NASA has awarded the Robert C. Byrd Institute for Advanced Flexible Manufacturing (RCBI) a grant to help fund a $20,000 Composites Technology Outreach Project. The goal of the project is to increase public awareness, especially among young people, of this important new sector of technology.
Plans for the project call for RCBI to conduct a Composites Technology Conference and Demonstration, facilitate Composites Technology webinars, assist in the development of Composites Technology workshops, promote professional development for K-12 STEM educators and initiate a K-12 outreach effort using Composites Technology centred lesson plans, learning materials and hands-on experiments.
It is difficult to find an industry in the 21st Century that is not touched by composites materials, Composites technology is particularly booming in the aviation and aerospace industries, where light-weight, high-strength composites are used to reduce weight and improve the efficiency of aircraft and spacecraft.
Charlotte Weber, RCBI Director & CEO
RCBI’s partners in the campaign in addition to Marshall’s June Harless Center, include Marshall’s College of Education, FMW Composite Systems Inc. and the WV NASA Educator Resource Center.