The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Board of Directors has announced the Institute’s key public policy issues for 2013, addressing some of the most pressing concerns facing the aerospace community.

AIAA’s key public policy issues for 2013 are:

• Promoting and Incentivizing Public-Private Partnerships that Improve Technology Transition to End Users from the Nation’s Aerospace Research Laboratories
• Enabling Sustained Deep Space Exploration with a Broad Vision
• Completing Public/Private Human Earth-Orbit Access Programs in a Timely Manner
• Recruiting, Retaining, and Developing a World-Class Aerospace Workforce
• Building Our Competitive Foundation: Supporting K–12 STEM Education
• Assuring the Viability of the U.S. Aerospace and Defense Industrial Base
• Lessening the Impact of Export Controls on the Domestic Aerospace Industry
• Accelerating the Integration of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV)/Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) into the National Air Space
• Adopting a Robust and Integrated Cybersecurity Policy as One of Our Top National Security Priorities
• Ensuring the Continuing Stimulation of Advancements in the Nation’s Science and Technology Portfolio by Removing Restrictions on the Federal Science and Technology Professional Workforce to Participate in Peer Review and Open Forums

“By bringing forth these key issues of public policy, AIAA seeks to call attention to as well as provide solutions to some of the barriers that impede our nation’s continued progress in the exploration of space, the establishment of an effective cybersecurity regime, the continued growth and relevance of our R&D capabilities, and the education of our nation’s youth in science, technology, engineering, and mathematical fields,” stated AIAA President Michael Griffin. “Each of the barriers identified in these issues make our nation less than what it could be, and we call on Congress to recognize the urgency of acting on each of our recommendations in order to keep America’s aerospace community at the forefront of providing our nation’s economic and national security.”

For more information on the AIAA Public Policy Key Issues for 2013, please visit www.aiaa.org/keyissues2013/ or contact Steve Howell at 703.264.7625 or steveh@aiaa.org.

AIAA is the world’s largest technical society dedicated to the global aerospace profession. With more than 35,000 individual members worldwide, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit www.aiaa.org.

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
1801 Alexander Bell Drive, Suite 500, Reston, VA 20191-4344
Phone: 703.264.7558 Fax: 703.264.7551 www.aiaa.org