Day: March 16, 2015

The federal government has invested billions of dollars to ensure our country’s leadership in space-based observations of our planet. We need a workforce that is fully prepared to understand and use this data for solving problems of local, national and global concern. Community colleges provide fertile ground for remote sensing workforce development at an effective technician level. They serve almost half the undergraduate students in the United States, and they are well positioned to increase workforce diversity. Nearly half of all Hispanic/Latino and Pacific Islander/Asian students, 36% of African American students, and 42% of Native American/ Native Alaskan students attend a two-year public institution (U.S. Department of Education 2009).