What is GeoTEd-UAS?

sUAS—one of the disruptive technologies of our time—will transform our daily lives over the next few decades as profoundly as the smartphone and the only way to realize the full potential is to grow the industry’s current and future workforce.

The Improving Pathways into the Geospatial and Unmanned Aircraft Systems Technician Workforce  (GeoTEd-UAS) project team includes the Virginia Space Grant Consortium (VSGC), Germanna Community College, Virginia Tech, and the Virginia Community College System (VCCS).

Administered by the VSGC, the GeoTEd-UAS team was awarded a project grant by the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education (NSF-ATE) program (NSF #2000715).

GeoTEd-UAS will prepare students for success as sUAS operations technicians (sUAS-OT) and as geospatial technicians. Small UAS-OT duties typically include planning and flying sUAS missions, maintaining sUAS, and processing geospatial data to analyze and solve problems.

Entry-level technician positions in geospatial technology generally include job titles such as geographic information systems (GIS) technician, survey and mapping technician, GIS specialist, spatial data technician, and other similar titles. These positions are broadly responsible for developing, creating, and maintaining spatial information layers stored in a GIS. With the emergence of sUAS and their ability to collect geospatial data of many types, the use of sUAS has become a critical data acquisition tool for GT technicians.

Teacher Professional Development and Student Outreach in sUAS and Geospatial Technology

To increase and diversify the geospatial technology and UAS workforce, it is critical to develop student interest early in their academic career. A key  component of the GeoTEd-UAS project is student recruitment of future community college students through outreach and exposure to role models in the field.

The project team has developed student outreach materials and offered programs for students in middle-school through college including hands on flying time with competitions, building a UAS, experience with a variety of vehicles and sensors, and exposure to professionals working the field.

The team has leveraged the archived GEOTREK-12 program created and sponsored by the Virginia Space Grant Consortium to develop outreach materials and coordinate and offer many outreach events for students and teachers. The GeoTEd-UAS team will continue to coordinate and offer these outreach events and look for opportunities to expand the program. 

Former GeoTEd-UAS cohort participant, Veronica Spradlin is a high school Career and Technical Education (CTE) teacher in Montgomery County, Virginia. She developed and offered the first-ever pilot UAS course for the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE). VDOE is now working with Veronica to further develop the course and make it available to all teachers in the Commonwealth.  GeoTEd-UAS PI Chris Carter will serve on the curriculum review committee and ensure the course is informed by the work of the GeoTEd-UAS team.