New Agreement Builds on Space Technology Research and Student Opportunities

Alabama A&M University is expanding its collaboration with Huntsville-based Morningbird Space Corporation through a new workforce training initiative while continuing research that gives AAMU students opportunities to contribute to emerging technologies.

Alabama A&M’s Office of Research and Economic Development and Morningbird Space recently entered into a strategic partnership and revenue-sharing agreement supporting the Morningbird Academy, an online education and workforce training initiative.

The agreement establishes a framework for developing, marketing, administering and delivering educational programs, professional development, workforce training and certification-related offerings. The collaboration brings together industry-focused instruction, AAMU academic expertise and research and development, with the potential to create pathways to academic credentials.

“We believe that the relationship between Alabama A&M University and the Morningbird Academy will be a winning combination for our students and for the region,” said Dr. Majed Dweik, vice president for research and economic development at Alabama A&M.

The Morningbird Academy offers on-demand, self-paced courses led by subject-matter experts and designed to connect instruction with practical workplace applications. Depending on the program and completion requirements, learners may earn professional certificates, certifications, microcredentials or other credentials through the Academy.

The agreement expands an existing relationship between Alabama A&M and Morningbird Space that also includes advanced space technology research and opportunities for AAMU students.

Earlier this year, Morningbird Space was awarded a $99,015 Innovate Alabama Supplemental Grant to advance experimental space propulsion research in collaboration with the AAMU-RISE Foundation.

The competitive nine-month award supports the development of an apparatus designed to measure and quantify potential thrust as part of Morningbird Space’s experimental research into propellantless propulsion. The project builds on previous research supported by the National Science Foundation and provides opportunities for undergraduate and graduate AAMU students to work alongside researchers.

“This competitive grant provides another layer of validation for this groundbreaking scientific and technological effort,” said Dr. Chance Glenn Sr., founder of Morningbird Space and academic director of the Morningbird Academy. “It builds upon our experimental spacetime distortion research previously supported by the National Science Foundation and published in peer-reviewed scientific literature. This funding gives us an opportunity to demonstrate experimental proof that propellantless propulsion is possible based on fundamental physics principles.”

Morningbird Space develops technologies in areas including advanced propulsion systems, robotics, additive manufacturing, autonomous construction, STEM education and workforce development.

Glenn, a former Alabama A&M engineering dean and professor, returned to the University in 2025 after serving as provost at the University of Houston-Victoria. He recently joined Wilberforce University as dean of engineering and special assistant to the president while continuing his leadership of Morningbird Space and the Morningbird Academy.

For Glenn, the new workforce initiative extends the relationship between Morningbird and Alabama A&M beyond the laboratory and into career-connected education.

“A foundational principle of the Morningbird Academy is to provide pathways for the education that leads people to their goals,” Glenn said. “Nothing embodies this more than the partnership we have formed with Alabama A&M.”

The collaboration comes as Alabama A&M continues to expand opportunities connecting research, emerging technologies and workforce development. Through the Morningbird partnership, students can gain exposure to advanced scientific research while the University extends its expertise to working professionals and other learners seeking flexible training for rapidly changing industries.

Innovate Alabama’s Supplemental Grant Program provides additional funding to eligible companies that have received federal Small Business Innovation Research or Small Business Technology Transfer awards.

Innovate Alabama reports that the program has awarded more than $17 million to support small businesses and university innovators across the state.