MANTI, Utah — When you think about the people needed to get the next generation of spacecraft into space, astronauts and engineers may come to mind first.
But NASA needs something else, too: skilled workers who can build the parts that make those missions possible.
That is where Southern Utah University is stepping in.
SUU has been selected to lead a new statewide NASA aerospace workforce hub, part of a roughly $10.5 million, multi-year investment from NASA designed to strengthen the pipeline of skilled technical workers for the aerospace industry.
The effort could eventually connect thousands of Utah students and educators with opportunities in fields including welding, machining, electrical work, advanced manufacturing and other technical careers.
And in rural Utah, some of those skills are already being taught.
From the shop room to space
At Manti High School, students spend time learning skills they can use in the trades - from welding and woodworking to engineering and drafting.
Junior Cole Osborn says he is already considering a career in the trades.
“Welding would be pretty fun to go into, or anything with electrical or something like that,” Osborn said.
The new NASA initiative could give students like him a clearer connection between the skills they are learning in high school and the aerospace industry.
Melinda Pfundstein, SUU’s executive director of Community and Workforce Development, is helping lead the initiative. She spoke with FOX 13 from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, where representatives from the seven newly selected state hubs are taking part in NASA onboarding and training.
“NASA has turned their attention toward building skilled technical workforce in aerospace through these hubs,” Pfundstein said.
She said the goal is to help students think beyond the traditional image of an astronaut.
“The little kids who start with wanting to be an astronaut, perhaps they can think, ‘I want to build stuff that gets sent to the astronauts, or I want to work with the astronaut at the space station,’” Pfundstein said.
That could mean fabricating parts, building valves or producing the many small components that allow large aerospace systems to function.
For students in Manti, the idea is exciting.
“I think that’s pretty fun. It’ll give a lot of people opportunities, for sure,” junior Kayden Roberts said.
Building a statewide workforce pipeline
SUU says the Utah NASA Aerospace Skilled Technical Workforce Hub, or Utah NAS_Hub, will bring together high school career and technical education programs, colleges, employers and other partners across the state.
The goal is to create a statewide pipeline that connects students with the training and skills employers actually need.
Pfundstein said the initiative is about more than SUU.
“The hub is not just about Southern Utah University. It is about how the state can come together in an ecosystem that drives aerospace opportunities for learners and workers,” she said.
The project includes partnerships with organizations such as 47G Utah Aerospace and Defense, Northrop Grumman, Utah Space Grant, Southwest Technical College, Snow College, Talent Ready Utah and school districts around the state.
For Manti High School shop teacher Dean Olson, the emphasis on manufacturing and skilled trades is particularly encouraging.
“They put a lot of emphasis in other areas. It’s nice to see manufacturing and trades becoming more of a priority — and kids getting excited about that,” Olson said.
That excitement is already visible in the classroom.
Senior Whitney Bratton is working with fellow senior Miles Bailey on a device they engineered.
“This is a woods class. I’m just helping with the engineering,” Bratton said.
Bailey says he enjoys the hands-on work.
“I just love to build and create new things,” he said.
And the students understand that opportunities like this aren't limited to big cities.
“I think it’s amazing that they’re affecting small communities like ours,” Bailey said.
A different path into the space industry
Pfundstein said one of the messages NASA is emphasizing is that there are many different ways to become part of the aerospace workforce.
She recalled hearing from an astronaut who started his career as a welder.
That is part of the reason SUU hopes to broaden students’ understanding of what a career connected to space can look like.
“It could be fabrication of so many parts, valves, and the little parts that make the big rockets function,” Pfundstein said.
For students already working with their hands in Utah classrooms, that could open an entirely new way of thinking about where their skills can take them.
And for Manti High welding teacher Michael Kilmer, the initiative fits directly with the skills his students are already developing.
“It’s exciting and right down the alley for what we are preparing kids for,” Kilmer said.
The statewide hub is now getting underway, with SUU working with NASA and its Utah partners to build the training and industry connections that could eventually lead students from classrooms and shop rooms directly into aerospace careers.
For students like Osborn, the possibility of taking something learned in a high school shop and someday using it in the aerospace industry is pretty simple.
“That’d be pretty sweet. That’d be pretty fun to do that.”
