USU President Welcomes Attendees of Small Satellite Conference

Utah State University President Stan L. Albrecht welcomed a crowd of hundreds at USU’s Space Dynamics Laboratory 21st annual Small Satellite Conference. Albrecht introduced keynote speaker Gary E. Payton, deputy undersecretary of the U.S. Air Force for space programs.

“It is a delight and a pleasure to welcome you to USU and Cache Valley,” said Albrecht. “I invite you to take a look around our campus and see the commitments we have made to research here at USU. The state of Utah has created the USTAR initiative designed to infuse $40 million to the state’s two research universities, including USU. This money will help us secure financial support for the kinds of research many of you are participating in.”

 

The conference is held on the USU campus and draws attendees representing academia, industry and government agencies, with more than 850 registrants from 20 countries.

 

With dramatic growth over its 21-year history, the Small Satellite conference has become the largest annual conference held at USU and in Cache Valley.

 

With a strong emphasis on student involvement, the conference holds a student scholarship competition which awards $30,000 in scholarships, with a $10,000 scholarship awarded to first place. Two Utah State University engineering students were among the six competing for scholarships. Patrick Jolley, a mechanical engineering graduate student, took second place in the scholarship competition and received $7,500 in scholarship money. Scott Jensen, also a mechanical engineering graduate student, received an honorable mention and took home $2,500 in scholarship support.

 

The conference, co-sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, has been a huge success in Logan. It has become internationally recognized as the premier conference on small satellites.

 

More than 60 government agencies and top aerospace corporations exhibit at the conference, including ATK, Ball Aerospace, L-3 Communications, Lockheed Martin and NASA. International exhibitors include organizations from Canada, England, Scotland, Japan, the Netherlands and Sweden.

 

For more information visit the conference Web site. 

 

Contact: Jaimie Kandler (jaimie.kandler@sdl.usu.edu) at (435) 797-4656 or Sonya Warner (sonya.warner@usurf.usu.edu) at (435) 797-4783.