Alfred University is ramping up the work it does to advance technology in the aerospace and space exploration fields.
That Southern Tier-based university is not a large school, but it still manages to work on technology with federal agencies, including NASA and the U.S. Defense Department, and companies like SpaceX, particularly in the area of developing ceramics needed for space travel and the aerospace industry.
Alfred recently announced a new Space Materials Institute, to help facilitate these projects.
Gabrielle Gaustad is Dean of the Inamori School of Engineering at Alfred, and she said their researchers are working with NASA on key technology needed for space travel.
“So really taking moon dirt and being able to build with that material on the moon, make it a hard ceramic material that could either be landing pad for something to land on, or become building blocks for actually making buildings or other things,” Gaustad said.
Gaustad noted that students from Alfred University are also working with companies like SpaceX, doing internships and in some cases, eventually getting jobs with them after they graduate.
“SpaceX actually reached out to us a couple years ago and said, ‘hey, you know, we have all these amazing scientists and engineers, but we really don't have anybody with expertise in ceramics or glass, and those are the key materials that we're working with.’ “And so we did a couple projects with them, sent some students over there to be interns, and now they've hired a couple of our grads full time,” Gaustad said.
Alfred University has also been working on other projects with the federal government including ways to manufacture improved materials for defense systems and aerospace applications.
Mark Zupan, Alfred University president, said that the university “is excited to bring all of these high-value projects and others together in the Space Materials Institute.” And Zupan said in a statement that it will help Alfred “leverage even more opportunities for growth in this sector for our students, staff and faculty in addition to our collaborators in industry.”
