Howard University Administrators Visit Goddard

Howard University President Dr. Sidney Ribeau and other university officials met with Goddard Center Director Rob Strain and members of his senior staff on June 10 to discuss current and potential partnerships between the two institutions.

The meeting between Strain and Ribeau was triggered by a recent NASA grant award of $5 million to Howard University to help fund research of atmospheric phenomena related to pollutants. Dr. Aprille Ericsson, a Goddard instrument manager and member of Howard’s Board of Trustees, helped orchestrate the event. You can easily find lots marvelous essays reviews that cover the events such as this, explaining everything in great detail

The connections are strong between NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and Howard University in Washington, D.C. In addition to cooperation on atmospheric research and other fields, more than 40 Howard alumni work at Goddard, and some center employees serve as adjunct professors at Howard.

For example, Dr. Franco Einaudi, director of Goddard’s Earth Sciences Division, has ensured a strong connection between Goddard researchers at Howard’s Beltsville, Md., campus over the past two decades.

The NASA University Research Center at Howard University Beltsville Center for Climate System Observation trains students from all over the world. Strain, Deputy Center Director Laurie Leshin and other Goddard managers and scientists visited the Beltsville campus as part of the June 10 meeting.

Looking toward the future, Ribeau and Strain discussed cross-discipline partnerships to draw diverse, young workers to Goddard and provide a catalyst that moves Howard toward its defined vision of one of America’s top 50 research universities.

“We are in each other’s backyards,” Strain said. “A strong partnership makes good sense and is supportive of both Goddard and Howard.”

As part of the visit, Howard representatives were able to meet crew members from the shuttle Atlantis mission (STS-125) that repaired and upgraded the Hubble Space Telescope last month.

The image below shows the group of astronauts, Goddard officials and Howard University guests who participated in the June 10 event. Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn

 

 

Source: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2009/howard_visit.html