An ISU virtual open day running round the clock and across all time zones attracted potential students and participants from close to 60 countries!

Dr. Bertrand Goldman, research facilitator at the International Space University’s (ISU) and organizer of “Discover ISU!” comments: “We completed three sessions of Discover ISU! on 19^th February 2022, welcoming prospective students and participants from (almost) all over the world from the Philippines to the US and South Africa to the UK. All showed great interest in our existing and upcoming programs.” 

University students and young professionals had a unique opportunity to learn everything that orbits around ISU and its vision through the 3Is – International, Interdisciplinary, and Intercultural – educational approach. Discover ISU! was organized into three sessions to accommodate all time zones:

• Asia-Pacific and India: coordinated by ISU alum and co-founder of SpaceBase Limited, Emeline Paat-Dahlstrom
• Europe, Africa and Middle-East: coordinated by ISU associate professor Dr. Bertrand Goldman. Attended by the chair of ISU’s Academic Council, Dr. Volker Damann.
• Americas: coordinated by ISU alum Catrina Melograna, a space start-up consultant and Angela Peura, a policy and strategic communications specialist at NASA.

Each session was introduced by ISU president Prof. Pascale Ehrenfreund, followed by program managers talking about the existing ISU programs – Master of Space Studies, Space Studies Program, Southern Hemisphere Space Studies Program and Executive Space Course – and the upcoming digital offer. At 13:00 CET, a panel discussion took place about the merits of ISU education with Val Munsami, CEO of South African National Space Agency; Vera Pinto, Policy Coordinator at Directorate General for Defense Industry and Space at the European Commission, and others discussing their experience.

Many ISU alumni spent several hours explaining how ISU changed their life for the best and motivated others to join. Pointing out also the job opportunities that await them after attending ISU. The entrepreneurs amongst the alumni revealed how they started their own business thanks to ISU.

ISU thanks especially the following alumni who gave a testimony during Discover ISU!:

For the Asia Pacific and India region

Enrico Palermo SSP06 – Head of Australian Space Agency

Kenta Maruyama SSP07 – Research and development engineer at JAXA

Wu Fenglei MSS11 – President of Astrocontrol

Ashwini Gurudeo Vaidya SHSSP22 – Senior electronics technical officer at University of South Australia

For Europe and Africa

Vera Pinto ESC14 – Policy Coordinator at Directorate General for Defense Industry and Space

Val Munsami SSP09 – Chief Executive Officer of South African National Space Agency

Maria Antonietta Perino SSP88 – Director Space Economy Exploration and International Network at Thales Alenia Space Italia

Stan Kaethler MSS18 – Vice President Of Engineering at Leanspace

For the Americas

Grant Anderson SSP91 – President, CEO and co-founder of Paragon Space Development Corporation

Justin Park MSM08 – President at Intergalactic Education LLC

Angela Peura SSP07 – Policy and Strategic Communications Specialist at NASA NASA Space Communications and Navigation Program

Su-Yin Tan SSP03 – Senior Lecturer in Geomatics & Teaching Fellow, Director, Applied Geomatics Research Laboratory University of Waterloo

Garrett Turner SHSSP20 – Engineer at NASA Ames Research Center

Catrina Melograna ESC18 SSP19 – Space start-up consultant specializing in space law and policy

University open days help decide on which school to go to and which programs to attend – the participants to Discover ISU! had no doubt about their choice of school even before attending this event – some had quizzed ISU’s founders Bob Richards and Peter Diamandis beforehand, and others already knew that more than 80% of ISU’s alumni find a job in the space sector.

The International Space University is definitely in their educational career plan and the place for space education!