STEM

USC Opens Rocket-Based STEM Program to Community College Students

Community college students will live at the University of Southern California and work on projects at the student-run Rocket Propulsion Lab on campus.

• By Sri Ravipati
• 06/07/16

A cohort of top community college students will participate in the student-run Rocket Propulsion Lab (RPL) at the University of Southern California, thanks to a collaborative effort between USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering and the nonprofit Base 11, a STEM workforce and entrepreneur accelerator.

“The two organizations are teaming up to reach a common goal: building a pipeline for underserved students to pursue STEM careers and to spur entrepreneurship and innovation,” according to a news release.

Participating community college students from the surrounding area will collaborate on rocket technologies in the RPL. Once completed, the students travel to desert sites to launch and test the rockets. Beginning this summer, participants will take up residence at USC and start working on their projects, which will include small-scale drones and other devices.

"The collaboration with USC is game changing," said Landon Taylor, CEO of Base 11, in a prepared statement. "Our goal is for high potential low resource community college students to see STEM careers as highly lucrative and very cool."