An ad hoc committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will develop a plan for U.S. graduate and postgraduate geodesy education and training, with the goal of building and sustaining the domestic geodesy workforce needed to develop, operate, and sustain geodetic systems, data, and infrastructure, while strengthening the academic base needed to support it. The committee will:
• Provide an overview of example U.S. and international programs for geodesy education, training, and pathways that prepare and train individuals for careers in technical geodesy, identifying successes and challenges.
• Assess a draft geodesy curriculum provided by NASA in the context of community needs and suggest potential improvements and evaluate how the proposed curriculum aligns with current and anticipated workforce needs.
• Examine organizational models used in other scientific fields (e.g., centralized centers, distributed consortia, cooperative networks) to identify approaches that could support geodesy education and training.
• Recommend one or more institutional mechanisms for implementing a coordinated geodesy education and training program in U.S. higher education, including:
o Organizational structure, governance, and funding strategies
o Roles of federal agencies, academic institutions, and other stakeholders
o Near-term actions needed to establish and sustain the recommended approach(es).