Keith Summerville, former ISGC campus coordinator for Drake University, was honored on May 9 at an award ceremony. Summerville served as campus coordinator from June 2011 until March 2017. The ISGC is grateful to Summerville for his hard work and leadership over the past six years.
In April, Maria Bohorquez, department chair and professor of chemistry was named Summerville’s successor at Drake.
The Iowa Space Grant Consortium has announced two scholarship programs for undergraduate students for the 2017-2018 school year.
Applications are currently ongoing for the NASA Iowa Space Grant Scholarship Program and the Preservice Educator STEM Scholarship.
The NASA ISGC Scholarship Program awards scholarships to support undergraduate students pursuing research opportunities in STEM disciplines that support NASA’s mission. This scholarship supports the research projects of undergraduate students at ISGC Core Institutions. To learn more about the NASA ISGC Scholarship program, click here.
The Preservice Educator STEM Scholarship supports undergraduate students pursuing a degree in preservice education for STEM fields that support NASA’s mission. The $5,000 scholarship is available to students from Drake, Iowa State, University of Iowa, University of Northern Iowa, DMACC, or Loras College. To learn more about the Preservice Educator STEM Scholarship, click here.
Applications for both scholarship programs will close on June 30, 2017. For questions, please email isgc@iastate.edu.
FOX’s Xploration Outer Space is hosting its 3rd annual Student Astronaut Contest and looking for one STEM student to live in the HI-SEAS Mars simulation habitation in Hawaii. The winner will be featured in an episode of Xploration Outer Space and go through a Mars astronaut experience with Emmy-nomianted TV host and MIT engineer, Emily Calandrelli.
For the contest, Xploration Outer Space wants you to create a short video and answer three questions.
The deadline to enter the contest is May 28, 2017. For more information and to apply, visit xplorationstation.com/contest.
The Iowa Space Grant Consortium announced the addition of Des Moines Area Community College and Loras College as academic affiliates. Dr. Kari Hensen, Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences will represent DMACC, while Dr. Thomas Carstens, Assistant Professor of Engineering will serve as the contact for Loras College.
As the ISGC grows, the executive committee has renamed its four “Core Institutions” of Drake University, Iowa State University, The University of Iowa, and the University of Northern Iowa.
In addition to the new institutions, the ISGC announced new campus coordinators for Drake University and the University of Iowa. Department chair and professor of chemistry, Maria Bohorquez was named the new campus coordinator for Drake University, and associate professor of physics and astronomy, Dr. Cornelia Lang will represent the University of Iowa.
The University of Iowa announced Tuesday that Professor Cornelia C. Lang will serve as the University’s campus coordinator for the Iowa Space Grant Consortium. Professor Lang is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at The University of Iowa.
Professor Lang’s research is focused on radio and X-ray observations of galactic nuclear regions, specifically, the center of the Milky Way. She was a collaborator in the first Hubble Space Telescope survey of the Central 75 pc of the Galaxy and makes observations of the Galactic center using a Very Large Array radio interferometer.
Professor Lang joined the faculty at Iowa in 2002 after earning her Ph.D from UCLA and completing a postdoctoral fellowship at University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Huntsville, AL – Iowa State’s Student Launch Initiative team, CySLI, was in Hunstville, AL Saturday for NASA’s Student Launch Initiative. Forty universities competed, launching rockets to as close to one mile above ground level as possible. CySLI is part of the Department of Aerospace Engineering’s Make to Innovate program.
At the competition, CySLI took home hardware for the second-consecutive year, winning the Best Looking Rocket Award. The team’s launch reached 4,485 ft., coming within 795 ft. of the one mile marker.
CySLI’s rocket, Cardinal Heavy, used the roll induction and counter roll payload. With this design, the system is capable of controlling a launch vehicle’s roll post motor burnout. After two rotations, it induced a counter rolling moment to halt all rolling motion for the duration of the ascent.
Click the video below to watch the pre-launch interview and to see the team’s launch.