Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) workforce studies recently completed by various organizations show that the utilization of UAS technology in the workplace is exploding in the domestic and international markets. UAS technology has the potential to impact nearly every sector of the economy and is revolutionizing manufacturing, emergency management, intelligence, agriculture, civil engineering, utility systems monitoring and package delivery. Because they have the ability to complete traditionally hazardous jobs more safely and difficult jobs more easily, UAS and related technologies are changing the way these tasks are performed. UAS have a cross-cutting impact on nearly every sector of the economy and every educational discipline. To take advantage of the opportunities provided by this emerging sector, the "Geospatial Technician Education-Unmanned Aircraft Systems (GeoTEd-UAS)" project, a three-year effort that focuses on geospatial technologies, will develop and implement academic courses and pathways to prepare Unmanned Aircraft Systems Operations Technicians (UASOT) to succeed in the emerging fields of geospatial data acquisition, analysis and exploitation.
The project will also provide faculty professional development and mentoring, curriculum development, and precollege activities to increase the UAS workforce pipeline. GeoTEd-UAS will build college and faculty capacity at two partnering community colleges and support these faculty to develop pathways for UASOT training. Activities include workforce needs and skills analysis, compilation of the duties and responsibilities of a UASOT, convening of leadership and faculty development workshops, faculty mentoring, curriculum development and student recruitment. The partnering community colleges represent rural and urban locations allowing the project to broaden the participation of many underrepresented groups. Project materials and resources will be shared nationally through the GeoTech Center and the GeoTEd website (http://geoted.org). GeoTEd-UAS project partners include Thomas Nelson Community College, Mountain Empire Community College, the Virginia Community College System, Virginia Tech, and the Virginia Space Grant Consortium (VSGC). The project will be led and administered by the VSGC. The innovative UASOT courses and pathways being developed through the GeoTEd-UAS project will advance the field significantly and serve as national models.
