Above the cropland of the Big Horn Basin and across Wyoming, drones have become a more familiar sight to farmers and locals alike. Now, Northwest College is the latest school to join the charge in accrediting and certifying the next generation of drone pilots and technicians.

Drone use in agriculture, especially spraying pesticides, has been one of the key benefits identified that the program seeks to support.

Northwest’s Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) Technician certificate is the first of its kind for a Wyoming-based community college. Although other schools like Casper College offer students courses in drone basics, the only other school with a comparable program in the state is the University of Wyoming’s certificate in unmanned aerial systems for graduate students.

Persistence of vision

The effort to get the state’s first accredited drone program for a community college was an exhaustive process for everyone involved. Beginning in late 2024, institutional interest in applying for a National Science Foundation grant, specifically from Vice President of Academic Affairs Dave Erickson, made its way to Greg Smith, Northwest’s professor of Anthropology.

“[Erickson] called up and he said ‘You’re a known drone guy, do you think you’d be interested in setting up a program?’ and I said ‘of course’ and that I’d be happy to help out,” Smith said.

Smith earned bachelor’s degrees in Geography and Anthropology from Central Washington University in 1993, his doctorate degree in Anthropology from the University of Pittsburgh in 2000 and began working at NWC in 2008. His main work has been assisting in excavating Mesoamerican sites in Mexico and he recently worked in Pakistan doing similar research.

After consulting with a firm specializing in grant writing, developing a proposal with over 90 pages of content and waiting almost a year to find out on the status of the grant, the faculty members were elated to hear that they had been approved for $475,000 across a three year period last October.

Although Northwest stands alone for its drone program, it is not the only Wyoming community college that has been able to secure funding from an NSF grant. Last November, Central Wyoming College in Riverton announced it had secured a million dollar Advanced Technological Education grant from the agency to expand its resources in geospatial science and environmental fieldwork.

Following the approval of the drone program, the number of people involved in implementing it consolidated around Smith as the faculty leader alongside two other, supporting faculty members: Biology professor and coordinator of Biological Sciences, Eric Atkinson, and professor of Engineering and Mathematics and acting chairperson of the STEM Division, Astrid Northrup.

Atkinson received his bachelor’s degree in Zoology from Oregon State University in 1987, his master’s degree in Raptor Biology from Boise State University in 1991 and began working at NWC in 2010. His background largely consists of ecological and conservation biology but he spends a considerable amount of time as a disease ecologist and biomedical researcher.

“What’s important to realize is how this has been above and beyond the courses that we teach and the service that we provide. That being said, the opportunities have been humongous,” Atkinson said. “There’s a good amount of freedom to this as well, knowing that we have support rather than to think about it and wish that we had support.”

Northrup studied at the Montana College of Mineral Science and Technology where she earned her BS and MS in Petroleum Engineering in 1984 and 1986, respectively. She began teaching at NWC in 1997 but went on to complete both a certificate in land surveying in 2005 and her doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction in 2022 from the University of Wyoming.

Dr. Northrup agreed with Atkinson’s assessment and added, “The grant has been a real vehicle for creativity because we’re not up against any kind of budgetary wall. If something seems like it would be a good idea that we could use to contribute either through education, professional development or equipment, we have the means to do that which is not typical for a two-year community college.”

First Contact

This fall semester marks the inaugural run of the program. Although the number of students was initially capped at 25 before the semester, 27 students have been allowed to take part, including dually enrolled high school students.

The nine credit program is not limited to any one kind of interest field either, as the students come from across the academic spectrum.

Northrup talked about its application from an engineering perspective in collecting survey data, helping develop site plans and minimizing the pilot’s exposure to potentially dangerous circumstances.

“A drone can go into an area that would otherwise be dangerous for a human being to go into and it maximizes the safety of individuals in a lot of different ways,” Northrup said. “You can get footage of things that, if you put a human being in there, you’d be risking their life.”

In 2023, Smith was involved in a drone-based mapping project of the Bronze Age-era city of Mohenjo Daro in Pakistan. As an archeologist and anthropologist, he talked about how drone technology continues to give him a new perspective.

“The students come from all different kinds of backgrounds but they have drones as their common interest and I’m learning from them all the different fields that drones could be used in that I hadn’t thought about before.” Smith said.

The most tangible way drones have been implemented in Wyoming is through the prevalence of its usage in agriculture and wildlife management.

Northrup, who lives on a farm outside of Powell, marveled at how much safer and precise the process of applying pesticides and herbicides to crops was compared.

“In the past, the people who were spraying would put a backpack with that chemical on and wrap themselves up in protective gear and walk through the field and you just think about how much potential for exposure there was in that,” Northrup said.

“Now a drone can come in and do all of that in a controlled environment. The operator can premix and load the chemical and then the spraying takes place away from human exposure and it’s just so much safer.”

While the process is more than just flying drones, the program aims to give students the opportunity to work in internships that will develop their skills before fully entering the workforce.

“It’s important that we get people to not only know how to fly a drone, but also understand the application they’re working with. For example, if you’re working with agricultural spraying, you need someone who understands things like mix rates, animal exposure and toxicity, not just piloting a drone,” Northrup said.

“Drone flying is a skill but it’s kind of means to an end and not being the end goal itself.”

Atkinson, while never having flown a drone himself, has assisted with the video capture side of the equation in his experience collaborating with University of Wyoming graduate students. He cited his experience monitoring migrating mule deer populations in the Pinedale area and how diseases like chronic wasting disease spread among herds by assessing drone footage captured.

“Thanks to the grant, we’re looking at these internships with federal and state agencies and alongside local businesses putting people in the field,” Atkinson said.

“Students are learning that discipline, gathering data and being able to apply that drone experience, so to me it’s really exciting that we have that support and focus.”

Atkinson also stressed the importance of the technology in the context of resource management and recording ecosystems that are degrading rapidly and threatening wildlife and archaeological resources.

“We’re in a period of rapid climate change and these things are really timely to get data recorded and drones are perfect for that. There is a real, heartfelt desire I think from many people from different agencies to get out there and get these areas recorded so that we can actually preserve or conserve them,” Atkinson said.

“They’re under the gun and I think that it’s fascinating how much all of this intersects with our program.”

Pathfinder

The program ultimately aims to provide students a skill that they can use to present themselves as stronger candidates in the workforce and to stack onto other certifications they may feel complement their studies.

A separate grant through the Wyoming Innovative Partnership also provides resources for a comprehensive drone flight simulation lab on campus. The lab, lovingly referred to as “The Bridge” in reference to Star Trek, is covered wall to wall with immersive monitors that will allow students to emulate drone flight without the risk of damaging real world equipment.

By the time students are finished with instruction, they are provided the opportunity to apply for their FAA Part 107 license that officially certifies them as remote pilots. The college will pay for the first attempt at the exam, using funding from the grant to cover the fee.

Although this is just the first year of the program, the program’s faculty members are already looking to the future on what it can provide for their students.

“It’s always amazing to me when you get a group of students that you can impart some information onto and they just run,” Northrup said. “In a broad sense, I want to see what our students do with it and where they go with this.”

Smith’s hope is the momentum carries on for the program to become self-sustaining.

“After the grant is over and we’ve got the infrastructure developed for it, we hope it just continues through word of mouth, like ‘oh you’re into drones? Northwest is the school to go to,’” he said. “Just as different schools have different reputations for things, hopefully this is one of the things that we can say about Northwest down the line.”

For more information related to the RPAS Technician Certificate from Northwest, visit nwc.edu/academics/programs/remotely-piloted-aircraft-systems-technician-s-c.html or contact Smith at greg.smith@nwc.edu.