Aerospace engineering students at the University of Colorado Boulder will host the annual Students for the Exploration and Development of Space conference, SpaceVision 2011, in Boulder Oct. 27-30.
Bill Nye, who serves as executive director of The Planetary Society and is well known for his "Bill Nye the Science Guy" TV series, will open the conference with a keynote talk Thursday night starting at 7:30 p.m. at the University Memorial Center's Glenn Miller Ballroom. Nye's presentation is open to the general public; tickets can be purchased for $10 each on the conference website at .
The conference, which will continue Friday through Sunday at the Millennium Hotel in Boulder, is the largest student-organized space conference in the nation. More than 300 students from around the country are expected to attend sessions exploring the future of aerospace engineering, entrepreneurship and government policy.
Other high-profile speakers will include Col. Chris Crawford, commander of the 21st Space Wing at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado; Simon "Pete" Worden (Brig. Gen., retired), director of NASA Ames Research Center; and George Nield, associate administrator for the Office of Commercial Space Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration.
Representatives of Virgin Galactic, Google, SpaceX and Southwest Research Institute also will participate in addition to primary conference sponsors Sierra Nevada Corp., Lockheed Martin, United Launch Alliance, The Space Foundation and the CU-Boulder Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences.
The general public also is invited to participate in the conference. Online registration, which starts at $50 for students (any grade) will continue through Wednesday. For more information go to .
NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver talks with CU-Boulder aerospace engineering students at an Oct. 21 roundtable discussion on career opportunities and the future of the space program. (Photo by Patrick Campbell/University of Colorado)
