Susan Mallett, a Life Member of the Air & Space Forces Association, who has held many positions including Board Member, Central Area National Director, and Vice President of Aerospace Education, was selected to receive the National Aeronautic Association’s 2022 Frank G. Brewer Trophy for excellence in Aerospace Education to honor “significant contributions of enduring value to aerospace education in the United States.”
As an elementary school teacher in Alabama, Mallett was first introduced to aviation. In 1986 she began her journey into aviation education when she participated in a new program sponsored by the Alabama Department of Aeronautics, which led her to planning orientation flights for students and teachers. She has continued with what became her passion by helping her school gain recognition nationally and internationally for their aviation program. She also conducted space programs at her alma mater, Auburn University.
Mallett has received many awards for her advocacy from the Civil Air Patrol (CAP), NASA, FAA, and the Air & Space Forces Association. One of her favorites is the A. Scott Crossfield Teacher of the Year Award, presented by the National Aviation Hall of Fame. She still provides support and mentorship to its award recipients.
In 2004, she helped bring a STARBASE Academy to Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., a DOD Youth Program, designed to promote STEM education at the elementary and middle school levels and also provide educational resources for the academy teachers.
Upon retiring after 31 years as a teacher and administrator, Mallett went on to work at CAP, and in 2007 she created an aerospace-themed program called Aerospace Connections in Education (ACE). The curriculum is a free online program for teachers that covers academics, physical fitness, and good character behavior, with the intention of building early interest in STEM and aviation careers.
Mallett’s AFA involvement includes being on the Aerospace Education Council; as leader of the AFA/Rolls-Royce National Teacher of the Year Award; coordinating programs between AFA and CAP; and promoting AFA’s CyperPatriot and StellarXplorers programs. She also assisted the Air Force STEM Outreach Office to originate CAP’s national K-12th grade STEM Kit program, which are provided at no cost to teachers, youth organizations, libraries, museums, aviation organizations, CAP squadrons, and Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps programs nationwide.
NAA recognized Mallett for “her passionate and sustained aviation education, leadership, and ambassadorship to create enduring collaborative partnerships, programs, and products, which have impacted and inspired over 2 million American youth since 1986.”
Mallett said she was humbled and honored by the award. “Aerospace education has been my passionate work for 36 years. I have been able to serve alongside and be mentored by the most amazingly dedicated and passionate like-minded people and organizations, collaboratively working toward the common mission of inspiring our nation’s youth onward and upward.”
While currently working at CAP National Headquarters, she has created an online repository for aviation resources, an ACE Plus Program for virtual and in-person instruction for 5th-8th graders, and a new national STEM challenge for cadets, the High-Altitude Balloon Challenge.
Col. Joe Kittinger, the balloon challenge’s national ambassador, credited Mallett with bringing true expertise to the program. “I volunteered to do this due to the professional expertise I knew Susan would bring to a new national STEM program,” he said. “As a high-altitude balloonist and scientist, I see this program as another avenue to build student interest in science and a huge success for CAP.”