A year ago, we were in the final stages of bringing the University Consortium to life. Working with the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station, we were putting the final touches on a statement of work that captured a broad vision to more closely link the academic community, industry and the government. The intent was — and is — to collaboratively tackle challenging hypersonics applied science and technology issues and to develop a robust hypersonics workforce for the future. While we have accomplished much over the past year to achieve this vision, COVID-19 restrictions constrained our ability to engage with consortium participants in the manner that we had hoped.
Zoom meetings and WebEx events helped to fill this void, but we missed out on the new opportunities the consortium allowed for forging new and reinforcing existing connections. For this reason, we are very excited to host our first in-person forum this November in College Station. We are excited about the agenda we have planned, which includes discussions on the Department of Defense’s focus in hypersonics research and insights into the projects they are pursuing, among other things. Fingers crossed, and we hope to see you there!
Despite the COVID hurdles and growing pains of this first year, the UCAH team excelled in every area critical to our hypersonic community. We awarded and funded 17 research projects with a total three-year value of $25.5 million. We released three additional multi-project-research solicitations to further pursue our science and technology and workforce development goals; expanded our membership to over 80 universities, 79 industry partners and six national labs; kicked off our UCAH Seminar Series and hosted six technical seminars led by experts from across the hypersonics enterprise. We also have emplaced a mature consortium management and advisory structure, with the formation of committees dedicated to workforce development, industry and national lab engagement, and technology transition.
In sum, we’ve accomplished a great deal and laid the groundwork to accomplish much more. We have ambitious plans for this group and are excited to have it fully up and running. We will continue to promote and fund research, and will also put significant focus on integrating efforts across the hypersonics enterprise. We see the consortium and its members as playing a significant role in this by providing advice and insight that will spur collaborative hypersonic capabilities development, spark a rush of new talent into the diverse fields that underpin hypersonic developments and shape how we work together. Our many stakeholders expect a lot out of this consortium and are just as excited as us to see how it has progressed. Our goal, using the structures and tools developed over the past year, is to exceed these expectations by finding synergies that make the whole of consortium activities greater than the sum of its parts.
I’m grateful for the hard work undertaken by all who have been part of this inaugural year, whether by volunteering to participate in boards and committees, asking the tough questions that helped us refine UCAH policies, participating in consortium events or submitting white papers and proposals in response to project solicitations. Your patience, insights and willingness to join us in this important endeavor are greatly appreciated.
Dr. Gillian Bussey
