Pitt Space is bringing researchers together at the start of a new space race

The University of Pittsburgh boasts a long and distinguished history in space education and research, from the analysis of moon rocks brought back by the Apollo 11 mission to the groundbreaking contributions of Samuel Pierpont Langley, a faculty member who led the renowned Allegheny Observatory.

In response to the growing research and workforce needs of the U.S. space industry, the University is building on this rich legacy with a new, rapidly expanding initiative: Pitt Space.

“Over the past several decades, space innovations and technologies have dramatically impacted our nation, and the world, in terms of communications, navigation, weather, defense, health, science, entertainment and more,” said Alan George, the department chair and R&H Mickle Endowed Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “Today, the space field is even more active and exciting than the Space Race of the 1960s, where a large and growing community of agencies, companies and universities are contributing with new space missions and technologies.”

Building curricula for space careers

Pitt Space is built around three core areas of strength, each guided by distinguished leaders in their respective fields.

Space Engineering — led by George, pictured above — focuses on designing, operating and optimizing advanced spacecraft systems. It emphasizes onboard sensing, processing, storage, communications and AI integration while striving to enhance spacecraft reliability, performance and adaptability. A key objective is to minimize power, size, weight and cost.

Space Biomedicine — under the leadership of Afshin Beheshti, professor of surgery and computational and systems biology and associate director of the McGowan Institute of Regenerative Medicine — will propel the integration of space biology with advanced biomedical research. Its mission is to develop technologies that safeguard human health in space while applying space research to improve health care on Earth. The program also fosters education and outreach, preparing the next generation of researchers and collaborating with both domestic and global partners.

Space Science — led by Michael Ramsey, professor of geology and planetary science in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences — spans multiple departments and disciplines, focusing on data analysis, modeling and mission development. It covers a range of topics, from theoretical studies of exoplanets and galaxy clusters to planetary surface research within our solar system, and even Earth’s dynamic processes.

The Swanson School of Engineering, home to the National Science Foundation space center known as SHREC, is rolling out a suite of new graduate and undergraduate courses, including Intro to Space Engineering taught by Zhi-Hong Mao as well as Dependable Systems, Extreme Environment Electronics and Space Systems Project. These courses and others will be foundational to the new graduate certificate and undergraduate minor being proposed in space engineering.

Similar programs are in the works for space science and space biomedicine.

“Some of Pittsburgh’s greatest strengths are a history of public-private partnerships and university research collaboration,” noted Michele V. Manuel, U.S. Steel Dean of Engineering. “Pitt Space represents an incredible opportunity to leverage these relationships into a research powerhouse for the growing global space industry.”

The next space university

Pitt Space faculty members are working with more than 30 agencies, companies, institutes and peer universities. Together they are building a community, furthering collaborations in the space realm and strengthening the preparedness of Pitt grads to launch into the workforce.

In February 2024, for example, Pitt joined the Keystone Space Collaborative, a nonprofit organization that serves the space industry in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. This partnership will allow the University to leverage new connections with industry partners across the region and help amplify Pitt Space’s activities while also supporting the regional space community.

Partnerships are also being developed within Pitt. Almost 100 faculty members from different disciplines have signed up as contributors in Pitt Space, bringing with them new ideas for collaboration and new opportunities for students.

“The Pitt Space initiative has the potential to reinvigorate the University’s long history of research in space science,” Ramsey said. “Importantly, it could expand that to other schools, departments and faculty, which will grow Pitt into the next space university alongside other peer institutions.”

Leaders of Pitt Space held their first official event on Sept. 10 with a seminar to inform faculty from across campus about the possibilities of this University-wide initiative.

“With the launch today of Pitt Space, we are becoming the next space university,” George said during his presentation at the event.

Beheshti said multidisciplinary work is imperative for the success of space research and exploration. For example, researchers in biomedicine can develop a drug to help astronauts remain healthy in space based on a space biologist’s research and engineers can determine how to deploy that drug to a space station safely and efficiently.

“We need to work together in a large, collaborative environment to move this science forward quickly,” Beheshti said. “If we can make these innovations work in space, it’s easy to replicate and improve life here on Earth.”

Photography courtesy of the Swanson School of Engineering