COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The 39th Space Symposium kicked off Monday at The Broadmoor and Cheyenne Mountain Resort in Colorado Springs.
The symposium aims to bring space leaders together to discuss, address, and plan for the future of space. The event features the following:
- exclusive networking
- prominent speakers
- prestigious awards
At last year's symposium, more than 10,000 people from more than 40 countries participated in the event.
WATCH: SPACE SYMPOSIUM BRINGS BOOST TO LOCAL ECONOMY
The Space Symposium, which first began in 1984, was originally called the National Space Symposium for 29 years. The event was renamed to the Space Symposium in 2014 to reflect the event's global profile.
This year, an early topic of discussion was how companies can build the dwindling workforce within Aerospace.
"It's almost a crisis point," said the Executive Director of Space Workforce 2030 Mel Stricklan.
She says that the older generation of engineers and other highly trained employees is retiring while university STEM enrollment is down.
Space Workforce 2030 is a collective effort of 29 industry
companies working together to bolster the workforce through prioritizing hiring women and people of color, along with increasing educational outreach.
"That has been a challenge throughout my career," said Associate Professor and Chair of the Mechanical Aerospace Engineering program at UCCS Dr. Peter Gorder.
Dr. Gorder says the industry has always dealt with workforce problems, but they haven't been felt on a scale like this since the 1950s.
"The National Bureau of Labor and Statistics predicts 3% increase over the next 10 years, and southern Colorado has traditionally outpaced the national averages, and all indications are that that's going to continue," he says.
"We started our own undergraduate aerospace engineering at the urging of the local industry last Fall".
The program is set to graduate its' first class next Spring, preparing to send former students to work at the more than 250 local space companies in Southern Colorado.
To learn more about the event, visit the Space Symposium's website.
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