Drone discussions part 2: a new course

Last week, The Eagle asked if Chadron State College’s rangeland program should include drone classes. Friday, Dr. James Powell, CSC vice president, confirmed to The Eagle that a course on drone operation is imminent at Chadron State.

For roughly two years, CSC has been working on adding an interdisciplinary drone class that will offer a path to an undergraduate certificate. Powell says the courses should be available in the coming years.

“We’re getting prepared for the next catalog which will come out between 2021 and 2023,” Powell said. “We’re trying to get everything in place for that.”

Powell said CSC plans to organize the drone studies into four courses.

The first would be online and prepare participants to take the Federal Aviation Administration drone exam. Enrollment in the second course would require students to pass their exam and purchase their own drone, hopefully motivating students to take better care of the machine.

Powell said the drone model the school is exploring would cost roughly $180.

“It’s not the cheapest one, but it’s a good, solid, model,” he said. “You pay a course fee and at the end of the class you end up with a drone.”

Courses three and four will cover more advanced drone usage. Students won’t have to purchase machines for these classes because the platform and accessories will cost roughly $10,000 per drone, according to Powell.

The smaller drones won’t require a lot space, so the first two courses will take place in the Nelson Physical Activity Center. But according to Powell, courses three and four will require larger drones that will need to be flown outside. 

Additional steps will have to be taken before that can happen due to current FAA and CSC rules.

“We’ll have to get clearance from the college to do that, because there’s a policy that you can’t fly a drone on campus,” Powell said. 

According to Powell, the college is wanting to hire an adjunct professor, possibly from the community, to teach the courses. Though they don’t have anyone in particular in mind, John Jacox, a 1971 CSC graduate who studied mathematics and physics, is currently constructing the course syllabi.

Prior to CSC administrators discussing the course, President Randy Rhine asked Jacox to give a presentation on drones in agriculture at the college. Jacox spent the next five months working on the presentation and has been involved in developing the courses from the beginning.

After his time at CSC, Jacox went to Texas A&M where he studied aerospace engineering. He spent his entire aerospace engineering career working in defense programs and in 2013 was named a distinguished alumnus of Chadron State College.

Jacox has been enthusiastic about making the courses a reality.

“I had this cockamamie idea, but (Powell) was incredibly helpful to me to show me a way through the minefield,” Jacox said. “If you’re ignorant it’s easy to think that everything is easy and it’s not.”

According to Jacox, the certificate program is likely to be offered to both CSC students and members of the public. Powell said that means the class would most likely take place on Saturday afternoons to accommodate local ranchers and farmers.

Jacox envisions someday partnering with a local ranch or farm owner to have the chance of running real-world “missions” with the drones, but it remains to be seen if that would be a realistic possibility.

Originally, Jacox planned on making the class only available to agriculture and rangeland students but an interdisciplinary approach was favored by the college. Nevertheless, ag uses could motivate potential enrollment in the courses.

Next week, in our final article of the series, we’ll discuss the pros and cons of using drones in the fields of agriculture and rangeland management.