Pres. Cantwell Discusses Future of Space Exploration in New Podcast Episode

LOGAN, Utah — The Future Casting With Utah State podcast has released episode 7, in which USU President Elizabeth Cantwell talks with the president of Space Dynamics Laboratory, Dr. Jed Hancock, on navigating the future of space exploration.

Hancock is a fellow of the Society for International Optics and Photonics and has been recognized for his significant contributions to the field. He has a distinguished record of leading research and NASA programs, which was a key focus of the podcast.

In addition to his presidency, Hancock also teaches at USU and emphasized the ongoing collaboration between the university and the lab’s civil space division on NASA programs and space missions.

Hancock said students are the lifeblood of the organization and that 200 students make up about 13% of SDL’s workforce.

“They assist in everything from business functions to the very engineering and science research,” Hancock said. “Every project we do has students, professors and professionals working alongside.”

Cantwell and Hancock also reflected on their shared experience with the OSIRIS-REx mission, and how the diversity of student involvement was crucial to the mission's success.

“For the OSIRIS-REx mission, there were a lot of students who were humanities majors, communications majors, and they were working on a whole bunch of aspects of a mission that aren't just designing the instrument,” Cantwell said. “I’m excited about being able to deliver business students into these missions because we need all of those skills.”

The future of space exploration projects is bright, according to Cantwell and Hancock and they look forward to more collaboration.

For more information, listen to Future Casting With Utah State on UPR.org or visit the president’s communications webpage.