21st Century Astronautical Engineering Professor  

by Dr. Sandy Antunes  

Modern university education features a lot of adjunct teaching (aka courses taught by part-time professors). The core debate, for those not tracking it, centers around an almost cliché question: which is better: full-time on-campus professors or working part-time adjuncts? 

So, let's go to an analogy. The 2012 hit "Can't Hold Us" by Macklemore (feat. Ray Dalton) is a highly successful song. In our analogy, Macklemore's the professor, Dalton the adjunct. Together, they kick butt. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis make the R&B core, raps, flow, music and composition, while Dalton provides added heart and the amazing "this is the moment" chorus. Some listeners prefer the rap portion, others prefer the Dalton chorus (excerpted here, for the curious.) The song requires both to, well, sing. So for debate on full-time professors 'versus' adjuncts, there's a third variable in play here-the idea of quantity time versus quality time.  

Adjuncts deliver 100% quality time, but of course we recognize we're their side hustle, their 'labor of love'. For us full-time professors, this is our main gig, and one element we provide is that quantity time. We're the constant, steady coach, and also that glue when adjuncts are out because of industry demands. 

What I find among all of us Astronautical Engineering (AE) professors at Capitol, the adjuncts and full-timers, is a genuine respect for each other that avoids the trap of 'versus' and instead approaches the richness of time and experience both positions bring to the table.  

At Capitol we're proud of the awesome real-world expertise taught by Professors Bill Anselm (NASA) Marcel Mabson (Hammers Company), Rishabh Maharaja (NASA), Asher Smith (NASA), Jeff Volosin (NASA... hmm, see a pattern?), and Nathan Weidemann (Booz Allen Hamilton). They bring current industry flavor to their courses.  

Marcel Mabson lives and breathes operations, Rishabh Maharaja is a creative font for operations and payload concepts, Jeff Volosin literally creates NASA missions, Asher Smith is the go-to expert on spacecraft dynamics, Nathan Weidemann brings in both industry expertise and a love of core physics, and Bill Anselm loves sharing his knowledge of spacecraft communications. It's like an AE ecosystem, different and complimentary roles providing a larger educational boost than either could do alone. 

As one of 3 full-time faculty, "what do I bring?" is a question I need to keep on top of each day. I'm a former NASA employee and a former contractor, both about 9 years ago. Currently, I bring relevant research to Capitol -- our CubeSat, ThinSat, and other payloads; the O'Reilly/Make Media books I write; the summer contract gigs I take to keep fresh; and, of course, providing continuity across years for  AE students. 

Like all ecosystems, Capitol (equivalent to rap producers, perhaps) need to always tweak the system to get the right mix. Balanced right, it's a potent combo to give students a rich educational feed. At its core, like a song, it's not the pieces that make it, but the total package Capitol provides for a hands-on experience, that's the Capitol production our AE students will actually listen to.