Space Studies Program 2017
26 June - 25 August 2017
hosted by the CIT, Cork, Ireland.
The International Space University (ISU) provides graduate-level training to the future leaders of the emerging global space community. The Space Studies Program (SSP) is a nine-week program that covers the main space related fields. SSP celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.
SSP17 Program Handbook
- Details
Meet the SSP17 Team
Prof. Walter Peeters ISU President Career: Initial management positions in construction and petrochemical industry. Joined the European Space Agency (ESA) in 1983 in a number of project control and management functions, among others in the HERMES Full Biography
Dr. Omar Hatamleh ISU SSP Director Omar is the Director of the SSP at ISU. Prior to assuming his new assignment, Omar was the Chief Innovation Officer, Engineering at NASA Johnson Space Center responsible for empowering the organization creative thinking and develop capacity to innovate. Full Biography
Dr. Niall Smith CIT Local Organizing Committeee Lead Niall Smith received his PhD (Astrophysics) from University College Dublin in 1990. In 2006 he was appointed as the first Head of Research with responsibilities for the overall management of an annual Full Biography
Elizabeth Twomey CIT Local Organizing Committeee Coordinator Reporting directly to the Head of Research, as Senior Research Administrator I act as the principal contact point between the research community and the Research Office. I provide support with respect to Full Biography
Arif Göktuğ Karacalıoğlu ISU SSP Academic Coordinator During his secondary school years, everyone was thinking that Göktuğ (a.k.a. G2) will excel in literature and become a writer. But nope, he had surprised them all by picking “science” as his primary discipline and this was the beginning of his technical career. Full Biography
Sébastien Bessat ISU SSP Logistics Coordinator Sébastien is an IT professional with skills in databases management and web development, holding a DUT in Computer Sciences. IT support was his main assignment in different positions for DARTY, Paris-Bercy, and Alcoa, St Cosme, France. Full Biography
Géraldine Moser ISU Head of Business Development Unit
Joel Herrmann ISU IT Services Manager
SSP17 Academic Team
Prof. Chris Welch Core Chair Chris has been orbiting ISU since he first met founders Peter Diamandis and Todd Hawley in 1987. In 2011, after two decades in UK academia, Chris moved to ISU in Strasbourg to become Professor of Spacecraft Engineering and Program Director of ISU’s Masters. SSP17 will be his eleventh SSP. Full Biography
Dr. Geoffrey Steeves Core Chair Dr. Geoff Steeves is a physics professor at the University of Victoria and a faculty member at the International Space University. He is a co-founder of the StarAcers science education program and a top 16 finalist in Canada's 2008/09 astronaut recruitment campaign. Full Biography
Dr. Niamh Shaw Associate Core Chair Dr. Niamh Shaw, an engineer, scientist and performer is passionate about awakening people’s curiosity, merging performance and theatre with communication, engineering, science, art, and technology. She is interested in pushing boundaries in telling the human story behind science, particularly through Space themes, creating science events for both family and arts audiences. Full Biography
Chair
Dr. Su-Yin Tan Space Applications Dept. Chair Dr. Su-Yin Tan is a Senior Lecturer in the Geomatics Program and Director of the Applied Geomatics Research Laboratory at the University of Waterloo, Canada. She is a Faculty Member and chairs the Academic Council of the International Space University (ISU) Full Biography
Chair
Prof. Dennis Irwin Space Engineering Dept. Chair Dennis Irwin became dean of the Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ College of Engineering and Technology at Ohio University in July 2002. Irwin was chair of the College’s School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from 1997 to 2002. He was selected as the school's Outstanding Graduate Instructor and Outstanding Undergraduate Instructor three times each. Full Biography
Chair
Dr. Ana Diaz Artiles Human Performance in Space Dept. Chair Dr. Ana Diaz Artiles (SSP10) is a lecturer and research associate at the Sibley School for Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University. Her interests focus on the biomedical and human factors aspects Full Biography
Chair
Ruth McAvinia Space Humanities Dept. Chair A native of County Meath, Ruth studied Drama and Modern Irish at the University of Dublin, Trinity College, and Film and Television Studies at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. She worked in radio and national television news, as well as live sports commentary, for a number of years before deciding to retrain in science communication. Full Biography
Chair
Eric Dahlstrom Space Sciences Dept. Chair Mr. Eric Dahlstrom is co-founder of International Space Consultants, and is a space science and space engineering consultant. He studied the physics of black holes at University of North Carolina, galactic astronomy at the University of Maryland, and space systems engineering at George Washington University. Full Biography
Co-Chair
Remco Timmermans Space Management and Business Dept. Co-Chair Remco Timmermans (1970) is a leading social media specialist for the space industry, developing successful social media marketing campaigns for clients all over the world. Remco founded and leads two very Full Biography
Co-Chair
Daniel Rockberger Space Management and Business Dept. Co-Chair I was born in London England and moved with my family to Israel in 1981 where I went through the entire education system including my undergraduate degree of Mechanical Engineering at the Full Biography
Chair
Dr. Ray Williamson Space Policy, Economics & Law Dept. Chair Ray A. Williamson is retired from Secure World Foundation, where he served as Executive Director between 2007 and 2012 and Senior Advisor until 2014. Previously, he was Research Professor of Space Policy and Full Biography
Associate Chair
Dr. Timiebi Aganaba Space Policy, Economics & Law Dept.
