LEGAL ISSUES
MILITARY New Science Center Helps
Cadets Reach for the Stars by Dr. JoAnne Castagna
Cadets working on experiments in a new lab in an area of the science center where renovation has been completed. Credit: JoAnne Castagna, Public Affairs, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District.
I
n the late 1960s, young Shane gazed at his TV screen in awe as he watched astronauts walking on the moon. It was at that time that he set his sights on becoming one of them. Today, Colonel Robert “Shane” Kimbrough, a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronaut and active duty Army Colonel looks back and believes that the science education he received at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York helped him to reach his dreams.
Te academy’s science education is about to get even better. Te U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District is constructing a new science center for the cadets at the academy that is maintaining the look of the historic 200-year-old campus and taking their science education well into the 21st century.
30 Te academy is known as one of
the world’s preeminent leader devel- opment institutions and has graduat- ed a number of famous individuals, including two Presidents of the Unit- ed States, numerous famous generals, seventy-four Medal of Honor recip- ients, and many successful NASA astronauts, like Kimbrough, who graduated from West Point in 1989. “Te science education I re-
ceived piqued my interest and made me want to do things I normally didn’t think of doing. It also was a huge foundation for me becoming an astronaut. Te academy provided me an incredible physics, chemistry and biology education and skills in problem solving and experimentation techniques, all of which are invaluable skills I need as an army officer and NASA astronaut. At NASA, obvious- ly science is hugely important. We
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have to be able to launch a vehicle and people into space, space walk, perform work in orbit and get the crew back home safely. All of this is science and math. I had a great back- ground at West Point so it helped me to understand all of this better than most folks,” said Kimbrough, who has flown on the shuttle and performed several spacewalks. Kimbrough is excited about the
new science center being construct- ed by the Army Corps and says the cadets will be even more prepared for what the future brings. Te Army Corps’ New York
District has performed a number of construction projects for the acade- my over the years and was asked to construct a new science center. Teir old science building and
equipment were getting outdated, and they want to stay competitive
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