Ashley Koenigs – DMACC

Across the county, I plan to find several locations to collect water samples to test for various water quality factors such as pH, turbidity, dissolvable oxygen, nitrates, and phosphates. I will also use a biotic index to determine the diversity of indicator species of macroinvertebrates to consider when determining overall ecosystem health. My main goal with this project is to look into the effects of neighboring land use on aquatic ecosystem health. Especially here in Iowa, where agriculture plays a significant role in the environment, I would like to use the data collected from this study to see how much of a role agricultural runoff has on waterways versus, for example, urban runoff. Over the initial fall semester, I intend to take several water samples and biotic index readings across these designated locations to see how they change over the span of a few months. I believe this will be particularly insightful, considering that some of this project will take place throughout the harvest season when additional agricultural runoff will be present. This project aligns with the Science Mission Directorate. This mission directorate’s goal of helping to protect our planet and better understand it directly relates to my project’s goals, which will help provide useful data regarding the impact of land usage on aquatic ecosystem health.

Zachary Harper – University of Northern Iowa

The Coldwater Water Analysis project involves collecting and analyzing water samples taken from Coldwater Creek and from the diverging branch that runs within Coldwater Cave. Over the summer months, samples are being taken from five sites from the surface stream and thirteen sites within Coldwater Cave. The samples are being used to compare the water quality of the surface stream before and after the surface and subterranean streams reunite at the Coldwater State Preserve. The main goal of the project is to calculate the Water Quality Index of the stream. The saturation index of the water flowing within the cave will also be calculated at the end of the summer to understand whether the ground waters and tributary streams are actively dissolving pre-existing carbonates or if the waters are actively depositing fresh carbonates. The data being collected provides insights for the water mixing models in caves and corresponding streams that could provide insights into the interstellar lakes of the icy moons of the gas giants of the solar system. Moving into the fall, we plan to expand the sampling to other streams within the Coldwater Caves watershed and begin comparing that data to water collected from similar karst systems such as Wind Cave National Park and Mystery Cave State Park.

Declan O’Connor – Loras College

This research project undertakes a comprehensive experimental analysis of external flows over standard shapes and conceptual aerospace models. The project’s primary goal is to advance the understanding and application of sustainable aerodynamic technologies, by focusing on the experimental investigation of full-sized models at a reduced scale, we aim to optimize research efficacy while minimizing cost and facility constraints. By improving efficiency and reducing the environmental impact of aircraft designs, this experimental process allows for multiple efficient tests and quick analysis for successful variations. NASA’s Mission Directorate for Aeronautic Flight Transformation statement says, “NASA remains committed to transforming aviation by dramatically reducing its environmental impact, improving efficiency while maintaining safety in more crowded skies, and paving the way to revolutionary aircraft shapes and propulsion that opens new possibilities for commercial air travel.”

This research directly supports NASA’s commitment to high-speed commercial flight and advanced air mobility by exploring lift and pressure efficiencies associated with air travel at a reduced and calibrated scale. By incorporating flight efficiency simulations into the design process a byproduct of successful innovation would be less environmental distress from carbon emissions with less efficient aircraft. Initial phases have successfully calibrated the wind tunnel using pressure tests on a cylindrical model, setting the stage for advanced external flow analysis on 3D-printed scaled airfoils. This work evaluates pressure distribution patterns critical for aerodynamic optimization, complemented by computational simulations for data verification. Innovative methods have been developed to integrate pressure taps into 3D-printed models, ensuring minimal disruption to the flow field.

Nora Will – Drake University

 

My current academic research project is based in psychology, specifically focusing on motivation and attention. Throughout my behavioral study, I will focus on how motivation can have an impact on someone’s attentional breadth, or the amount that someone is attuned to global vs specific features of an object or situation. By doing this, I hope to clear up disparities in existing work on the effect of motivation on attentional breadth and produce a literature review of the current experiments that pertain to the subject. Motivation is key to understand in the discipline of psychology, for it affects how willing people are to put their time, effort, and resources into certain projects or ideas. Additionally, if motivation plays a role in attentional breadth, this could inform how people’s understanding of certain ideas can be manipulated by their level of motivation at a given time.

One of NASA’s Science and Mission Directorate’s goals is to engage with learners in order to get them excited about NASA’s missions. Therefore, obtaining the attention of listeners is vital, especially if motivation plays a role in how broad or narrow (focused) their attention is. If motivation of kids, adults, donors, and others is essential to how they pay attention to NASA’s talks, this could then influence how much they care about issues like Earth’s changing weather changing systems, NASA’s space missions, and other long-term goals that the Science and Mission Directorate aim to educate and raise awareness for.

