Engineering
job market open
By
Gerry Wachovshy
On-line Forty-Niner
Feb.1,
the Columbia space shuttle was supposed
to return home to Kennedy Space Center,
but suffered major technological failures,
ultimately resulting in the loss of the
spacecraft over Texas and the deaths of
all seven astronauts onboard. Despite the
disaster earlier this year and uncertainties
in the national job market, Cal State Long
Beach aerospace engineering students are
enthusiastic about entering the field.
"At
the present time, the job market is fairly
strong, and [there are] a lot of activities
in both the commercial and government industry,"
said Hamid Hefazi, head of the Mechanical
& Aerospace Engineering department at
CSULB. "Most of our graduates get employed
fairly quickly and almost all of our seniors
have some sort of internship or other type
of employment already before they leave
school."
Regarding
the Columbia disaster, Hefazi does not think
it has had major detrimental effects on
students or the field.
"I
think it could be positive because new programs
probably will come out of this disaster
to address technical issues."
Hefazi
also said he has not noticed a major change
in students' perspectives choosing to enter
the field.
People
choose this discipline because of deep devotion
and interest to either aviation or space
travel," Hefazi said.
Kevin
Helm, a 25-year-old aerospace engineering
graduate student, said "there are three
sectors in the industry -- the satellite
and space field, defense field and commercial
field. Usually there is always at least
one sector that is up." Helm added
that post-Sept.11, the commercial sector
"tanked," but because of the war
on terrorism, the defense sector "increased
to some extent."
The
Columbia disaster, Helm said, "was
a terrible tragedy, but did renew interest
in the field." Helm said he saw the
disaster as a "reality check"
for NASA, but said it was a "positive
thing for the sector because it renewed
a sense of safety and reliability in what
[students] are doing." Helm also said
the disaster did not discourage him but
he does believe it may have affected and
deterred some students in greater ways.
NASA's
total budget for the year 2001 was more
than $14 billion, but despite this, the
agency still "has the smallest budget
of the major agencies in the federal government,"
according to NASA. The budget is divided
between four divisions: human space flight,
which provides funding for the Space Station
and Space Shuttle programs. The division
of science, aeronautics and technology fund
NASA's research and development activities.
Mission support provides funding for NASA's
civil service workforce, and the inspector
general division performs audits and evaluations
of NASA's programs and operations Aeronautics
"is one of the nation's strongest industries,
employing almost 1 million Americans,"
according to NASA, the organization "employs
17,700 civil servants and generates thousands
of high-tech jobs in the private sector."
The national aerospace industry, according
to NASA, "generates more than $40 billion
in annual exports and almost $30 billion
in positive balance of trade each year."
All
things considered, the future for aerospace
students looks very bright, even in the
wake disasters such as the Columbia earlier
this year.
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