Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Writer: Shanna Relford
news@utsi.edu
The University of Tennessee Space Institute’s brand new Assistant
Vice President for Research and Development Dr. Angie Bukley is
leaving UTSI to teach in China. But don’t worry; she’ll be back in
three weeks. Dr. Bukley will be teaching at the International Space
University’s Space Session Program this summer, a nine-week
intensive space studies program. The host for the Space Session
Program this year is Beihang University of Aeronautics &
Astronautics in Beijing. The program is broken into three phases:
Core Lectures, a review of the fundamentals to ensure all
participants have a general understanding of the many aspects of
space exploration and utilization, Advanced Lectures, when more
difficult topics will be tackled, and the Team Project, in which
students will be divided into four teams to address space-related
topics in a more in-depth manner. In the Space Systems Engineering
Department that Dr. Bukley chairs, competitions will be held to
challenge students to design their own robots to perform a certain
task, and to build and launch their own rockets. Dr. Bukley will be
teaching during the Advanced Lectures and competitions portion of
the program.
While new to UTSI, Dr. Bukley has taught with ISU since 1994 and is
currently a member of ISU’s Board of Trustees and their Academic
Council, which she currently chairs. While in China, Dr. Bukley will
be giving advanced seminars on various space topics including space
debris, space failures and recoveries, and lessons learned. She will
also lead a series of workshops where students will assess the best
way to design a remote sensing system to support fighting forest
fires. Students will have to debate and decide what type of
satellite system would best suit the application and the best orbit
in which to put it.
There are 121 students from 25 different countries enrolled in this
year’s summer space program. Those students will join Dr. Bukley and
their other instructors on a tour of China’s Astronaut (Taikonaut)
Training Center, and the vehicle assembly building, where the
Chinese assemble their rockets.
Dr. Bukley’s just had her first day at UTSI on June 18, but has
already settled into her new position here at UTSI and her new home
in Estill Springs. “I am thrilled to finally be here and look
forward to working with everyone here to advance the research
programs of the Institute. Developing a strong relationship between
UTSI and ISU will yield positive results for both parties. I
sincerely appreciate having this opportunity to expose a broad range
of leaders in the space world and 121 exceptionally bright and
energetic young people to UTSI.”
DR BUKLEY WITH ISU'S SPACE SESSION PROGRAM FACULTY—The faculty of this summer’s International Space University Space Session Program are shown above during their visit to Beihang University of Aeronautics & Astronautics in November 2006. UTSI’s Dr. Angie Bukley is shown in the center. From left to right: Isabelle Bouvet (France, CNES - Policy & Law), Ozgur Gurtuna (Turkey, Turquoise Technology - Business & Management), Mike Simpson (USA, ISU President), Scott Madry (USA, Univ. of North Carolina - Satellite Applications), Jim Dator (USA, Univ. of Hawaii - Space & Society), Angie Bukley (USA, UTSI - Space Systems Engineering), Jeffrey Hoffman (USA, MIT & former NASA Astronaut - Core Lectures), Gary Martin (USA, NASA - ISU SSP Director), Gilles Clement (France, CNRS - Space Life Sciences), Sandra Podhajsky (Austria, ISU - SSP Academic Director), and Mikhail Marov (Russia, Keldysh Inst. for Applied Mathematics - Space Physical Sciences).
-- Photo Provided