Gabe Holden – Marshall Space Flight Center

Describe what you did during your internship:

During this internship I participated in many fashions from my own project work to additional opportunities given to interns. For project work, my day-to-day included CAD modeling in CREO, using the MSFC Makerspace to 3d print and test parts, soldering circuit designs on protoboards, programming an Arduino UNO with the Arduino IDE, etc. Additional to PRIME, I spent plenty of time working on particle characterization which included running morphology as well as particle size distribution on AM powders and various regolith simulants. I also had the opportunity to take optical measurements on materials intended for flight under the Materials on International Space Station Experiment (MISSE) as well as on the passive side of Boeing’s Gateway docking station. There were also several tour opportunities such as to see Artemis hardware, the ISS Payload Ops Center & Lab Training Complex, and the National Center for Advanced Manufacturing (NCAM).

Did you achieve your goals?

During this internship, all goals and objectives put in place were not just met but exceeded. Over the course of the 16-week session, a complete overhaul of the system was completed. Ultrasonic transducers were successfully reverse engineered from an off the shelf ultrasonic cleaning unit and integrated into PRIME. Additionally, structural design changes were made in order to ensure a watertight system and a circuit capable of automatic operation was designed and soldered utilizing a protoboard and Arduino Uno. At the conclusion of the rapid prototyping process, a functional ground prototype was assembled. This ground prototype was then used to give a successful demo, drawing heavy interest in the future of PRIME. Following this demo, the ground prototype was put through initial testing which resulted in successful cleaning of contaminants during each test run. With this prototype verifying proof of concept and jumping the technology readiness level (TRL) of the ground version of PRIME, efforts were commenced to make progress towards a flight capable capsule. This involved collaboration the lead Glovebox Integration engineer at MSFC as the end goal of PRIME is to be launched to the International Space Station (ISS) for extensive microgravity testing as a Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) experiment. Towards the end of this 16-week session, a paper was written on the current status and design of PRIME as well as future work for the flight model. This paper will be utilized by future PRIME manpower as project guidance. Beyond this, a poster was produced to be displayed inside building 4711 at MSFC.

Describe positive lessons learned:

One of the biggest lessons I learned during this session was how to handle the difference between life in academia and life in industry. There was an initial learning curve of not going home and spending the entire evening diving deeper into my work. A major item for me was beating imposter syndrome, I was intimidated by the idea of coming to MSFC and had my own doubts. This internship showed me what I can do and has boosted my confidence as a student and engineer.

Describe negative lessons learned:

My one major takeaway as something to adjust to is implementing patience. Many situations have occurred where processes with NASA take longer then desired and caused unwanted downtime.

What was the impact of this internship?

This internship has opened the door to vast opportunities within NASA. Getting a taste of what working for NASA is like has inspired me to stay on this path and come back for an internship this summer, along with making my way to working for NASA full-time following graduation.

Brooke Scanlon – Johnson Space Center

Describe what you did during your internship:

I worked on various projects that revolved around exercise in space and the human component of spaceflight. I was able to do design work, mechanical assembly, and software development.

Did you achieve your goals?

I was able to further develop my coding skills which was a large goal of mine. This will further prepare me for the workforce and the world is heading further in an automated direction.

Describe positive lessons learned:

Open every door and advocating for yourself.

Describe negative lessons learned:

None! This experience only taught me great things I will carry forward in my career.

What was the impact of this internship?

My internship at Johnson Space Center has increased my interest in engineering, and solidified my choice of career. It gave me hands-on experience, helped me build technical skills, and showed me how teamwork plays out in real projects.‌

Sushant Chiramana – Ames Research Center

Describe what you did during your internship:

For the projects assigned, I was able to work on the following: For the RAPTOR project, my goal for this semester regarding this project was to continue the construction of the wind tunnel and hopefully complete it. Constuction includes building the various sections, and the drive system for the tunnel. The sections were mainly made out of wood hence hours of wood construction had to be put in to complete the building of the sections. For the Outwash project, my goal for this semester was to create a calibration rig that would help in the measure of the outwash air velocity. Various components are involved in making the rig for a proper calibration hence those parts were to be ordered and be designed as part of an assembly. Hot-films are being used to measure the air velocities and have to be calibrated before every test before taking the measurements, hence the rig should provide an easy method to calibrate the hot-films. A cart was designed which would easily carry all the components and can easily adjust based on the location of the hot-films and is mobile to take away from the testing setup. For the BEST project, a rotorblade component was designed to study the tensile strength of the root of the blade. The blade was 3D printed at different orientations and the root of each was pulled until the maximum force for each and understand the best orientation for the blades while manufacturing.

Did you achieve your goals?

