Paso del Norte Defense and Aerospace Innovation Engine (New Mexico and Texas), led by The University of Texas at El Paso, aims to fuel the growth of dynamic aerospace and defense manufacturing in Paso del Norte, an eight-county region on the U.S.-Mexican border, by creating a platform that combines an emerging digital engineering paradigm and skilled workforce development.
Region of service: El Paso, Texas, and immediately surrounding counties in Texas and New Mexico.
Competitive advantage: The El Paso region is emerging as a center of space innovation, with significant existing collaboration between The University of Texas at El Paso and NASA's Johnson Space Center on digital engineering, a space industry accelerator and a significant lunar-forward Lunar Surface Technology Research award. Aerospace technology is poised to redefine the region's economic prospects, in part because of its proximity to the White Sands Missile Range's no-fly zone, where commercial air traffic is typically restricted and experimental launches are conducted. These clear skies, paired with the NSF Engine's university and industry partnerships, create the conditions for a robust space hub that will build and grow greatly needed resiliency into critical national supply chains for aerospace and defense.
NSF award: NSF-2315782
| Critical and emerging technology areas |
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| Robotics and advanced manufacturing, advanced computing and semiconductors, advanced materials, advanced energy and industrial efficiency technologies, artificial intelligence, data and cybersecurity. |