Associate Chair Previously the Executive Director of the World Space Week Association, coordinating the global response to the UN-declared World Space Week, Timiebi is currently undertaking a fellowship in the International Full Biography
Associate Chair Previously the Executive Director of the World Space Week Association, coordinating the global response to the UN-declared World Space Week, Timiebi is currently undertaking a fellowship in the International Full Biography
Chair
Dr. Daniel Glover TP "The Future of ISS" Chair Daniel R. Glover, Jr. holds an MBA from Cleveland State University and a Ph.D. in system engineering from the University of Toledo. Dr. Glover is a retired NASA engineer where he worked on projects such as the Galileo mission to Jupiter, cryogenic fluid management research, and satellite networking. Full Biography
Associate Chair
Dr. Jan Walter Schroeder TP "The Future of ISS" Associate
Chair Walter’s background is in Biomedical Engineering with a focus on human-machine interfaces and neuroscience. Walter studied Medical Informatics in Heidelberg/Heilbronn and wrote his master thesis in Taipeh, Taiwan (ROC) developing a new method for 3D dynamic. Full Biography
Chair Walter’s background is in Biomedical Engineering with a focus on human-machine interfaces and neuroscience. Walter studied Medical Informatics in Heidelberg/Heilbronn and wrote his master thesis in Taipeh, Taiwan (ROC) developing a new method for 3D dynamic. Full Biography
Gary Martin TP "Entrepreneurial and Innovation Ecosystem for Space" Co-Chair Mr. Gary L. Martin is the Director of Partnerships at Ames Research Center. In this position he oversees public-private and international partnerships for the Center and NASA’s Small Full Biography
Dr. Norah Patten TP "Entrepreneurial and Innovation Ecosystem for Space" Co-Chair Dr. Norah Patten is a faculty member at the International Space University and is the founder and director of a start-up company in Ireland which specialises in using space as Full Biography
Robert Hill TP "Roadmaps and Strategies for Space Sector National Capacity Building" Co-Chair Robert Hill is the Director of the Northern Ireland Space Office and chair of the Northern Ireland Space Special Interest Group (NISSIG) hosted by the UK Aerospace, Defence, Security Full Biography
Dr. Ed Chester TP "Roadmaps and Strategies for Space Sector National Capacity Building" Co-Chair Ed’s academic background includes a BSc in Physics, MSc in Electronics and PhD in Computer Arithmetic and Signal Processing. Much of the time that this all represents was spent on Full Biography
Joseph Pellegrino TP "The Future of Internet of Things and Their Applicability to Space" Chair Joe graduated in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University. His first assignment was at the NASA Johnson Space Center as a contractor with Boeing, where he trained crews of several successful Space Shuttle missions in various simulators and the neutral buoyancy pool. Full Biography
Carol Carnett Space English Access Course Lead Carol Carnett holds a graduate level certification in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. She concentrates her work on English communication skills for professionals in the academic, administrative, and technical sectors of the space community, and continues training in her field through additional advanced degree programs. Full Biography
Host Institution
Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) is situated on the picturesque south coast of Ireland. The roots of CIT stretch back to the Royal Cork Institution which existed from 1807 until 1861 from whence we get our culture of putting knowledge to work for the good of our students and the society we serve.
Today, CIT is distributed over four campuses with a total student enrolment of 12,000 and 850 academic staff. The Bishopstown Campus is the largest of our campuses, located within easy reach of Cork City Centre. It is home to the faculties of Engineering and Science, Business and Humanities. This campus boasts extensive facilities including lecture theatres, laboratories, a library, research centres, shops, running tracks, tennis courts, all-weather and grass pitches and a gymnasium.
Two of our other campuses are in the City Centre itself – the School of Music and the Crawford College of Art and Design – whilst the National Maritime College of Ireland is sited on the shores of Cork Harbour, the second largest natural harbour in the world. CIT also operates Ireland’s only space-themed science and discovery centre at Blackrock Castle Observatory.
The Institute graduates the largest number of professionally accredited engineers in Ireland every year and has particular research strengths in embedded networked systems (where the Nimbus Centre is Ireland’s largest research centre devoted to Internet of Things research), photonics, life sciences, entrepreneurship, competitiveness and innovation. The CIT Rubicon Incubation Centre supports the development of 57 start-up companies at any one time and CIT researchers have spun out 4 companies in the last two years establishing the Institute as an innovation leader.
CIT’s ability to anticipate change has been central to our growth and our support for all our stakeholders. As we enter a new era where our nation’s industries look for new markets for their products and processes, it is fitting that we are hosting SSP17.
