STEM Engagement at NASA – Page 6

NASA Awards Expand Research Capabilities at Institutions Nationwide

May 10, 2024 NeRD

A photo of a team of researchers from the University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras while working to discover a more efficient water recycling system for use on space missions. The team is comprised of doctoral students Liz Santiago-Martoral, on the left, and Alondra Rodriguez-Rolon, and their mentor Professor Eduardo Nicolau. One of their experiments can be seen on the countertop to the left of the group. Credits: NASA NASA is awarding approximately $45 million to 21 higher-education institutions to help build capacity for research. The awards were made possible through…

NASA Invites Media to Annual Lunabotics Competition

May 10, 2024 NeRD

From left to right, Cielo Torres, Jacob Liorca, Thomas Jaycard, and Gavin Fitzgerald work on a robotic rover inside the University of Central Florida’s robotics lab ahead of the 2024 Lunabotics Challenge. University of Central Florida/Antoine Hart NASA’s 2024 Lunabotics Challenge offers more than 40 college teams from across the country the chance to design, build, and operate their own lunar robots, with the top 10 teams advancing to the final demonstrations phase. Media are invited to attend the finals on May 16-17 at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex…

NASA Challenge Gives Artemis Generation Coders a Chance to Shine

May 7, 2024 NeRD

3 min read Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement selected seven student teams to participate in a culminating event for the 2024 App Development Challenge (ADC), one of the agency’s Artemis Student Challenges, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston from April 15-18, 2024. The 2024 App Development Challenge top teams in front of the Orion Capsule in the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The coding challenge, celebrating its fifth year and a part of NASA’s Next…

NASA Selects Students for Europa Clipper Intern Program

May 2, 2024 NeRD

4 min read NASA Selects Students for Europa Clipper Intern Program NASA has selected 40 undergraduate students for the first year of its Europa ICONS (Inspiring Clipper: Opportunities for Next-generation Scientists) internship program, supporting the agency’s Europa Clipper mission. Europa ICONS matches students with mentors from the mission’s science team for a 10-week program to conduct original scientific research on topics related to the mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa. Artist’s rendering of NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft. NASA/JPL-Caltech The program is planned to run every year until Europa Clipper completes its prime…

NASA Grants Support Academic Collaborations for STEM Student Success

April 30, 2024 NeRD

Credit: NASA NASA has awarded $3.9 million to 13 teams at under-resourced academic institutions across the country, to support collaborative projects with NASA that offer students mentorship and career development in science, technology, engineering, and math. This is the second round of seed funding awards given through the agency’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) Bridge Program, which was established in 2022 to improve diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in the science and engineering communities, as well as NASA’s workforce. “We are thrilled to welcome 13 new teams into our community,” said…

NASA Finds New Homes for Artemis Generation of ‘Moon Trees’ Across US

April 25, 2024 NeRD

Photo of a Loblolly Pine Artemis I Moon Tree during a tree dedication ceremony at the North Carolina Governor’s mansion on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. Credits: NASA/OLIA After careful review of hundreds of applications, NASA has selected organizations from across the country to receive ‘Moon Tree’ seedlings that flew around the Moon on the agency’s Artemis I mission in 2022, to plant in their communities. Notifications to selected institutions will be made in phases, with the first beginning this spring, followed by notifications in fall 2024, spring 2025, and fall…

NASA Announces 30th Human Exploration Rover Challenge Winners

April 22, 2024 NeRD

Students from Universidad Católica Boliviana prepare to traverse the course at the 2024 Human Exploration Rover Challenge at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Credits: NASA/Taylor Goodwin NASA announced the winners of the 30th Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC) April 22, with Parish Episcopal School, from Dallas, winning first place in the high school division, and the University of Alabama in Huntsville, capturing the college/university title. The annual engineering competition – one of NASA’s longest standing challenges – held its concluding…

Students Celebrate Rockets, Environment at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

April 19, 2024 NeRD

Students from Andrew Jackson Middle School in Titusville, Florida, participate in an environmentally focused Earth Day briefing on Tuesday, April 2, 2024, inside the news auditorium at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The panelists from left to right are Messod Bendayan, NASA Communications; Kelly McCarthy, NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement, Bob Kline, Kennedy’s Environmental Assurance Branch; Spencer Davis, Kennedy’s Exploration Ground Systems; Kim King-Wrenn, Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. NASA/Kim Shiflett At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, sustainability and preservation efforts here on Earth are as much of a…

NASA Names Finalists of the Power to Explore Challenge

April 8, 2024 NeRD

3 Min Read NASA Names Finalists of the Power to Explore Challenge A word cloud generated from student essay entries. Credits: NASA/Dave Lam NASA has selected the nine finalists of the Power to Explore Challenge, a national competition for K-12 students featuring the enabling power of radioisotopes. NASA selected nine finalists out of the 45 semifinalist student essays in the Power to Explore Challenge, a national competition for K-12 students featuring the enabling power of radioisotopes. Contestants were challenged to explore how NASA has powered some of its most famous…

NASA Awards Promote Science, Technology, Engineering, Math Nationwide

March 28, 2024 NeRD

Orlando Science Center brings STEM engagement to the community via a weekly after school series, culminating in an Engineering Design Challenge. Credits: Orlando Science Center NASA is awarding approximately $3.7 million to 17 museums, science centers, and other informal education institutions as part of an initiative to ignite STEM excitement. The money will go toward projects that inspire students and their learning support systems to take an active role in the wonder of science, technology, engineering, and math. “We’re excited to grow the community of informal education organizations through…