ACC's Sturm Collaboration Campus at Castle Rock exterior building

Colorado Space Institute at ACC

What is the Colorado Space Institute at ACC?

The Colorado Space Institute at Arapahoe Community College aims to become a leader in space education and aerospace workforce development for Colorado students. Based at the Sturm Collaboration Campus in Castle Rock, the Institute will offer competency-based programming to grow the future of Colorado's space workforce, focusing on four key areas: space data analytics, space operations, space manufacturing, and space business.

The Colorado Space Institute is built on the need to think strategically and holistically about how to build Colorado's aerospace workforce, and on the necessity to create the training and educational opportunities to make this a reality. ACC envisions the Colorado Space Institute to be a "work-tank," rather than a traditional "think-tank," for developing and fostering Colorado's space workforce in ground-based operations.

The Institute's competency-based education programs are being designed to provide learners with a number of advantages as they enter (or re-enter) the workforce. Learners will work with credentialed faculty and mentors from the field to learn the skills they need to be successful on the job. Colorado Space Institute learners will be assessed on their ability to understand how these skills fit into broader sectors of the aerospace economy. Additionally, learners will develop their critical thinking, communication, and other professional skills to make them even more valuable as employees.

ACC's Colorado Space Institute Mission and Vision

Vision

The Colorado Space Institute at ACC aims to be the premier "work tank" for developing Colorado's space workforce, supporting the state's position as a global leader in space education and ground-based space careers.

Mission

The Colorado Space Institute at ACC aims to build a diverse, forward-thinking space workforce through innovative, competency-based education programs that meet the needs of national security, civil, and commercial space sectors.

Colorado Space Institute Pathways and ACC Connections

The overall goal of the Colorado Space Institute at ACC is to offer stackable micro-credentials that lead to certifications, associate and bachelor's degrees to prepare learners for ground-based space careers in space data analytics, space operations, space manufacturing, and space business. Each pathway will include a variety of courses that align with the topic and ground-based space careers, for example:

Space Data Analytics – Data analysis and visualization; data integration; remote sensing; machine learning and artificial intelligence
Space Operations: systems and mission control; resource utilization and management; intelligence; geospatial information systems and navigation
Space Manufacturing: SCIF construction and design, architecture, CAD, welding, resource utilization, systems engineering, advanced manufacturing
Space Business: communications, management and leadership; human resources; acquisitions

In addition, the Colorado Space Institute at ACC will design and support the integration of space-related content into courses offered across all departments and disciplines offered at ACC.

The Colorado Space Institute at ACC will support, collaborate, and provide opportunities for all Colorado community colleges. Using an analogy from military / aerospace organizational frameworks, the Space Institute at ACC would mimic a "mission ground station" integrating the state's aerospace training and education architecture to deliver scalable and unprecedented capabilities to Colorado's aerospace economy.

In this analogy, each college in CCCS is a relay node (like a satellite or spacecraft), providing micro-credentials, certificates, and degree programs that meet the aerospace workforce needs of government and industry across the state.

ACC and Academic Engagement Enterprise (AEE)

ACC has been welcomed into the Academic Engagement Enterprise (AEE) for the United States Space Command (USSPACECOM). The goal of the AEE is to foster relationships and collaboration between cutting edge academic institutions and USSPACECOM. USSPACECOM hopes to collaborate with colleges and universities on the following goals: