Clark School Ambassador Visits Congress

Laura Meyer traveled with 35 students and 111 other representatives on behalf of Citizens for Space Exploration (CSE), to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., to support a robust space exploration program.

Meyer, an aerospace engineering student at the Clark School, is a Clark School Ambassador. She joined other students from colleges and universities across the nation to inform elected officials of the importance they need to place on the space program. The students’ goal is a Congressional investment in NASA set at 1 percent of the federal budget. The Coalition for Space Exploration, in conjunction with the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership’s Aerospace Advisory Committee, sponsored Meyer.

When asked about her participation in the trip, Meyer replied, "I'm currently in a co-op program at NASA-Johnson Space Center. It’s really exciting… I've had a lot interaction with different astronauts almost everyday. I've been in Mission Control, and I've been in all the mock-ups. NASA is so important to the education of this country’s young people."

She explained that the research into solving technical problems at NASA has a much wider impact.

"You may try 50 ways to solve one problem and even though only one of them becomes your solution, you may have created 10 ideas that can be applied to other problems," she said. "For example, NASA's work with telescopes has been applied to treating cancer."

CSE works with elected officials, corporate and individual contacts to ensure continued political and public support for our nation's space programs, particularly the International Space Station, the Space Shuttle, and the new Constellation Program. CSE is comprised of a diverse group of small and large business representatives, students and teachers, and county/municipal officials and employees.

The Clark School Ambassadors are a group of undergraduate engineering students from different backgrounds, specialty groups, organizations and engineering majors who share their school pride with prospective students and their parents.

[Information for this article was provided by Kathryn Cooper, Communications Manager for the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership]

Published June 9, 2008