Space Grant Success Stories

Ritisha Das, a Senior studying Mechanical Engineering and Mathematics with an emphasis in computational mechanics at Arizona State University, was one of 47 student awardees.

Kristen graduated in December 2023 and says that one of her most cherished memories during her time as an undergraduate student was participating in Space Camp at Biosphere 2, which led her to pursue a career in Space Biology.

Shae Henley is a Senior in Aerospace Engineering and was a UArizona Space Grant intern from 2021-23.

Zarah Brown, UArizona Space Grant Fellow from 2020-22, spearheaded the creation of a scale model solar system on campus.

“For so long, I have wanted to find a position in the sciences with space to be Indigenous, to live a more integrated life."

"I had the opportunity to work on the SLS's onboard camera system for Artemis 4."

Faculty mentor, Eddie Ong, says that the AZSGC high-altitude ballooning program gives students hands-on experience that "is typically not introduced until a student’s senior year of college or graduate school, so its availability for community college students builds a pipeline of competent transfer students who continue their education at university, often as a cohort to support each other."

Stephany Maldonado's poster was titled "Testing Different Hydroxyapatite Particles in Cell Culture ." Stephany is a UArizona student majoring in Biomedical Sciences. She works with Dr. John Szivek from the Orthopaedic Surgery Department.

Mary Lara heads the "AIMER" Program designed to teach students in Northern Arizona about the excitement and science of our solar system.