Ten 麻豆原创 graduate students have been awarded NASA Florida Space Grant Consortium (FSGC) fellowships. The students represent various colleges and disciplines, studying a range of topics in nanotechnology and mechanical and aerospace engineering that have the potential to advance space exploration.
The NASA Florida Space Grant Consortium awards two different types of fellowships in areas of space science and engineering. One award is a Dissertation and Thesis Improvement fellowship, which provides partial support of a student鈥檚 thesis and doctoral dissertation beyond the existing project. The maximum award for the Dissertation and Thesis Improvement fellowship is $5,000 for projects with a duration of no longer than a year. The other award is a one-year master鈥檚 fellowship, which includes a stipend of $10,000 for those pursuing a full-time master鈥檚 degree.
The Dissertation and Thesis Improvement Fellowship聽recipients are:
Nanotechnology
- Pavlo Kravchuk; Mentor: Assistant Prof. Ellen Kang
- Balaashwin Babu 鈥�20; Mentor: Professor Sudipta Seal
College of Engineering and Computer Science
- Corey Kinney; Mentor: Professor Subith Vasu
- Jose Bobren-Diaz; Mentor: Professor Subith Vasu
- Michael Tonarely 鈥�20;聽Mentor: Assoc. Professor聽Kareem Ahmed
- Charles Clark 鈥�19;聽Mentor: Assoc. Professor聽Kareem Ahmed
The Dissertation and Thesis Improvement fellowship is offered in efforts to support students by providing supplemental funds that are not readily obtainable. These awards can be used to help sponsor travel to specialized facilities, laboratory supplies, software licenses and other necessary research materials for the duration of the fellowship program.
叠补濒补补蝉丑飞颈苍听Babu 鈥�20, who earned a bachelor鈥檚 in biomedical sciences from 麻豆原创, says the award will help him continue his work centered on reducing oxidative stress in order to better treat space-related bone loss among astronauts.
鈥淭he amount of information and knowledge from our experiences in outer space can enhance our life here on聽Earth,鈥� Babu says. 鈥淚 focused my proposal on astronauts, but bone loss is something quite prevalent even here on Earth. What we learn will likely help us here too.鈥�
In order to apply for the fellowships, students must also have mentors and they were thrilled at this year鈥檚 results.
鈥淚t is a testament to the high-quality students we have at 麻豆原创, who are working on NASA-relevant聽research;聽these new awards would make a total of 15 students who received the FSGC fellowships from my group,鈥� says聽Professor聽Subith Vasu,聽who mentors聽awardees Cory Kinney and Jose聽Bobren-Diaz.
Assistant Professor Ellen Kang聽says she was excited to see what her聽student聽Pavlo Kravchuk聽would accomplish next.
鈥淚 am very grateful to see how my student pushes his boundaries for achieving challenging goals. I look forward seeing what he accomplishes with this FSGC fellowship,鈥� Kang says.
Master鈥檚聽Fellowship聽recipients are:
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
- Christopher Rehberg 鈥�20; Mentor: Professor Kawai Kwok
- Jose Zapata 鈥�21; Mentor: Professor Jihua Gou
- Perla Latorre-Suarez 鈥�21; Mentor Professor Seetha Raghavan
- Rachel Hytovick 鈥�20; Mentor: Professor Kareem Ahmed
The FSGC Master鈥檚 fellowship is awarded to the best and brightest students, offering aid in their pursuit of聽a聽master鈥檚 degree in space-related disciplines. Working closely with NASA and the applicant鈥檚 university, this fellowship fosters collaborations between the government, private laboratories, faculty, and students. Applicants submit proposals聽based on聽research聽they are actively working on聽to be considered for a $10,000 stipend.
Jose Zapata, who transferred into 麻豆原创 to study mechanical engineering in 2018, says the award will help him pursue his passion 鈥� making space operations safer for astronauts and eventually聽everyday聽people.
His research focuses on adding a health monitoring system to wind turbines.聽This system could ideally identify聽hazards聽before聽they聽become critical.
鈥淲aiting for something bad to happen isn鈥檛 a good idea,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檇 be really vital if we could inspect the whole shuttle or rocket and easily protect areas that are damaged,聽instead of working on an entire system from scratch.鈥�
Engineering Professor Seetha Raghavan says all the recipients are working on research that will聽impact聽space-related technology. The money will help talented students finish their advanced degrees, which will also serve as an inspiration for others.
Raghavan鈥檚聽mentee,聽for example, Perla Latorre-Suarez 鈥�21, is聽looking to develop a 3D-printing method to manufacture sensors in space environments that will聽monitor聽the structural integrity of the machinery聽and vehicles聽used.聽Latorre-Suarez hopes to implement these sensors in future lunar explorations, such as the Artemis Mission.
鈥淧erla is highly active in聽outreach, so聽I know that this opportunity is one that will have a positive impact on all the undergraduates and K-12 STEM students that she mentors as well,鈥� Raghavan says.
