NASA looking at collaboration involving SUTD and US universities

US space agency NASA is looking at a collaboration involving the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and several other US universities, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

This is according to a former astronaut and senior advisor for innovation from NASA, who is in Singapore to meet SUTD staff and students.

It is believed to be the first time NASA is planning a collaboration with a Singapore university.

SUTD said the collaboration will also involve students from junior colleges and polytechnics.

Together, they will work on solving difficult engineering problems that could be related to space.

The details of the collaboration are still being worked out.

But the general idea is to encourage creativity and ignite interest in aerospace engineering among students even before they enter university.

On the other hand, the research could also be useful for the industry.

Dr Charles Camarda, Senior Advisor for innovation at NASA, said: "It gives these students a little bit of introduction to engineering. And they're actually going on the lab and building and testing things. But more importantly, the students at that level will be able to see that their ideas - they have ideas that no one ever thought of - it might be a solution to a problem.

"They might not have all the skills to solve those problems but with a little bit of help and being mentored by older students, they can see what it takes to have their dreams realised and develop their ideas and what it takes to prove that those ideas work."

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It's quite an exciting time to be a student considering a number of interesting new aviation courses that are springing up in the universities and polytechnics in Singapore. NASA and SUTD will be like a match in heaven, with the latter being Singapore's newest university and bases its curriculum more on industrial learning rather than the conventional education methods we see at NUS/NTU.