Hottest nights of the summer, nearly half a Million People crowded on to the national mall. They were not there for a protest or to celebrate a National Holiday and they were not there for a concert or to watch a fireworks show. No, instead half a Million People went there drenched in sweat to watch the story of the apollo 11 mission as it was projected on to the Washington Monument commemorating the neal 50 years ago when armstrong and buzz aldrin took that giant leap for mankind. If there is half a Million People on the lawn and it is not a protest, Something Big is going on. Land on the moon and returning safely to earth marks as one of the epical moments in the history of mankind. What we see now is very different than the landscape of 1969. Not only did we succeed going to moon and back again but we have gone on to put robotic rovers on distant planets and are k literally peer into the beginningings of the universe and we have established a human presence in lower earth orbit. In the span of a single lifetime, we have seen space fundamentally transformed to an integral part of our daily lives in world economy. Space is often referred to as the last frontier. And rightfully so. Much like the first frontiers of exploration, space is hard. Planning etic louse and even then nothing is guaranteed. It is dangerous. But the last frontier shares a critical aspect with the first frontiers. Through its power now and tomorrow to inspire us. The space race of the 1960s inspired americans to aim higher, to dream bigger than they ever had before. To literally shoot for the moon. And i believe the burjonning space sector of today can do the same for a bigger and broader swath for the United States and the world. Just a few weeks ago, we witnessed the historic allfemale spacewalk on the International Space station. The first ever. And when the United States returns to the moon as part of artemis, ofprogram, course being the twin sister of apollo, nasa has committed that we will land the first woman ever on the surface of the moon and it will be an american astronaut who steps forth on the moon. As the father of two young daughters, that makes me very proud indeed. As we return to bold spacex employeration, we do so not only with a much more diverse astronaut core but also with a ch more diverse set of nongovernmental partners. It is worth remembering the success of apollo 11 and the National Space program as a whole is due in no small part to the contributionsor a workforce including countless women working behind the scenes whose stories have only recently become household names. One of those women, dr. Christine darden testified before the subcommittee earlier this career. She was one of the famed early Human Computers at nasa and without her work and the work of many other socalled computers, many of them africanamerican women, we never could have sent astronauts into space, let alone brought them back safely. Unfortunately for far too long dr. Darden and the other Human Computers contributions were hidden, relegated to the background for a time. Her story and the story of others like her serves as a reminder of the lessons we need to learn to ensure we are cultivating a talent and leadership not based on race or gender but based on merritt, ard work, skill and passion. We have returned to spacex employeration. Has the skilled base of people it needs to be successful now and in the future. To ensure we continue to grow, we will be successful in establishing the United States f america as the leader in a space nation. Get kids of all ages, backgrounds, resources, excited about science and technology and engineering and math. Ut that alone is not enough. It will require us to take a serious look at the road ahead, to explore unconventional roles in ps and responsibility. Getting it right will be a complex and challenging undertaking. After all, space is hard. But im reminded and encouraged that the apollo 11 flight director said when he testified in front of this subcommittee in july last year. What america will dare, america will do. I look forward to hearing from our Witnesses Today about their work in Stem Education and what suggestions they might have for how we in congress can act. I want to thank in particular the Ranking Member for her initiative for proposing that we hold this hearing, her andhip and bip lip bipartisanship leadership that formed this committee. If we dont build a strong Stem Education pipeline we will face a deficit of our workers. Congress, several agencies like nasa, Industry Partners and most importantly educational institutions must Work Together to quop develop and prepare a 21st century workforce so we continue to lead in space and our economy remains strong. Thank you to our guests today for joining us to discuss this important issue. Since it was established in 1958, nasa has productive partnerships with universities across the country. As we develop more advanced space technologies, set large goals and grow our aero space we must ensure we have a strong workforce. This starts with educating students. Universities and students across the country currently work with nasa on important projects such as mission monitoring, research and analysis. In my home state of arizona, Arizona State arizona, university of arizona and Northern Arizona university all work with nasa to