Erie teachers venture where typically only aerospace enginee
Source: Amy Bounds
Erie High teacher Russ Fox watches a video with other teachers about satellite imagery at DigitalGlobe on Monday in Westminster (Jeremy Papasso / Staff Photographer)
Erie High teachers on Monday visited DigitalGlobe's headquarters to learn more about satellite imagery and geospatial content, with the goal of supporting the school's new Academy of Engineering and Aerospace.
Erie High launched its engineering academy this fall with an introductory class. Students also can take a computer-science elective class. More classes are planned in future years, including adding an areospace component in two years.
Erie's engineering program also is partnering with DigitalGlobe in a pilot program with the details still being figured out. To date plans include a tour of DigitalGlobe's Longmont office for engineering students in January or February and the possibility of internships at DigitalGlobe once the Erie students are in college.
DigitalGlobe's Dave Cummings, who's working with Erie, said he and other employees are looking forward to sharing the "really, really cool" impacts the company has, including helping aid organizations target resources during disasters.
"The support for the engineering program has been phenomenal," he said.
The teachers' Monday visit included a presentation by DigitalGlobe founder and executive vice president Walter Scott , who talked about the company's early failures before its current success. Now, the company has four satellites in orbit and collects the highest resolution images, he said.
"You can easily see lines on a street or bike lanes," he said.
He also talked about how far satellite technology has come, with the company's satellites now about the size of a giraffe, flying at 17,000 miles per hour and using about as much electricity as it takes to power a hair dryer. The images are accurate within about 10 feet from 373 miles above Earth.
He said the company depends on people to analyze all that data, sharpening the images and finding patterns. Clients include the U.S. and allied governments, the oil and gas industry, Google, Apple, Microsoft and other companies.
The teachers also heard from Grover Wray, the chief human resources officer. He noted the company has about 1,280 full-time employees and about 400 contract employees ― and that the company sees working with Erie High as a way to increase its talent pool.
"The type of talent and skills we need, the training starts very early," he said. "We have to go find that talent. It gets increasingly difficult to do that."
Kelsey Johnson, Erie's engineering teacher, said it was good to see how DigitalGlobe's work applies to a variety of fields, from disaster relief to treaty compliance.
She and the other teachers also are interested in incorporating DigitalGlobe's TomNod crowdsourcing campaigns, which allow people to help with projects like a famine early warning network or a natural disaster by tagging features in images., such as buildings.
"You can get involved and be part of the solution," said Caitlyn Milton, DigitalGlobe's crowdsourcing manager.
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