Representatives Dan Nordberg and Paul Rosenthal introduce the Aerospace Day resolution in the Colorado House.
The Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences celebrated Aerospace Day at the Colorado State Capitol building on March 21, 2016.
The aerospace industry is a major portion of the Colorado economy. The state ranks second in the country in total private sector aerospace employment, with more than 162,000 jobs tied to the industry. The House and Senate passed a resolution recognizing the industry's contribution to Colorado.
CU Boulder aerospace students and staff were in attendence throughout the day to meet with legislators and guests, and were in the House and Senate chambers during discussion of the resolution, which specifically recognizes CU Boulder's key role in the state and national aerospace economy:
"WHEREAS, University of Colorado Boulder is producing Colorado's aerospace leaders, with a top-ten ranked department of aerospace engineering sciences; more than $100 million annually in aerospace-related research; the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, the only research institute in the world to send missions to all eight planets and Pluto; the statewide NASA-funded Colorado Space Grant program; more than a dozen aerospace-related academic units; 18 alumni who became astronauts; and the recently launched "Our Space, Our Future" initiative that aims to fuse CU's unique strengths in Earth, space, and social sciences with new technologies and partners to effectively and rapidly address the pace and pattern of changes for our planet, resources, and environment"
The full resolution, SJR-16 022, is available via the Colorado legislature's website.