop focuses on the integration of STEM in the NASA workplace with the purpose of assisting faculty in educating students on the importance of teamwork, technical skills and problem solving. More information can be found here.
The New Investigator Program is designed to strengthen Virginia’s research infrastructure by providing startup funding to Virginia Space Grant university personnel who are conducting research that is directly aligned with NASA’s mission.
NASA’s research interests embrace a wide range of science, engineering, computational and other disciplines.
This opportunity is available to those who have yet to become established researchers. Awardees must be tenure track faculty who are within the first five years of their academic careers and they must be U.S. citizens. More information can be found here.