NASA is addressing the anticipated shortage of aerospace engineers in part through workforcedevelopment projects of the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program. BIG BLUE is a workforce development project currently in its fifth year at the University of Kentucky (UK). UK does not have an aerospace engineering major, and this year, for the first time, the BIG BLUE project is a joint effort of students in Mechanical, Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Kentucky and students in Aerospace Engineering at Oklahoma State University. To date, over 250 students have participated in the BIG BLUE project.

This unique multi-university, multidisciplinary project is providing students with opportunities to learn about and to prepare for aerospace engineering careers. BIG BLUE is a comprehensive aerospace project experience to design, build and conduct a complex, high altitude experiment to verify the feasibility of inflatable-wing technology for Mars exploration. To date, three successful high-altitude experiments have been completed, along with participation in a student unmanned aerial vehicle competition. From the workforce development perspective, students involved in BIG BLUE join the aerospace workforce while participating in the challenging research-oriented project, which influences their decision to choose and pursue an aerospace career.

Collaboration with industry is also an important aspect of the BIG BLUE project. Technologies are developed and tested in consultation and partnership with high-tech industries, including conducting a detailed design review with industry representatives. Partnering with another university for this process presents communication and other challenges for students, in addition to the technical challenges. However, this is a more realistic representation of the current working environment for research and development of high-tech systems.

In this presentation, technical and educational aspects of the BIG BLUE project are summarized, including annual support and expenditures, student and faculty involvement and aerospace workforce development results. A five-year review of BIG BLUE reveals the effort, cost and results of experiential aerospace workforce development via multi-disciplinary, multi-university capstone design.