OXFORD, Miss. — A University of Mississippi law professor
is scheduled to join space law experts and educators from
around the world Dec. 3-4 in Vienna to explore the
possibility of a basic course on space law as requested by
a subcommittee of the United Nations.
Joanne Gabrynowicz, law professor and director of the
National Remote Sensing, Air and Space Law Center at the UM
law school, frequently travels to other countries to
address the growing area of law dealing with space. The
U.N. meeting will further her visibility as an
international space law expert.
In a letter from the United Nations Office for Outer Space
Affairs, Niklas Hedman, chief of the committee services and
research section of the office, said the Legal Subcommittee
of the U.N. Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space
requested that the Office for Outer Space Affairs continue
exploring the possibility of developing a curriculum for a
basic course on space law that could be used in particular
for the benefit of developing countries.
The courses are to be developed by initiating space law
studies as appropriate in regional centers of space science
and technology education associated with the United
Nations. Gabrynowicz has been asked to participate in “the
elaboration of education curricula in space law” for those
regional centers, according to Hedman’s letter.
Early in the conference, representatives from the U.N.
centers are slated to make presentations on their
experience in space law education, specifically education
related to remote sensing, satellite meteorology, satellite
communications and space science.
“My job will be to listen and advise,” Gabrynowicz said.
“Through their presentations, I will learn what the U.N.
centers need and want. Then, I will advise them on what
content has to be in the space law curriculum to meet their
needs.”
The National Remote Sensing, Air and Space Law Center at UM
was established in 1999. The first and only such center in
the United States, it provides information resources on the
legal aspects of human activities using aerospace
technologies. It is available to serve federal, state and
local government in a non-advocacy capacity to conduct
narrowly tailored legal research and to answer legal
questions of concern to the aerospace and geospatial
industry.
Gabrynowicz, a graduate of the Cardozo School of Law at
Yeshiva University, joined the UM faculty in 2001 as the
center’s first permanent director and research professor of
law. She received the 2001 Women in Aerospace Outstanding
International Award for her work and contributions to the
broad spectrum of aerospace issues.
For more information on the Remote Sensing, Air and Space
Law Center, visit
http://www.spacelaw.olemiss.edu..
For more information on the School of Law, visit