Candidate Platforms for Chairman
Neubert, Josh
In order to die a happy man I must see people living on the Moon with regular flights going back and forth between the lunar bases and the Earth. I want space flight to be opened to the general public of the world and to see humanity truly become a space-fairing civilization.
My undergraduate and master's degrees were both obtained at MIT in Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Science. I have been involved in SEDS since I was a freshman at MIT. My first officer position was Technical Projects Chair at MITSEDS. Quickly thereafter I became more and more interested in getting involved in planning events and activities for our group. Before long I learned about the national SEDS-USA board, which unfortunately was not very active at the time. I was put in contact with Chris Lewicki and was informed that the American Astronautical Society had invited SEDS members to take part in their national conference. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to really get a national SEDS board together again. At this meeting we were able to organize an interim SEDS executive board of which I was elected to be the Chair. Since that time I have been working on getting SEDS-USA back on its feet and really making it as strong as it can be. I have only become more and more interested in working on organizing students together in our SEDS community and I have very high expectations for the future.
Goals for 2005:
My vision for SEDS-USA is a grand scheme of world conquest ? however, that is several years down the line at least. Below I will detail my goals and plan of action to achieve them for the immediate future SEDS if I am elected to the position of Chair (if you wish to know any details of my more distant plans of adventures and conquests, email me directly).
I see SEDS-USA in three distinct sections: first, as a community and network; secondly, an educational experience; and lastly, as a forum for future developments.
- A Community and Network - One of the strongest points about SEDS is its national and even global reach. There are a huge number of students in the USA alone who are interested in space exploration but have no real idea of what opportunities exist for them. I want to know every single student who is interested in space exploration, and ensure that they know not only all the opportunities that exist, but also each other. By creating a strong network of students we will all be encouraged to undertake bigger and better projects and activities. The SEDS organization has all the ground work already laid for providing a forum for this community.
- An Educational Experience - The process of organizing events and coordinating people from different regions in projects together is a wonderfully educational experience. Participating in SEDS-USA events provides students with a leadership and organizational skills that would be impossible to achieve if we all were content with simply working at our individual schools. I want to foster this atmosphere of education. A second aspect of education is in educational outreach to other students. It is extremely important to reach out to other students and show our passion for space exploration. If elected to chair I will push SEDS to develop more defined outreach programs for both youth outreach, and expansion to new colleges and universities.
- A Forum for Future Developments - The long history of SEDS has put us in a very good position to take on large projects, and develop new and unique opportunities for students to get involved in space exploration and development. I want to capitalize on this position to bring high quality projects and activities into existence through the SEDS network. Our organization can accomplish tasks that any individual university or regional group of students couldn't dream of completing. SEDS members from universities around the country can work together on projects to aid in public outreach, educational programs, and technical projects. I will work hard to develop the connections in the professional world that will allow SEDS to pursue these projects through to completion.
Specific Projects:
- SEDS Partner organizations - I have been working with other space advocacy groups and NASA to develop partnerships between SEDS and these organizations. If elected I will continue to pursue these partnerships to develop future benefits for our members (such as the ISU scholarships that we recently received from the NSS and AAS).
- National Conference - In November we are organizing the first SEDS national conference since the early 1990s. Over the next year I want to focus on ensuring that we have an even bigger and better national conference in 2005. This event is something that will be exceptionally well received by the professional world and a good national conference will help organize SEDS for the future.
- National Project - Along similar lines with the national conference, having a strong national project will help organize individual chapters, and help develop a strong community between schools. A national project could be any number of things including: technical mission designs, educational projects, public outreach campaigns, or a number of other activities.
