Wednesday, June 8, 2016

USC Students Aim To Launch Rocket Into Space, Promote STEM

Students at the University of Southern California, as well as fellow students from area community colleges, said they are looking to launch a rocket into space--and help further STEM education--through its USC Rocket Propulsion Lab (RPL). According to RPL, which is run by USC Viterbi School of Engineering students, it is working with the nonprofit Base 11, to be the first undergraduate team to launch a rocket into space. The new collaboration effort is being supported by philanthropist Foster Stanback. According to RPL and Base 11, participating community college students will take up residence at USC and conduct research towards building those rockets and for other technology like drones, and also help travel to desert sites to fire engines and launch rockets. Base 11 and USC said the collaboration is aimed at attracting more students into engineering, particularly from underrepresented backgrounds.

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