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Florida Tech ROTC’s atypical summer

October 9, 2019 by Sonja Michaels Leave a Comment

While college students’ summer plans often consist of vacations or summer classes, Florida Tech Army ROTC students had another atypical break.

They completed rigorous training camps and
internships, traveled with cultural programs and attended specialized schools like Airborne School or Air Assault School.

Isiah Mossiah, a senior studying molecular biology, completed advanced camp at Fort Knox in Kentucky.

The camp was a 31-day training course Mossiah described as “a culmination of our previous three years of ROTC training.”

Cadetcommand.army.mil states that the mission of advanced camp is to assess a cadet’s potential to serve as a commissioned officer. It lists highlights of the training event, including first aid, a field leader’s reaction course and tactics training.

Mossiah said that cadets are put into platoons of 40-45 people, and are constantly evaluated by cadres—the officers responsible for the training of cadets.

He discussed field training exercises, explaining that the first is cadreled, while the others were completed independently for purposes of evaluation.

They also completed road marches of up to 12 miles.

“You have a 35 pound ruck on your back, and you have to make a certain time requirement,” Mossiah said.

He added that many exercises are pass or fail, and that cadets must pass to continue in the course.

Cadets are ranked at the end of the training.

This ranking influences their placement in the Army later on.

Mossiah said the training gave him valuable experience in communication with a diverse group.

He said it gave him the opportunity to compare and contrast his leadership skills with others, then use that to communicate more effectively across a group.

Sergeant First Class Arsenio Rodriguez, a military instructor with Florida Tech Army ROTC, said cadets completed summer training in Africa and South America through the Cultural Understanding and Leadership Program.

According to cadetcom-mand.army.mil, CU&LP
completely immerses cadets into another culture, improving their cultural awareness.

“They get to work with cadets that are in the same role as they are, but just in a different country, and they get to experience a day in the life of how they function and what their training consists of,” Rodriguez said.

He said some cadets attended Airborne School, a three week course which includes military parachutist training.

Others attended Air Assault School, a 10 day course which Sergeant First Class Jeremy Brandon, a military instructor with Florida Tech Army ROTC, described as “physical and mental.”

“You learn all about the capabilities and limitations of all the different rotary wing aircraft,” Brandon said.

goarmy.com states that the course is designed to prepare soldiers for missions that call for the use of transportation and assault helicopters.

Brandon said he thinks the biggest benefit of summer training is the real-world experience, where cadets are able to apply the theory they have learned, and “work through problems in a way that you can’t really simulate in a classroom or laboratory environment.”

He said these concrete experiences prepare students for the responsibility and depth of knowledge required of a lieutenant before they are commissioned into the Army.

Going forward into the fall semester, Rodriguez said cadets will gain more out-of-classroom experience in field training exer-
cises.

“They get to spend two nights out in the woods,” he said. “It lets us evaluate them as leaders and how they perform under stress.”

The field training exercises are planned for the first week of November.

Filed Under: News, Travel Tagged With: florida tech, programs, ROTC, students, Summer

NASA launches research programs for students

October 7, 2019 by theCrimson 1 Comment

NASA announced new resources and funding available to students as the program will be increasing its prevalence of small satellites, and has opened new lines of research for both graduate and undergraduate students.

Last Wednesday, a crowd of students gathered in the Hartley room to enjoy pizza and drinks before embarking on an insightful space exploration lecture led by top leading experts in the field.

Jose Nunez, the former chief of flight technologies branch at Kennedy Space Center, and the current Florida Tech liaison to KSC, presented to hundreds of young space enthusiasts.

Nunez began by describing NASA’s new objective: return to the moon by 2024. After a thorough overview of the mission phases of the Artemis program, Nunez segued to the core of his speech—research opportunities.

According to Nunez, NASA selects research through the NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System, NSPIRES.

With this system, NASA posts requests for research proposals to which anyone can make submissions. NSPIRES also includes Research Opportunities in Earth and Space Science, ROSES, which is a broad research request for anything not specifically requested elsewhere.

Furthermore, NASA is looking to use some of the ROSES funding for the CubeSat Launch Initiative.

Through this initiative, students and research organizations can work with NASA to develop cubesats or small satellites, which will conduct astrophysical science research.

The Cubesat Launch Initiative is a much larger program for the development and launch of cubesats on current NASA rockets.

It includes the NASA 2020 small satellite technology partnership.

This program specifically requires the development teams to work directly with NASA and have access to a block of funds set aside for this project.

During his presentation, Nunez outlined the NASA internships.

“Internships have two different flavors,” Nunez said. “One is called a NIFs, a NASA internship fellowship. That is just a one-shot deal. The other is called a pathway. That is the path to become a civil servant.”

Nunez highlighted the value in looking for students that are involved in extracurriculars that boost their skill base in reliance to a career field in aerospace.

Some students, such as Ajeé Watson, attended mostly for the internship information.

“My major is aerospace engineering, and I wanted to hear about good opportunities,” Watson said.

Other students, such as Wesley Howell, attended more for project information.

“We have been in contact with Nunez for senior design,” Howell said. “We wanted to see how we could continue. There are a lot of opportunities for students.” Howell echoed Nunez. “My whole goal is to make you aware of the opportunities. What you do with them is up to you guys.”

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: florida tech, internships, NASA, programs, research, space, students

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