NASA IV&V Facility showcases STEM outreach at WVSSAC State Robotics Championship

Earlier this week, NASA’s Katherine Johnson Independent Verification and Validation Facility played a key role in West Virginia’s first-ever WVSSAC Robotics State Championship, an involvement that was certainly noticed by state representatives and high-ranking NASA officials.

On Monday, 24 teams from 24 West Virginia high schools gathered at Fairmont State University for the competition, which was attended by Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito, administrators from NASA and more.

NASA IV&V Program Director Wes Deadrick said that he saw Monday’s event as the culmination of decades of work and education outreach, and he’s happy to lead the facility in a time when interest in robotics and STEM fields among students in the state is at a new high.

“Our program has made an investment in education outreach in STEM for decades, and the emphasis on robotics really peaked within the last decade,” Deadrick said. “Watching it grow to where it is today, where it’s a sanctioned secondary school sport, is incredible.

“The opportunities that that sport will provide to students that weren’t made available before (are numerous), like being able to support coaches and travel to events and an environment like this that they can compete in so they can get all of the skills and experiences that come from competition, and the teamwork and comradery. It’s incredible to see, and to think that our program was instrumental in getting us to that point, I could not be prouder of what we are.”

While an interest in technology and engineering brought the students together Monday, a passion for those same fields could lead them to even greater things. Deadrick hopes that the students’ interest in STEM fields will lead them to get degrees and apply for jobs with NASA, and Sen. Joe Manchin said Monday that he sees this next generation of engineers as a key part of the state’s development.

“We have the high tech corridor here between Fairmont, Clarksburg and Morgantown,” Manchin said. “We have WVU and Fairmont State University and everything right here. Thee is so much going on in this one corridor on I-79, and basically, Washington knows who we are, and they’re investing an awful lot of money with that. They want to make sure that we have the workforce to support this investment. This is the most critical thing we can do for expansion. … It’s all about STEM.”

Also in attendance Monday was NASA Deputy Administrator Pamela Melroy, who stands as only one of two woman in the country to command a a space shuttle.

Melroy shared Deadrick and Manchin’s beliefs that robotics is the future, and she explained how these STEM-minded students can have a great impact on the future of NASA — and the entire world — if they continue to follow their passion.

“Robotics is critical in so many industry areas,” Melroy said. “Imagine agriculture without robotics, or industrial manufacturing. When we go out into space, we have to be very careful when we send people out and expose them as spacewalkers. Everything we can do robotically, we prefer to do, because it keeps people safer, but the reality is that what we’re finding is that robots can only go so far. Artificial intelligence can solve individual problems, but we need the human brain, especially in exploration when you’re not sure what you’re going to find. It’s really about human-robotic teaming. That’s the way of the future.”

Melroy, who has spent a total of 38 days in space, added that the NASA IV&V Facility’s impact on mission safety cannot be overstated, and she values all of the work that Deadrick and his team do.

“It’s critically important, and that’s why it’s embedded in our safety mission directory, because it’s one of the last lines of defense to have independent verification and validation of our software,” Melroy said. “These days, all of our hardware comes with software. … We really need to, when people’s lives or on the line or important missions like the James Webb Telescope are on the line, feel very confident when we send it out into space, because once it’s there, you’re relying on it for the mission.”

Deadrick said that he appreciated the support coming in from the state’s elected officials and NASA higher-ups, and he plans to keep up the good work that the facility is doing every day to ensure the organization’s continued excellence when it comes to all things space.

“It’s easy for us to forget just how much we are valued and the role we play within NASA and the state,” Deadrick said. “We’re head-down working on the missions. We tend to be focused in our world, but you get out to an event like this and it’s really a reminder of how much we’re appreciated and valued and how much support we have from the representation of our great state. … It’s an incredible reminder of how appreciative they really are, and we’re appreciative of their support.”

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