Space Grant Success Stories

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

Hailing from diverse backgrounds, each of the selected students is pursuing a degree in the Interplanetary Initiative’s technological leadership program, a unique degree that prepares students to answer tomorrow’s questions in the fields of science and technology.

The UArizona College of Science hosted the ‘Brunch with Bennu’ event to celebrate the 7-year UArizona-led NASA OSIRIS-REx mission and sample return from asteroid Bennu. Space Grant students had the opportunity to engage with the public during this event. Photo Credit: Julius Scholsburg

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.