Space Education and Strategic Applications Journal • Vol . 2 , No . 2 • Spring / Summer 2021
Editorial
Melissa Layne American Public University System
Dear SESA Readers ,
The inaugural 2020 Space Education & Strategic Applications conference in October was certainly a testament to perseverance and commitment . Originally scheduled six months earlier in April as an in-person event , organizers were forced to postpone the conference to October using a virtual platform . Despite this rapid and dynamic pivot to hold a virtual conference , our sponsors , American Public University System ( APUS ) and Policy Studies Organization ( PSO ), were well-equipped to rise to the occasion . However , we were careful not to be too sure of ourselves lest something terribly wrong were to occur !
As the conference date was nearing , we continued to experience an increasing influx of presentations ; so , what was supposed to be a one-day event , now became two full days for the space community to gather in “ our virtual space .”
Dr . Vernon Smith , Provost at APUS , served as our Master of Ceremonies by opening the conference with a lively and motivational introduction , and ended by expressing sincere gratitude to presenters , attendees , and organizers . Our presenters shared their extensive knowledge around a variety of space-related topics via sessions , roundtables , panels , fireside chats , and keynotes . As a newcomer to the space conference scene , SESA ’ s plenary addresses were quite impressive , and included NASA ’ s Julielynn Wong , Stacy Kubicek from Lockheed Martin , Natalie Panek of Mission Systems MDA , and Emily Calandrelli , host of the Emily ’ s Wonder Lab . The most anticipated session was that of the Honorable Barbara Barret , Secretary of the U . S . Air Force . For session video recordings go to https :// whova . com / embedded / event / seasa _ 202010 /? utc _ source = ems
This issue highlights the truly outstanding work from some of our presenters — many of whom have expressed their excitement for the next SESA conference taking place on September 23 rd and 24 th , 2021 . Mark your calendars !
The following pages provide a glimpse of some of our conference data in addition to attendee / presenter responses to our end-of-conference survey .
Melissa Layne , Ed . D .
Editor-in-Chief , SESA
1 doi : 10.18278 / sesa . 2.2.1