President's Message
David Goldstein, NAAA President
Hello to all of my friends and fellow alums, and greetings to NASA Academy alumni-to-be
and all the Friends of the Academy out there! Another summer has rolled around,
and there are thriving Academies going on at Goddard, Ames, and Dryden this year.
I again would like to extend a warm welcome to all the students at the 1998 Academies.
As usual, the students there are of extremely high caliber and motivation- the best
of the best.
This year marks the second year of the NASA Academy Alumni Association. After an
exciting first year, we have been establishing many of the standards and mechanisms
that will keep the NAAA a vibrant organization for the years to come. The web site,
at www.nasa-academy.org, is a great spot to visit full of information that is updated regularly,
and our membership drive and monthly electronic newsletter published by Dave Kalman
(djkalman@pcisys.net) has kept our alums 'in the loop'.
This summer and fall should be exciting for the NAAA. This summer, alumni events
were planned by each of three Academy Programs. July 4 weekend was planned as
the traditional Goddard reunion, while Dryden and Ames planned events for July 11.
Once again, we'll be holding the "Welcome to the NAAA videoconference" [on the 30th of July]
to introduce the RAs to their counterparts at other Centers as well as to the NAAA.
The big news is our fall event- we'll be having another nationwide event similar to
last year's banquet weekend at the National Academy of Sciences. It will be held
in October in Washington, DC to coincide with NASA's 40th anniversary celebrations.
The weekend hopes to include an event in conjunction with NASA's celebrations, as well
as a half-day paper and poster presentation and, of course, plenty of social events.
Diana Coleman (Diana.Coleman@stu.xula.edu) is leading the planning, and more information is to come. Finally, the Kids in Space team finally has their funding from NASA
HQ, and regrouping to decide how to implement the program. Anyone interested should
contact Jeff Nettles (nettlejw@musc.edu).
All in all, we've got great things coming up and we're having a great time! I'm glad
to hear about all the local get-togethers people have been having, from Johnson Space
Center to the Boston AGU Conference to the regular social events in Colorado and
Greenbelt and elsewhere. The greatest asset of the NAAA are the people in it and the
networks we create through our friendships. One day, our relationships and abilities
to work together will create great things in the space community- until then, Ad
Astra!