This educational outreach is conducted at all levels, including K to 12, undergraduate, graduate, and the general public. A key component of each Space Grant consortium is the Undergraduate and Graduate Fellowship Program, which makes funds available to students who are U.S. citizens to develop research interests that are focused on space or aeronautics. Consortia in the different states have different areas of specialization that focus on local strengths and interests within the community. These topics include astronomy, aeronautics and space engineering, the development and launching of small payloads using sounding rockets, Earth remote sensing, and planetary exploration. Several Space Grant consortia have strong ties to MTPE, since their directors or key associate directors are also research scientists conducting remote sensing studies of the Earth.
States involved include Hawaii, Colorado, Texas, North Dakota, New Hampshire, and California.
There are many areas where MTPE investigators and Space Grant might work productively together. In return, Space Grant has excellent contacts with local communities, including in many cases aerospace industries, and is adept at presenting materials at the appropriate level for different types of students. In addition, Space Grant provides a stream of talented and enthusiastic undergraduate and graduate research students who could prove essential as missions such as EOS start to return their data. The most useful part of this Web site is the listing of all the individual consortia Home Pages and contact addresses.