Iowa Space Grant Consortium

Announcements

Student opportunity with NASA buoyancy lab design challenge

NASA is continuing a student engineering opportunity at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL).

Micro-g Neutral Buoyancy Experiment Design Teams, or Micro-g NExT, challenges students to design and build prototypes of spacewalk tools and then travel to Houston to test their prototypes in the simulated microgravity environment of NASA’s 6.2 million gallon indoor pool – the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL), where astronauts train for spacewalks.

Through this activity, the NBL is open to students for hands-on engineering design. Advisors and mentors are encouraged to have students apply for Micro-g NExT. The proposal deadline is November 1, 2018.

NASA Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory

For tips on how to submit a successful proposal, join the Micro-g NExT Coordinator for an online information session. Information sessions are available at https://microgravityuniversity.jsc.nasa.gov during these upcoming times:

  • September 20, 2018, 6p.m. Central Time
  • October 1, 2018 at 6p.m. Central Time

Learn more at https://microgravityuniversity.jsc.nasa.gov/about-micro-g-next.cfm

Call for proposals open for NASA’s RASC-AL student competition

NASA’s Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) has released a call for proposals for its 2019 competition.

The RASC-AL Competition is a collegiate-level engineering design challenge that allows students to incorporate their coursework into real aerospace design concepts and work together in a team environment. It is one of NASA’s long-running and most robust student competitions.

Four different themes are available for submissions. Interested students and their advisors should submit an online notice of intent by October 15, 2018, and proposals and videos by January 17, 2019. Details are available here.

UNI-NASA Connection event September 24

Be an insider when the “UNI-NASA Connection” comes to the University of Northern Iowa September 24. The event will showcase Iowa Space Grant Consortium (ISGC) and NASA opportunities for educators and researchers, especially those involved with STEM-related curriculum.

The event will be held in the Maucker Union Elm Room, 3:30-4:30 p.m.  It will feature new Iowa Space Grant Consortium director Tomas Gonzalez-Torres, former NASA Mission Control Flight Director and now lecturer in Iowa State University’s Department of Aerospace Engineering; and Nina Jocic, an Iowa Space Grant Consortium undergraduate research fellow from UNI.

No R.S.V.P required. See an event flyer here.

All systems “go” for 2018 Spaceflight Operations Workshop

Spaceflight Operations Workshop ActivitiesWith funding support from the Iowa Space Grant Consortium, the 2018 Spaceflight Operations Workshop with the Iowa State University Department of Aerospace Engineering will begin August 3.

Thinking and acting like an astronaut will soon become daily life for a group of undergraduate students who are about to embark on an unforgettable journey with the Department of Aerospace Engineering’s 2018 Spaceflight Operations Workshop.

The program, in its fifth year, will run from August 3-13, and will immerse participants in a series of experiences and classroom activities that are a microcosm of the training NASA astronauts undergo to develop “operational thinking” necessary for space exploration.

Retired NASA astronaut, Iowa State alumnus and Distinguished Faculty Fellow in the Department of Aerospace Engineering Clayton Anderson, who developed and manages the program, says “Spaceflight Operations is a concept – it’s a thought process. When you live and works as an astronaut, you think in an operational sense. The idea with this workshop is to change the students’ way of thinking – to open their eyes to a way to think more operationally.”

Read the full story here.

Proposals for college student hands-on opportunities now being accepted

Proposals are now being accepted from undergraduate students at Iowa State University, University of Iowa, University of Northern Iowa and Drake University for hands-on student experiential opportunities in areas relevant to the mission of NASA. This student-centered opportunity includes research projects and participation in national or regional NASA-sponsored competitions. Teams or individual students may apply.

The Iowa Space Grant Consortium encourages proposals involving females, members of underrepresented minorities, U.S. military veterans, and persons with disabilities. Students must be enrolled at Iowa State, Iowa, Northern Iowa or Drake with a GPA of 3.0 or higher. A faculty or staff mentor is required. The awards will be awarded on a first come, first awarded basis, until funds are consumed. Submissions will be accepted on an ongoing basis through March 29, 2019, on a first come, first awarded basis, until funds are consumed.

For detailed information and a link to the program’s full proposal form, click here.