Nonprofit launches to help Texas become global aerospace hub
Brent: Two Austin-based serial entrepreneurs, Geoff Tudor and Leon Vanstone, are launching a nonprofit that aims to make Texas a global aerospace hub and build a pipeline of aerospace talent to fill a growing number of roles in the industry.
The Space Workforce Incubator for Texas, or SWIFT, has developed programs to help aspiring engineers with access to tech resources, mentorship and testing facilities. For example, it has awarded a grant to the Rice Eclipse Rocket Team and the Texas A&M Rocket Engine Design Team, to develop innovative rocket development projects.
Part of that will involve shared test capacity for rocket engine development where students can get hands-on experience.
“Just as rockets must be flight-qualified, so too must the people who build them,” Vanstone stated. “SWIFT ensures that the next generation of aerospace pioneers is equipped to meet this challenge.”
Vanstone previously was CEO at Austin-based VerdeCode and former CTO at HyperSciences Inc. Tudor, meanwhile, is a senior director of hyperscaler cloud solutions at NetApp and was co-founder of Nirvanix Inc., which was acquired by Oracle.
The organization's team also includes Harvin Moore, a principal at Frontera Technology Ventures; Joseph Kopser, a local serial entrepreneur and limited partner at ATX Venture Partners; Heather Wagner Reed, founder and CEO of Juice Consulting; Price Mulford, a former SpaceX senior engineer for Starship flight operations; and Sandy Barker, an export control officer at the University of Texas and former director of the Texas Rocket Engineering Lab.
