This post was updated July 7 at 10:12 p.m.

Space Workforce 2030 is reaching out to students – from elementary schoolers to doctoral candidates – to build a more diverse community of aerospace engineers.

The Aerospace Corporation and the Space Foundation have partnered with a consortium of 29 aerospace companies to form Space Workforce 2030, founded in 2022. The program is a united pledge to increase the number of technical workers in the space industry, said Via Van Liew, principal director of diversity, equity and inclusion at The Aerospace Corporation. She added that the initiative seeks to increase the number of people of color and women within the technical workforce.

Racial and gender pay disparities affect the space industry’s workforce and prevent some workers from attaining leadership positions, said Gautham Viswaroopan, an aerospace engineering doctoral student and intern at The Aerospace Corporation. To bridge this gap, Space Workforce 2030 connects students to one of 29 organizations and exposes them to various labs and technical research, creating an environment where students can learn and build community, Van Liew said.

Growing up in a predominantly Black and Latino community, Viswaroopan said he was acutely aware of the lack of access to technology in underrepresented communities. Remembering how programs similar to Space Workforce 2030 inspired him as a kid, Viswaroopan said he was motivated to join the initiative, which sent solar-powered rover kits to students attending summer school.

“We go out of willingness because we like to teach, and we like to be able to mentor,” he said.

Viswaroopan said he now works as an intern buddy and mentors other interns in the program, giving them a space to talk about their experiences being underrepresented in aerospace engineering.

The program also provides STEM activities to K-12 students and informs them about careers in space, such as through its National Space Day, broadcast to elementary schoolers across the nation, Van Liew said. Students tend to lose interest in STEM around the fourth to fifth grade, so the event encourages students to engage in activities and ask questions to space leaders, she added.

Space Workforce 2030 also releases annual reports on diversity within the space workforce, gathering data on the number of women and people of color in both technical leadership and the workforce at large, Van Liew said.

Sophia Tsoukalas, a rising third-year physics student, said she also joined Space Workforce 2030 as a result of her internship at The Aerospace Corporation.

Tsoukalas said through the internship, she was able to work on real-world problems using software engineering and interact with other employees from The Aerospace Corporation. She added that speaking with people from the Society of Women Engineers helped her see how her classes and internships apply to these real-world problems.

“The aerospace industry … has historically been not as accepting of those minorities’ wishes,” she said. “As a woman, … it was really helpful to be able to see that there were other people out there in that industry.”

Space Workforce 2030 is particularly relevant to the Los Angeles community because of the major space organizations located in the city, such as Northrop Grumman and SpaceX, Van Liew said. She added that the initiative has been in active contact with UCLA, and The Aerospace Corporation hired 22 Bruins as interns in 2023.

Having a diverse workforce allows people to share their different strengths and knowledge, Viswaroopan added.

“Know that you are contributing to a society, and don’t forget that your history defines you. Embrace that history, because that’s where your wisdom is gained,” he said. “That’s how you’re applying it in guiding yourself to the career you want.”