For each of the projects, the following were achieved: For the RAPTOR project, the main construction of all the tunnel sections were complete. Although it is yet to be smoothened out, and painted, the construction itself is complete. For the Outwash project, the calibration rig has been built but is yet to be tested to ensure the components are connected well. The rig will soon be tested to verify if every component works well with the required function. For the BEST projects, multiple tensile strength tests were conducted, and more are to be conducted before any plausible results can be concluded. Overall, a lot of progress has been made on each of the projects to be carried forward for further developments.

Describe positive lessons learned:

I gained a lot of experience during my 16 week experience at Ames Research Center. I learned to work as a team and set daily tasks for myself to develop not just my skills but the project as well. I was able to network with reputed NASA employees and understand the working process. I was also able to learn the skill towards work-life balance such that I was able to give time for my leisure activities while making progress in my projects.

Describe negative lessons learned:

There were no negative lessons I have come across during my internship. I have had a very positive experience and was able to complete my internship with positive results.

What was the impact of this internship?

This internship has allowed me to explore different aspects of a research project. I am learnt the protocol of communicating with different levels of staff authorities based on the need and help, and how to work in terms of good needs for a project. I was able to enhance my skills and use it in a manner to contribute well to the projects to bring progress. All efforts as an intern was acknowledged by every mentor and I was given the opportunity to learn more about the science behind the projects. I developed my collaborative skills by not only helping out my mentors, but by helping out other mentors in their projects. This has developed my interest more in research and STEM as I have been exposed to different opportunities and how as an intern I am able to contribute to NASA projects.

John Greager – Johnson Space Center

Describe what you did during your internship:

I had two main tasks this tour: 1. Prototype and research vibration dampening solutions for the portable life support system on the xEMU. 2. Research weight saving materials for use within the xEMU for future Martian missions. Along with my two main tasks, I also assisted in designing audio lab support equipment and various other audio related tests.

Did you achieve your goals?

I can confidently say that I’ve become a lot more confident in my abilities as an engineer. I was able to learn from some of America’s finest engineers within the aerospace industry. I feel that I can approach complex issues and efficiently dissect them into simpler parts. On top of that, I have a great interest within the field of material science, enough to make me pursue a graduate degree within the field. I was also able to get my name and research onto two NASA documented research articles that will be presented at an annual conference.

Describe positive lessons learned:

It’s actually alright to ask as many questions as possible, especially when you’re working on a multi-million dollar system. Try to take on tasks that are not too far from your comfort circle. Broadening your talent only makes you better. Talk to people and get to know them, even if they’re in a far superior position than yours.

Describe negative lessons learned:

The government can be slow! There are many processes that delay a project, but they’re there to ensure your safety.

What was the impact of this internship?

I already have some opportunities for the summer, so continued employment is a valid option. I never thought I’d be working at NASA, and expanding on that, I never thought I’d be actually capable of doing so. I now see that the skills I have gained up to this internship are very useful and make me capable of doing what I thought i couldn’t.

Abigail Whittemore – Drake University

A big concern for the health of astronauts and space crews is exposure to radiation and NASA lists “Risk of Radiation Carcinogenesis from Space Radiation” as one of its top research priorities. On Earth, we are protected from most space radiation by the atmosphere, but radiation increasingly affects those outside of Earth’s atmosphere and beyond low Earth orbit. Ionizing radiation damages DNA most commonly via phosphodiester backbone breakage. Humans can repair these damages, but prolonged exposure can lead to genomic instability and cancer. Thus, it is important to understand and monitor genome stability of astronauts during space travel. Therefore, our main goal is to develop biomarkers of radiation-induced DNA damage for monitoring genome stability of astronauts during and after space travel, thus contributing to safer space exploration. Previously, we have analyzed signal transduction DNA damage repair pathway genes in human mammary tumor cell lines. However, skin cancer is also a major concern due to radiation exposure, and understanding DNA repair pathways in skin cancer is equally important. Therefore, using the human skin cancer cell line HTB-72 and doxorubicin as a radiomimetic model, we will investigate how the oncoprotein BRAF responds to radiation-induced DNA damage. The data produced from this project will help us understand differences between the development of breast cancer and skin cancer.

Jonathan Percy – University of Iowa

Medical imaging serves a crucial role in establishing diagnosis, determining severity, monitoring progression, and uncovering the pathophysiology associated with many diseases. This research, led by Dr. Sean Fain, explores novel applications of hyperpolarized (HP) 129Xe magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in populations including those suffering from Long Covid, cystic fibrosis, interstitial lung disease, and radiation-induced pulmonary changes associated with radiation therapy. This technique differs from standard imaging practices today while measuring lung function more directly than conventional pulmonary tests delivering quantitative measures of ventilation, perfusion, and gas exchange of the lungs. After more research, these novel biomarkers could possibly guide adjustments to treatment and deployment of potential therapies to improve outcomes.