With funding support from GO Virginia and in partnership with the Richard Bland College of William & Mary (RBC), the Virginia Space Grant Consortium (VSGC), Virginia Tech, and the Virginia Unmanned Systems Center at the Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) recently conducted an Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Workforce Survey to inform future workforce development and education programs to train the UAS workforce. Faculty leaders from the NSF-funded GeoTEd-UAS project were also partners on the project.
Here is a link to the final report for the survey that was completed by employers and organization from throughout the entire Commonwealth of Virginia. Richard Bland College’s Chief Development Officer Tyler Hart stated, “At Richard Bland College we strive to be industry focused and data driven, the data collected from this survey is invaluable and will shape the development of credentials to help meet the training needs of the region and the state.”
VSGC Deputy Director Chris Carter stated, “We are excited to be able to collect this valuable data and information to inform future UAS education and workforce training efforts. We really appreciate Richard Bland College’s support for the statewide UAS survey and their interest in starting an aeronautics and UAS program. We thank all of the organizations who took time to respond.”
The survey and reports were administered and developed by Magnolia Consulting, an independent research firm. Data was collected between April and May 2020.