AAE Professor Steven Collicott has been appointed to the Committee on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space (CBPSS). The group is a standing committee of The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Professor Collicott believes his involvement in commercial, suborbital rocket industry- including a recent launch of one of his experiments on Blue Origin’s New Shepard space vehicle- is a primary reason he was appointed to the committee.

“The other reason is because I’ve taught AAE418, Zero-gravity Flight Experiment, for 20 years, I’ve been able to build up a lot more experience with the zero-gravity experiments than most people can,” says Collicott.

Reporting to the Space Studies Board, the CBPSS aims to support scientific progress in space research in the biological, medical and physical sciences, and assist the federal government in integrating and planning programs in these fields.

“It’s a diverse set of researchers, in terms of what everybody works on,” says Collicott. “It wouldn’t surprise me to hear about new ideas and new opportunities that I can collaborate with people on or use to tweak things I’m already working on.”

The scope of CBPSS includes plant and microbial biology, animal and human physiology, and basic and applied physical sciences. The purpose is to understand the role of gravity in living and physical systems in order to develop capabilities required for space exploration, and using the space environment as a tool of science to advance knowledge.

top photo: George Georgalis (MS AAE '16), Professor Steven Collicott, and Brian O'Neill (BS AAE '16) following the launch of Professor Collicott's experiment on a Blue Origin test flight. The launch took place on June 19, 2016 in West Texas

bottom photo: Professor Steven Collicott and students from his Zero-gravity Flight Experiment class prior to their flight in February 2016