By Piper Gallagher, Senior Reporter
NASA is touching down on Northwestern’s campus on October 9th.
They will be visiting campus to talk to students and faculty as part of their new Space for Ag tour, where they will go around to different campuses to connect with students and farmers.
Their visit will involve a lecture at 2pm and then an opportunity for students to talk to the presenters after.
The purpose of these visits and tours is for NASA to gain a better understanding of how agriculturists and farmers are doing business.
This can help them make developments and tools that actually benefit America’s farmers.
“Whenever you talk to NASA about what tools they have and what their capabilities are, trust me, that list is long,” Dr. Kent Martin said.
Martin is a professor in the agriculture department, but he is also on a committee called NASA FIAT, the Farmer Innovation Ambassador Team, that helps connect them to farmers.
Martin said the main goal of this event is to educate students on NASA’s capabilities in Agriculture.
This will also open the door for students interested in future studying and career opportunities.
“We would like them (students) to come to the lecture, have some time to interact with them, so that this team of people with NASA can determine the excitement level and the interest, and we will determine whether or not there is sufficient interest to look at offering a course that NASA would assist in teaching,” Martin said.
Martin wants to pack the science amphitheater with students of all majors, not just agriculture, and FFA students from surrounding schools. These students could be from Alva, Woodward, Cherokee and Waynoka. Just to name a few towns.
The event is open to the public and will last from 2pm to 4pm starting in the science building.
After the interaction period with students, NASA will then go on field tours around Northwest Oklahoma.
If the event goes well, there’s a chance NASA could get involved with teaching a class at Northwestern, where the real connections and networking opportunities would be present for students.
If this happens students would have a great opportunity at their hands.
Students from any major are welcomed to this visit and would be welcomed into classes should NASA get involved with teaching a class at NWOSU. This opportunity doesn’t come often.