Cardinal Space Mining Club Success with Vermeer
An inventive group of students in the Iowa State University Cardinal Space Mining Club visited Vermeer Corporation on Feb. 8. Over the course of the school year, the group designs, manufactures and tests a specialized rover to compete in the annual NASA Robotic Mining Competition at the Kennedy Space Center.
The rover the students compete with has striking similarities to a Vermeer trencher. Vermeer trenchers have cut through some of the world’s toughest landscapes, making the experts at Vermeer a valuable resource for students. This connection was apparent as the students toured the “Big Iron” in Plant 3. They were able to see how a manufacturing facility operates as well as get a photo with one of our Terrain Levelers.
The students wrapped up their visit learning more about Vermeer from President and CEO Jason Andringa and sharing the highlights and challenges of their rover and the competition. Before his time at Vermeer, Jason worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory as an engineer from 2001 through 2005 and still has a strong interest in projects like this.
SHO Spotlight: University of Iowa Robotics Club
ISGC Student Hands-On Spotlight: University of Iowa Robotics Club
Robotics at Iowa is a student organization at the University of Iowa that works to educate all of its members on STEM subjects related to robotics. These members come together from many different majors and backgrounds to focus on the mechanics, electronics, and software that make up a robot. They focus the organization on the development of a prototype Mar’s rover that allows all of their members to get a hands-on experience with an exciting, open-ended, and educational project.
In this picture Robotics at Iowa was competing at the Canadian International Rover Challenge in Drumheller, Alberta, Canada. They competed in five competition challenges over a three-day span against other universities from all over the world.
We are proud to support Robotics at Iowa!
Graduate Research Opportunity- Airport Cooperative Program
Opportunity for graduate students, addressing applied research in airport and related air transportation system needs!
Application will include a research proposal, faculty advisor commitment, resume, transcript, writing sample, etc. Applications are due on May 15, 2023. Twelve awards are anticipated for the 2023-2024 academic year.
The program is managed for the Airport Cooperative Research Program by the Virginia Space Grant Consortium based in Hampton, VA.
Calling all Women in STEM!
Calling all Women’s Colleges and Universities! Help NASA engage and retain more women in STEM degrees and careers through the brand-new Minority University Research an Education Project (MUREP) Women’s Colleges and Universities Solicitation.
Applicants will choose between two tracks: researching best practices to increase retention of women in STEM college degrees (Track 1) or in STEM careers (Track 2)
Join us for an information session to discuss the MUREP Opportunity on Friday, February 10th at 12:30pm ET.
Mark calendars for a second information session scheduled for March 8, 2023 at 3pm ET to review requirements and answer questions.
Applications are due April 17, 2023. Contact murepwcu@nasaprs.com with questions
RockOn 2023 Higher Education Workshop
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia is hosting the RockOn! 2023 workshop June 16-23. U.S. university and community college teams are invited to a week long, hands-on workshop to learn how to build a scientific experiment and launch it into space.
The hands-on workshop teaches participants to build experiments that fly on a sounding rocket. During the week, participants will work together in teams of three to construct and integrate a sounding rocket payload from a kit. On the fifth day of the workshop, the experiments will fly on a sounding rocket expected to reach an altitude of more than 70 miles.
Each experiment will provide valuable scientific data, analyzed as part of the student-led science and engineering research. The program engages faculty and students in STEM skills critical to NASA’s future engineering, scientific, and technical missions.
Registration Deadline: February 28th at 11:59 PM EST. Questions about the workshop or registration process can be directed via rocksatprogram@gmail.com