further its missions big and small. The talented faculty across the state bring new opportunities to students. When administrator briden stein testified earlier this year, he had amazing success in developing these programs and projects. He first time the universe has led remarkably similar to a planetary core. University of arizona is also paving the way for dr. Loretta leads the science team and the Mission Science observations. The team is critical to this mission. All through the arizona participate in the arizona space ium. Consort they work with and retain students. He partners awarded 175 paid internships to arizona students in 2018 alone which allows students to work alongside investigators. Is offers us a u. S. Critical insights into space. Students are not the only ones benefiting. Push the boundaries of what we thought were possible. When the administrator testified, he saw that projects typically meet costs and schedule. When money and time are limited and projects are these achieved. Ps are we pertain the knowledge that mes them and train the nest generation. That is the only way we can ensure we have workers ready to keep america at the forefront of space. This week were introducing legislation. The National Aeronautics act of 2019 which im looking forward to introducing chairman thune and wicker and cantwell. To encourage students to pursue careers in Technical Education and give nasa the ability to establish and grow lasting partnerships between itself and universities through research centers. Im also proud to work with the senator on legislation which will modernize the Space Grant Program for the First Time Since 1988 and ensure states with the resources to recruit and train he next scientists and mathematicians. Thank you so much mr. Chairman. I yield back. Senator cruz thank you, i now recognize the chairman of the full committee for his opening stoiment. Senator wicker well, i want to congratulate my two colleagues on their excellent opening statements. Senator cruz describes the crowds witnessing the 50th anniversary in dramatic, almost poetic words. I could almost sense the pungent throng, of the sweaty gathered on the mall. Senator cruz almost like a senate hearing. Nator wicker and clerk will note cross talk. Just say cross talk. [laughter] in the 50 years since the apollo 11, nasa has continued to achieve incredible feats. Would these missions have been possible without americas education system. University researchers continue to lead groundbreaking projects in Space Technology and scientific discovery. In doing so, they involve students, some of whom become scientists. Some of whom become engineers. Others mathematicians. For nasa and in the private sector. Maintaining this pipeline is vital to maintaining americas preeminence in outer space. Im glad to be a cosponsor of the legislation senator sinema mentioned. Today session is a Cross Section of the nasa Stem Education ecosystem. I would like to extend a particular welcome to josh gladden from my alma mater, the university of mississippi. Ole miss worked with research on graphene, a material with transformtive potential for many applications including spaceflight. This past weekend nasa launched a payload to the International Space station. Thank you all for being here today. I look forward to a great discussion on stem engagement to help build the space force. Senator cruz thank you, mr. Chairman. I will say your remarks reminded of my ing up, both parents are mathematicians about an old engineers joke about the Washington Monument. They are each discussing how to figure out how tall it is. The mathematician says it is very simple. I need a length of string and a transit. I can measure. It is a simple matter of trig nom tri. The physicist says it is much simpler than that. Ill take the elevator to the top. Take a string and lower it down and measure the length of the string. The engineer looks at both of them and looks at the tour guide and says how tall is the damn thing . With that, im happy to introduce our witnesses. Our first witness, dr. Lynn lind dr. Linda tarbox elkinstanton is the director of the Interplanetary Initiative at Arizona State university. Her research revolves around trest yell planetary formation, magma oceans and subsequent planetary evloev lucian including magma tism and rocky planets and their atmospheres and participates in education initiatives such as inquiry and exploration and leadership and Team Building for scientists and engineers. She serves on the standing review board for the Europa Mission and served on the panel or the decadal survey. She received her ph. D. In geology and geophysics from mit. Our second witness is mr. Jeffrey man ber. Since nine, nanoracks has created products and offered Research Services for the commercial utilization of space. Today nanoracks is the single largest private investor on the International Space station with over 40 million of private capital dedicated to commercial facilities and equipment. They employee 70 people in texas and have launched 250 small satellites and over 800 specials to the i. S. S. Mr. Manber is also chairman to dreamup. It allows students to pursue students in Space Research and education. He is a graduate of northwestern university. Ur third witness is dr. Josh gland. Gladden. He works in research and Research Funding and