The corporate authority of USRA is vested in its 104 member universities through the USRA Council of Institutions, comprised of a representative from each member institution. All USRA member institutions have graduate programs in the space sciences or aerospace engineering. There are 95 member institutions in the United States, two in Canada, two in England, one in Germany, two in Israel, one in Australia, and one in China. The member institutions are divided into nine regional groups, with the nine non-U.S. members forming their own region.
Every three years, USRA appoints Regional Secretaries to represent their region's institutional membership in a variety of organizational matters. The current Council of Institutions Chair is Dr. Edward J. Groth; the Vice-Chair is Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen.
Annual Meetings
The Council meets annually to review the progress of the Association, provide policy guidance to the Board of Trustees, and elect members to the Board. The Council’s Annual Meeting takes place on the last Friday of March or the first Friday of April. View upcoming meeting announcements and past meeting highlights.
Issues and Programs Committee
From time-to-time, critical issues arise that are of concern to members of USRA. To help address such issues, the Chair of the Council of Institutions established an advisory committee, the Issues and Programs Committee. Current issues and initiatives include hands-on training for students, university access to space, and International Traffic in Arms Regulations. Read more »
