Photo courtesy Michael Gass

Michael Gass

Education isn’t all rocket science, but the State of Colorado’s educational system just picked up a key figure who knows a thing or two about launching a rocket into space.

Michael Gass, President and CEO of the Denver-based United Launch Alliance (ULA) aerospace partnership venture, was also named on June 30 as one of three co-chairs of the Colorado Governor’s P-20 Education Coordinating Council (P-20). Gass will replace CU President Bruce Benson, who stepped down from P-20 earlier this year.

The “P” in P-20 stands for preschool, and the “20” refers to a 20th year of education – with high school graduation at 12 years and an undergraduate college degree at 16. The P-20 Council has a number of educational objectives, but one of them is to help students experience more seamless transitions between educational levels by making sure they have the educational basics necessary for the next level.

Gass will obviously bring higher-level educational and business experience to P-20. He earned a bachelor of science degree in Industrial Engineering from Lehigh University and a master’s in Management from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He served as the vice president and general manager of space transportation for Lockheed Martin before joining ULA.

And ULA, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin Atlas and Boeing Delta, has conducted successful launch missions with the U.S. Air Force and NASA.

But P-20 also has the mission of helping young kids develop the skills necessary for success later in life. Gass told the Daily Wednesday that ULA has worked with younger students by sending its people out into the community or by inviting students on tours, in part to help boost interest in math and science – which in turn might allow students to consider aerospace as a career.

“We’ll walk them through a rocket factory, and we tell them that this is why math is important, and show them how certain equations apply to rocket science,” said Gass. “Allowing them to see things first-hand hopefully makes a small contribution to education.”

Chris Chavez, ULA’s Senior Manager of Communications, added that ULA has been formally involved with a number of metro-area educational efforts.

For example, he said ULA sponsored Denver Public Schools’ (DPS) Science Tracks program, and a program called Rocket Works with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. It recently announced a teacher internship program with the Public Education and Business Coalition, which will allow teachers to work with ULA engineers to learn more about what students will need to achieve a career in aerospace.

“You’re going to lose students if you don’t capture their minds and make them feel successful in the early years,” said Gass. “If kids feel like they’re falling behind or that they’re failures, the chances of them dropping out become greater.”

Colorado’s Gov. Bill Ritter also said in a June 30 press release that P-20 has a mission to “provide Colorado’s businesses with the best-educated workforce for the 21st century.” Gass said he brings a business-sector perspective to P-20, which he believes will be an important point of view.

“Businesspeople tend to be driven by objectives, schedules, and the clarity of getting things accomplished,” said Gass. “Education drives the economy, and we’ve got to take a good look at our educational system to see if it’s going to be ready for future generations.”

Gass will serve with fellow P-20 co-chairs Lt. Gov. Barbara O’Brien and Colorado State University-Pueblo President Joe Garcia. The member list on the P-20 Web site also includes 25 non-co-chairs, and the roster is largely made up of professionals from educational institutions.

While the state’s educational system obviously can’t focus on just aerospace, Gass said Colorado is clearly one of the nation’s leading aerospace states. CU-Boulder, for example, has had at least 17 of its graduates in space as astronauts, according to a 2007 CU press release. The list includes Scott Carpenter, who was selected as one of the original seven Mercury astronauts in 1959.

Gass said the Air Force Academy, Ball Aerospace, Buckley Air Force Base and the ULA partners are among entities that also contribute to a robust state aerospace industry.

He also noted that the state will need to keep its focus on education if it wants to stay competitive. He said China now produces about five times more engineers than the U.S., although China’s population base is much larger, and Gass said the quality of engineers currently coming out of institutions such as CU-Boulder can be “phenomenal.”

So, he said P-20 will need to help make sure that the state’s graduate and post-graduate programs are formidable, to enable the state to conduct top-notch research and to educate the next generation. Also, he said those who might not be cut out for engineering might still be able to participate in the industry, especially if a quality secondary education can help them handle trade school or aviation mechanics training.

Gass also has yet to attend his first full-day P-20 meeting, although one is scheduled for July 17 at CU-Boulder. He said he’s aware that money will be an issue – with considerations including governmental budgets, tuition costs and tax burdens – but he’s also ready to examine economic efficiencies in the quest to help engineer a total state educational system.

“Education is a long-term investment, and it’s not something that typically gets solved in one Governor’s administration,” said Gass. “It takes a constancy of purpose that we must have for decades to come, and from an industry standpoint, we’ve got to make sure we do that.”

Contact Richard Valenty about this story at (303) 443-6272 ext. 126, or valenty@coloradodaily.com.