Iowa Space Grant Consortium

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Xploration Outer Space seeks student astronaut

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.

  1. Why do you think it is important to explore Mars?
  2. How would this experience help launch your career in the space industry?
  3. Why do you think we should select you as our next student astronaut?

The deadline to enter the contest is May 28, 2017. For more information and to apply, visit xplorationstation.com/contest.

ISGC welcomes new members

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.

 

Cornelia Lang named campus coordinator for University of Iowa

Professor Cornelia C. Lang

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.

 

Iowa State team competes in NASA’s Student Launch

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.

Undergraduate students recognized at Research Awards Ceremony

The Iowa Space Grant Consortium held the 2017 Student Research Awards Ceremony on Friday on the campus of Iowa State University. Forty students who received scholarships from the ISGC, representing Drake University, Iowa State University, the University of Iowa, and the University of Northern Iowa, were honored for their undergraduate research projects.

Retired U.S. Astronaut Clay Anderson addressed the students in the morning, encouraging them in their pursuit of academic research. After the introduction, ten students were chosen to present their research project and explain their process and results to the group. All of the students had a chance to discuss their projects during a poster session. A panel of judges evaluated the projects and awarded bronze, silver, and gold medals to the scholarship winners.

The event served as an opportunity to recognize the students for their hard work and also encourage them to continue to pursue their research interests.

Iowa Space Grant Consortium welcomed scholarship recipients

On Friday, March 24, the Iowa Space Grant Consortium celebrated the 2017 undergraduate scholarship recipients. The 39 students selected will present their research projects to a group of scholars on the campus of Iowa State University. The group of recipients is made up of students from Drake University, Iowa State University, the University of Iowa, and the University of Northern Iowa.

The projects voted on by a group of judges and students received gold, silver, and bronze awards for their research. In addition, eight students were selected from the pool of 39 to give 15-minute oral presentations on their project.

To view the projects that were selected for this year’s scholarship, visit the undergraduate scholarships page.