The realization of NASA's ambitious goals will require a diverse, technically skilled workforce—a new generation of scientists and engineers who can work across traditional disciplines and perform in a rapidly changing environment. Today, NASA employs more than 10,600 scientists and engineers. Ninety-two percent of them are experienced and in senior positions, and 24 percent—approximately one-quarter of NASA's core expertise—will be eligible to retire within the next four years.

In addition, the agency faces skill gaps in a number of revolutionary technology fields, which are needed for the realization of future systems and missions. The situation is similar in the U.S. aerospace industry, with over 50 percent of its current science and technology workforce nearing retirement. During the same time that NASA and the aerospace industry expect to lose a significant number of their technologists, U.S. colleges and universities are experiencing a decrease in the number of undergraduate and graduate students in technical fields.

NASA has developed a number of new initiatives for
assured workforce development. They include University Research, Engineering, and Technology Institutes (URETIs), the National Institute of Aerospace (NIA), and the Hierarchical Research and Learning Network (HRLN). The overall goal of these activities is to strengthen NASA's ties to the academic community through long-term sustained investment in areas of innovative and long-range technology critical to future aerospace systems and missions.

At the same time, the three activities will enhance and broaden the capability of the nation's universities to meet the needs of NASA's science and technology programs. Seven multi-university URETIs have been selected this year in a number of areas, including aeropropulsion and power, reusable launch vehicles, nanoelectronics, and bionanotechnology materials and structures. The NIA will perform cutting-edge aerospace and atmospheric research, develop new technologies, and help inspire the next generation of the aerospace workforce. The HRLN aims at the creation of a knowledge organization linking diverse interdisciplinary teams from NASA and other government agencies with universities, industry, technology providers, and professional societies.

It is a network of networks, being developed by seven university teams, led by Old Dominion University's Center for Advanced Engineering Environments. The component networks will link the diverse teams in revolutionary areas, such as bionanotechnology and smart vehicle technologies. The networks provide adaptive learning environments and facilities, obtained by synergistic coupling of advanced instruction, communication, knowledge management, and assessment technologies.

The activities of the HRLN project include development of learning modules and virtual classrooms in revolutionary technology areas, simulators of unique test facilities at NASA, and a telescience system—an online multi-site lab that allows real-time exchange of information and remote operation of instrumentation by geographically distributed teams. HRLN will support the lifelong learning needs of aerospace professionals, keeping them abreast of technological and scientific advances on a global scale.

It will create a new generation of skilled engineers and scientists who can work across disciplines and perform in a rapidly changing environment. It will also enable collective intelligence, innovation, and creativity to bear on the increasing complexity of future aerospace systems.

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