provides support for all funding projects at the university. Prior to this role, he served as associate vice chancellor for research and physical acoustics. He also served in elected National Positions as a member of the exiver committee and chair of the physical Acoustics Technical Committee of the Acoustical Society of america. Received a ph d degree in physicses from Pennsylvania State university and finally ms. Shella condino is a physics advisor of the residio Rocketry Club. 240 miles south of el paso and resighs in one of the most emote parts of the the continental United States. For most people in presidio, english is a second language. It is hard for students to focus solely on school. Hour even under those circumstances, the Rocketry Club has skintly placed well in con consistently placed well in contests across the country and respected a well robertry respected robertry team. During her time at presidio, they have qualified for the National Finals at the Team America Rocketry challenge. 2011, ms. Condino was received the Scott CrossfieldAerospace Education teacher of the year award. She received her bachelors manila, physics from philippines. With that, i welcome dr. Elkinstanton to give her testimony. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. I am testifying in my own ehalf. Im p. I. Of the Nasa Discovery Mission psych, the in the discovery portfolio as mentioned by chairman cruz. Thank you. E have a vision. We have a vision an optimistic human space future, we, in this room, have this vision, where we are an interplanetary species, and where our Space Exploration improves society on earth and our knowledge and care of earth itself. Those are the stakes that were talking about. These really are huge times for us, thinking about going interplanetary, taking these steps. Here are three Key University partnership needs. First is workforce development. We need talent to support the growing aspirations of our nation, and to work with other countries as the worlds continued leader in space. Therefore, education has to be futurefacing, and workforceoriented. I think this is an important thing to stress. Were in the Information Age now. We need to look forward. Second, returning to the moon, this time to stay, will require more than just engineers, astronauts, and scientists. We need everyone involved. And s and philosophers business leaders. They are really good at putting together a push to become interplanetary. Third, the stakeholder triangle of nasa, universities, private sector is necessary for our space future requires the full involvement of. Nonprofit universities are uniquely placed to communicate the needs, create rapid responsive teams, and transfer the research and Technology Intellectual Property produced at universities through partnership with nasa into the private sector, to the great benefit of both the space industry and the american taxpayer. Transfer has to speed up. Now is the time to grow our partnerships in these more fruitful, targeted ways now is the time to set up University Affiliated Research Centers and other such mechanisms to speed up the development of specific solutions, and accelerate the flow of knowledge and technology to nasa and to the private sector. Asu is here to meet this challenge with a student population of 100k and as the 1 ranked school for innovation, five years in a row. It stishes me, coming from the east coast to see transfer has Public University can be and so many of us in this room understand the value of these amazing institutions and were lucky in arizona to have several. At a. S. U. , our partners include 30 universities and Government Agencies and labs and centers. Ofeel strongly this triangle nasa, universities, private sector is necessary for our space future requires the full involvement of. Nonprofit universities are uniquely placed to communicate the needs, create rapid responsive teams, and transfer the research we pioneered ways to create Interdisciplinary Teams where students learn real team skills while working on real nasa mission challenges. We have for example student graphic designers project managers and marketers working with for example student electrical and mechanic a. M. Engineers. This is where the project managers actually get to help anage a project. Managers actually get to help manage a project. We have a total of over 500 students who worked with psych already. Universitys from 15 states. I say this to underscore my personal commitment that this is ot just about my university to work effectively in teams sharing information, criticizing and sharing information and giving feedback. Things we dont arch practice until were in the workforce. This is the education of the future. We have to teach the process cycles. In fall of 2020, the Interplanetary Mission launched the most forwardlooking program to date. It is a part of our answer to education in the Information Age. The bachelor of science in tech logical leadership is a scaleable threeyear Degree Program using exploration learning techniques in the classroom and having students spend time in internship. They will learn programming, statistics, calculus, collaborative problem solving, communication, positive Team Psychology and learn team communication, Ethical Leadership and Critical Thinking via a special methodology that we have been working