Educational Initiatives

When you operate a not-for-profit R&D center, education becomes a central focus. And that is clearly the  case for VCSI.  A clear goal of the organization is its education mission and VCSI has decided to focus its time, energy and resources on college students and to provide them with hands on learning experiences.  

In support of this goal, VCSI has established a set of educational initiatives.
The first type of activity relates directly to project implementation and in this space VCSI works hard to integrate college students into each and every project.  To accomplish this goal VCSI has forged relations with all seven of the Alabama research universities, as well as other key research universities across the US.  University researchers, students and staff, are intimately engaged with the VCSI HIRAD Hurricane Forecasting Instrument, the TVA Rain Gauge study, and FASTSAT-HSV. 

One notable project stands out as a shining example of the impact that students can have on research, that is the Tawani Foundation Antarctica Expedition research team.  VCSI has received funding from the Foundation, as well as a key advocate of the expedition in Ohio, and it has used those funds to integrate students into the related research activities.

Dr. Elena Pikuta has been leading a small team of University of Alabama Huntsville students to conduct research on the scientific specimens that the expedition team brought back from Antarctica. As a result of this research, the two students co-authored a paper and will present it at a conference in San Diego in August 2009.  Congratulations to Melissa Guisler and Alisa Townsend!  As another bonus benefit from this experience, Melissa was recently hired by the Hudson Alpha Institute in Huntsville, a nationally recognized biotech firm, due to her hands on experience with genome sequencing.

VCSI is proud to have been a small part of these students development and wish them all the luck in the future. Dr. Pikuta and Alisa continue to conduct research on the expedition specimens revealing more and more exciting scientific finds. See the Tawani Research page for more information about this exciting endeavor!

The second type of activity consists of VCSI investments in academic scholarship. VCSI was pleased to award its first four year scholarship to the University of Alabama Huntsville and it hopes to be able to invest in additional academic scholarships in UAH and other Alabama research universities.

The third type of activity is the direct involvement of students in the day to day operations of VCSI. VCSI is pleased to note that interns are an integral part of VCSI every day. 

Eric Green – Eric has a degree in Accounting from UAH and is currently working on his Master’s Degree in Accounting. Eric is an invaluable part of our team as he is quickly becoming the resident QuickBooks guru.

Stephanie Horne – Stephanie is a biology major at UAH and is helping us be as organized as humanly possible. She is always willing to go the extra mile for anyone in need.

Melissa Tubbs – Melissa is a nursing student at UAH who helps out with filing and organization. She always comes in with a smile on her face and ready to tackle the world!

Recent graduates also play a key role for VCSI.

Patrick Slattery – Patrick recently graduated from UAH with a degree in MIS from UAH. He designed the VCSI website and has assisted with all VCSI IT needs – an accomplishment in its own right.

Finally, VCSI supports summer interns as part of the NASA MSFC summer intern programs.  This year, VCSI will support three summer interns.  These students will get hands on experience with the VCSI flight projects.   

VCSI has invested wisely and heavily in educational activities and students and it would hope that as it grows, its ability to support these programs will grow commensurately.