Congratulations to Zachary Johnson for being a winner in the Reach for the Stars ~ National Rocket Competition! Out of the entries submitted nationally, Johnson's was the closest average landing to the target at his level. Johnson received the privilege of launching his rocket at the Astronaut Hall of Fame!
These students "met and exceeded" all expectations of their NASA Mentor George Hamilton and others. As a result, the team lead Karlyn Saddoris, was invited to NASA Marshall in January 2010 to give a presentation about their work to NASA's senior program managers.
Erika Roesler, Space Grant Intern from 2002-2003, studied cometary photometry with Dr. David Schleicher of Lowell Observatory. The internship gave Erika valuable experiences with observational astronomy, data analysis, and presenting research. Following the internship and graduating from NAU, Erika continued her education and received a doctorate in Atmospheric Science from the University of Michigan.
Erika is currently a Postdoctoral Appointee in the Geosciences and Atmospheric Sciences Department at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM. Her research is in the field of atmospheric modeling. Her current research tools include large eddy simulations to test microphysics and turbulence parameterizations; uncertainty quantification software for parameter sensitivity explorations; generalized PDE solver libraries to explore first principles in cloud modeling; and atmospheric general circulation models used at high (1/8-degree) resolution, lower (1 and 2 degree) resolutions, and variable resolution to explore dependencies of methane, black carbon, and Arctic storm properties to grid spacing.
Erika is grateful for the lessons learned from the NASA Space Grant which laid positive foundations for developing good practices in research and science.
During his Ph.D. program, FY 2011, 2012 Space Grant Fellow, Casey Kahn-Thornbrugh, went to work as an adjunct geography instructor at Tohono O’odham Community College (TOCC) on the Tohono O’odham Nation. While being an Alfred P. Sloan Indigenous Graduate Fellow and a NASA Space Grant Graduate Fellow, he has spent much of his time mentoring Tohono O’odham college students at TOCC.
Casey’s goal is to continue working with Native communities to develop geography and environmental science curricula that is reflective of tribal/community values and culture, and prepares students for working in their communities, nationally, or internationally.
Congratulations to FY 2012, 2013 Space Grant Fellow, Pacifica Sommers, for leading a pilot project with Inner City Outings and the Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter! Sommers created a series of activities and games as part of an over night field trip for elementary and middle school students at the SkyCenter. This program gave many students a first time journey outside of Tucson city for a hands-on, science education experience.
Congratulations to FY 2011 Space Grant Intern and FY 2012 Space Grant Intern Advisor, Irene Liang, for being awarded the Udall Scholarship from the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation. In honor of the legacy of the Udalls, UA alumni, the foundation grants up to $5,000 in funding for each scholar – all students who have proven records of leadership and are committed to working in fields that center on the environment, health-care or tribal public policy.
Liang plans to study microbial methods used to monitor and treat water, which are currently expensive. With the UA Soil, Water and Environmental Science Club, Liang implemented a water-harvesting infrastructure and worked on erosion control to enable re-vegetation and reclamation of land. She also helped cleaned up trashed beaches in Mexico.
Jillian received her PhD in Biomedical/Medical at the Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences in June of 2015. Her graduate research was primarily in understanding brain injury mechanisms. Since earning her PhD, she has been a Research Assistant Professor at Wake Forest Baptist Health working with Joel Stitzel, PhD and Joseph Maldjian, M.D. of the Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University Center for Injury Biomechanics Childress Institute for Pediatric Trauma, National Institutes of Health/NINDS. Their focus is on the Kinematic Impact Data Set/iTAKL Study.
Jillian is also working on Biomechanical Basis for Pediatric mTBI Due to Sports Related Concussions, with Stefan Duma, PhD, Richard Greenwald, PhD through the Bioengineering Research Partnership: Simbex, LLC, Virginia Tech - Wake Forest University, Brown University National Institutes of Health/NINDS.
The Arizona Space Grant Consortium is proud to announce that our Ralph C. Steckler Space Grant Phase 2 Lunar Greenhouse development program and associated outreach, has received a Governor’s Excellence in Economic Development Award!
Dr. Orianna Bretschger is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbial and Environmental Genomics at the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), San Diego. She earned her B.S. in physics and astronomy from Northern Arizona University (1999), and Ph.D. in Materials Science from the University of Southern California (2008). Orianna began her professional career at Raytheon Missile Systems and transitioned to a research career in 2004. Since then, Dr. Bretschger has been studying bacterial electron transfer mechanisms and how bacteria can be applied to engineered systems for optimized energy recovery from organic matter. As a part of her research, Dr. Bretschger has developed experimental strategies and specialized equipment for the analysis of biological catalysts and is currently the principal investigator for multiple projects involving the selection and characterization of electrochemically active microbial communities from several different environments. Her work includes collaborations with NASA Ames and Marshall Space Flight Center for the development of sustainable life support systems.
Former NASA Space Grant Intern Eric Kiang Tse became aware of the vast opportunities available to undergraduates through this program and engaged himself to build on his growing appreciation for the veracity of scientific investigation. He enthusiastically completed a search for Kuiper Belt Objects under the guidance of Dr. Andy Odell and presented results at the Colloquium for NASA Space Grant Interns in 2002. "To gain practical knowledge allowing for scientific contribution is one of the many, priceless benefits offered by this program". Upon graduation in 2005 he was offered an 'Accelerator Systems Operator' position at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC); a National Research Lab run by Stanford University for the Dept. of Energy. Currently the 'Engineering Operator in Charge' (EOIC); he is responsible for maintaining safety, expediting physics programs, guiding operators in troubleshooting the Accelerator and e- beam tuning, assisting Physicists with Accelerator measurements, coordinating Technicians and Engineers while fixing hardware, providing support, presenting daily reports,etc... All of which is necessary to provide the highest quality, brightest, shortest pulse and wavelength, X-Ray Free Electron Laser to experimental users at the only facility in the world that is capable of providing such unprecedented photon beams: the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at SLAC.