Over 100 people, considered future leaders in the space industry, visited NASA's Glenn Research Center in July to learn more about the center's research and technology. The engineers, scientists and other professionals are part of International Space University's (ISU) 2015 Space Studies Program based at Ohio University this summer.

The nine-week program, held yearly in locations throughout the world, exposes early career professionals from space agencies, research institutions and aerospace companies to a complete spectrum of space subjects including policy and law, business and management, space applications, human performance and the humanities such as films and books depicting space.

"We have students from 30 different countries in attendance this summer," says John Connolly, ISU program director and a NASA chief exploration scientist. "NASA supports ISU because these students are the future leaders of the space world and we want them to work together and collaborate to drive space exploration further."

As a sponsoring NASA center, Glenn has committed several experts to conduct lectures and hands-on experiments and activities during the duration of the program. Several of NASA's most important people have also delivered keynote lectures including Administrator Charles Bolden and astronauts Sunita Williams and Jeff Hoffman.

"There is a revolution going on today in the space industry and I want to learn how my business can be part of it," says Fabio Teixeira, a young entrepreneur from Brazil who is developing HyperSats with sensors to study Earth's surface for environmental monitoring in the oil and gas industry. "I am meeting important members of the space community and learning how they view the current and future science environment."

Jessica Reinert, a communications systems engineer at Glenn and an ISU student, says the future of NASA's mission work will depend on strong collaborative partnerships. "I am meeting the top performers in space agencies and business here at ISU. As a NASA engineer, I could be working with some of these people as partners to achieve future mission and project goals," she says.

As a sponsor of ISU's American-based events since its inception in 1988, NASA hopes students will get a new perspective on current space topics as well as find new ways to solve challenges in a collaborative environment.