Welcome to the website for the University of Michigan Space Institute!
We are excited to be launching this new initiative across the campus, bringing together faculty and students with an interest in outer space.
The Space Institute is envisioned as the central focal point of space-related research across the entire University of Michigan campus, where faculty will be able to creatively and effectively collaborate with colleagues from a broad range of backgrounds. With this vision, the scope of the Space Institute includes conducting research from space, designing systems to operate in space, and allowing humans to live in space. It will foster connections beyond the traditional departmental boundaries, interacting with people of diverse backgrounds, interests, and talents. The Space Institute will also focus on education, serving as a common entity for connecting students with space-related courses, space student groups, and faculty offering space research experiences and career-enhancing opportunities.
The Space Institute allows U-M to maintain and grow its place as a premiere institute for space-related research and education in the USA. There are already many faculty conducting space-related research across campus. While the prime locations for these faculty are in Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering (CLASP), Astronomy, and Aerospace Engineering departments, our initial affiliate list of over 100 faculty spans every department in the College of Engineering and several in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.
We are now meeting with other U-M units, including Michigan Medicine, Kinesiology, Business, Law, and Public Policy. The Space Institute will enable U-M to realize its potential to be the leader and best in space activities scientifically (including fundamental and applied research), technically (via engineering and project synergies), socially (emphasizing society’s reliance on space), and commercially (through innovations, innovators, workforce education and corporate partnerships). U-M is a top public university in the nation, vital for the economy of the state of Michigan, and the Space Institute will increase the university’s profile and impact on the state, national and global level.
We look forward to working with everyone interested in the creation of this new institute!
Sincerely,
Mike Liemohn
