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.

Congrats to Iowa State University Cardinal Space Mining Club for their success with Vermeer!

SHO Spotlight: PrISUm: Iowa State University Solar Car Team

ISGC Student Hands-On Spotlight: PrISUm: Iowa State University Solar Car Team
The Solar Car Team mission is to build a practical solar car that changes the paradigm of transportation. In doing so, they strive to inspire future generations to pursue their passions through education. This is their team’s motto, and they focus all of their efforts to stick to it. Typically, they try to accomplish this with a 2-4 year build cycle. In the past, they have built smaller, less challenging cars over the course of two years. With the challenges of COVID-19 and building larger multi-passenger vehicles, their build cycles have increased to 3-4 years.
This photo shows members removing old solar cells in preparation for wind tunnel testing. A few weeks after this picture was taken, the team performed wind tunnel testing on the car, which provided an abundance of helpful data that will be used to improve the performance and aerodynamic efficiency of designs for the next car’s aeroshell. From left to right, Kiley Kennedy and Kishan Patel.
Learn more about Solar Car Team

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!

Their Instagram is @Robotics_at_Iowa and their Facebook can be found under University of Iowa Robotics Club

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.

For more Information, please visit HERE

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

NASA Planetary Science Summer School

2023 NASA Planetary Science Summer School Applications Due March 27, 2023

Offered by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA, PSSS is a 3-month long career development experience to learn the development of a hypothesis-driven robotic space mission in a concurrent engineering environment while getting an in-depth, first-hand look at mission design, life cycle, costs, schedule & the inherent trade-offs.

Science and engineering doctoral candidates, recent Ph.D.s, postdocs, junior faculty, and certain master’s degree students, who are U.S. Citizens or legal permanent residents (and a very limited number of Foreign Nationals from non-designated counties), are eligible. There is no charge to attend, travel stipends are available, and applicants from diverse backgrounds are particularly encouraged to apply. 

Link to Register

Cosmic Microwave Background Collaboration Series for High School Students

The Cosmic Microwave Background Collaboration Stage 4 (CMB-S4) Saturday Space Science Series for High School Students.

Are you fascinated by space? Are you curious about the origins of the Universe or the evolution of galaxies? The CMB-S4 Collaboration, a world-wide scientific organization of professional astronomers and astrophysicists invites you to join us for the Saturday Science Series!

This virtual lecture series for high school students will explore the Big Bang, dark matter, dark energy, the expansion of the Universe, and more. You will learn about current astronomy research and careers in astrophysics and cosmology. Students who attend all four Saturdays will receive a certificate of participation.

Session Dates: April 8,15, 22 and 29

Time: 10:00 am – 12:30 pm (Central Time Zone)

Contact: Juliet Crowell (crowellj@uchicago.edu)

2023 STEM Festival- Booth Hosting

The Boone Campus DMACC STEM Festival is looking for individuals or groups that would like to host a booth at the Festival.

Set up for the booths can happen on Friday, March 31st, in the afternoon or prior to the start of the festival on Saturday, April 1st. Festival runs from 9AM-12PM.

We highly encourage students and student organizations to register and participate!

ISGC Student Research Symposium March 27, 2023

The Iowa Space Grant Consortium Student Research Symposium is on Monday, March 27, 2023 in Ames, Iowa at the Gateway Hotel and Conference Center, 2100 Green Hills Drive, Ames, IA 50014.

Below are the poster session guidelines, map to Gateway Hotel and Conference Center, and the tentative schedule for the event. If you have any questions regarding the Research Symposium, please email isgc@iastate.edu. Updated information and registration links will be posted here as available.