NASA Ames Undergraduate Student Research Program, California. Langley Aerospace Research Summer Scholars Program, Virginia.
These are two of the undergraduate internships that resulted in scholarships from North Carolina Space Grant. When their proposals are approved, students receive grants to conduct research on individual projects as well as at internships at NASA facilities.
Douglas Stefanski, a senior in aerospace engineering, spent last summer working at the NASA Langley Research Center in Virginia.
“The area I worked in was statistical design of experiments,” he said. “My main project dealt with the calibration of a rocket test stand used for measuring the forces and moments generated during a static firing of a solid rocket booster like the ones on the space shuttle.”
And, Stefanski said, he worked to develop a statistical model.
“I also helped design a calibration experiment for some pressure transducers that will be used on a Mars entry atmospheric data system,” he said. “The final thing I did was look through some compiled data for nitrogen dioxide concentration in the atmosphere and attempted to develop a statistical model for matching satellite data to the true ground readings.”
According to mechanical and aerospace engineering professor and campus director of N.C. Space Grant, Fred DeJarnette, the program benefits students as well as faculty who otherwise would not be able to fund their research. The program also produces results for its sponsors.
“It’s good for NASA and the nation because we’re in a critical situation of what’s called shortage of workforce,” DeJarnette said. “Surveys have already shown that there aren’t enough engineers, scientists and mathematicians coming through the pipeline to fill the vacancies that will be coming up, even more so in the next five years. So one of the objectives of NASA and Congress in providing this funding is to develop a pipeline to interest students to follow careers in these directions and complete their education to become a part of the workforce.”
For Bradley Jackson, a junior in mechanical engineering, his internship at the NASA Ames Undergraduate Student Research Program in California was his first engineering job. Jackson worked with mechanical design and structural reinforcement and said the experience helped him realize engineering is where he wants to stay.
Engineers aren’t the only recipients of Space Grant scholarships.
Jennifer Huang, a junior in biological sciences, applied for the grant to see if research was what she wanted to pursue. She plans to attend veterinary school after she graduates. She conducted her research, investigating how plants sense and respond to light and gravity, on campus.
“For humans to survive in a harsh environment like Mars, many unavailable resources that are required for living can be supplied by plants,” Huang said. “These resources would consist of oxygen, clean water, food and pharmaceuticals. Growing plants in space will not be easy, and there are many limitations to consider.”
According to DeJarnette, the program accepts research proposals that would benefit NASA and space exploration. While most scholarship winners come from science, math and engineering concentrations, DeJarnette said students from any concentration can apply.
“English is very important to us,” DeJarnette said. “That’s becoming more and more important because a student has to be able to write a readable report, and that’s not so easy with engineers.”
Students in every year can apply as well, though there are different criteria for freshman and sophomores than juniors, seniors and grad students. Juniors and seniors have faculty advisors.
“The freshman and sophomores, we don’t ask them to do research on their own,” DeJarnette said. “What we do ask them to do is interview some of the faculty in their program as to what research they’re doing and then write their summary, and that, in general, will help them know what’s going on in their own department.”
The only real eligibility requirement in North Carolina is that a student attends one of 11 universities in the state that is a member of the N.C. Space Grant consortium.
DeJarnette said there have always been more recipients from N.C. State than any other school.
The program’s base is N.C. State, and Chris Brown, assistant vice chancellor for research development, is the director.
“[The consortium] goes all the way to UNC-Asheville in the west to Elizabeth City State University in the east,” Brown said. “It also includes mostly public institutions, but Duke University is a consortium member as well. We have a real broad reach.”
The N.C. Space Grant is one of 52 Space Grant programs — one in every state, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico — funded by Congress and facilitated by NASA.
DeJarnette said the total Space Grant budget, as approved by Congress, is approximately $30 million a year.
According to Brown, the North Carolina program receives approximately $600,000 in federal funds.
“About three years ago, we explained all this to the N.C. General Assembly, and now our state provides $200,000 in funds in support for this important program, because our Space Grant program has such a wide reach across the state,” Brown said. “So our total funding is about $800,000 a year.”
Individual grants are typically between $2,000 and $5,000. Huang received $4,000 while Jackson received $5,800.
“We just opened up our next round of applications,” Brown said. “For 2008 student opportunities, applications are going to be due Feb. 15, 2008.”