Awardees
| Awardee | Description of Research | Poster/ Presentation |
|---|---|---|
| A Fall 2025 awardee, Kyle Bonene is a junior in Astronomy and Astrophysics at Pennsylvania State University | Kyle, an Air Force veteran, has shown remarkable persistence in his pursuit of a career in astronomy. He worked through a mid-school deployment and a lack of resources at his first undergraduate institution to complete his undergraduate research project. He has now returned to school to pursue a second degree and increase his research experiences. He will present his work on "Dark Matter Halo Mass Estimation of Galaxy Cluster Abell 2597" at the 247th American Astronomical Society Meeting in January 2026. | |
| A Fall 2025 awardee, Jasmin Chadha is a second year graduate student in Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder | Jasmin's fascination with space led her to undergraduate experiences that took her research to the Mars Desert Research Station and the International Space Station. Additionally, throughout her undergraduate and graduate studies, she has dedicated her time to leadership and mentorship across multiple space- and STEM-focused organizations and to leading ethics training course for engineering students. She will present her work on "Characterizing Psychological Safety Trends in Human-Robot Teams" at the Association for Computing Machinery/Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Conference on Human-Robot Interaction in March 2026. | |
| A Spring 2025 awardee, Kijani Derenoncourt is a junior in Earth and Climate Science at Middlebury College | Though Kijani started her undergraduate research experience in geology, she found her way back to her childhood interest in space when she found she could combine geology and space via planetary science research. She speaks four languages and has used that proficiency to help others home and abroad. Kijani will present her work on mapping sinuous volcanic channels on Mars at the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior Scientific Assembly. | |
| A Spring 2025 awardee, Angelina Minocha is a first year graduate student in Planetary Science at the University of Central Florida< | Angelina came to planetary science research late in her undergraduate career, but through self-study and hard work mastering the multitude of skills required for her research, she has rapidly advanced in her research program. The greatest sign of her dedication to STEM education on her resume is her year between undergraduate and graduate school to teach high school physics. Angelina will present her work on spectroscopy of lunar analogs at the NASA Exploration Science Forum. This will be her first conference presentation. | |
| A Fall 2024 awardee, Avery Abramson is a junior in Astronomy at the University of Texas, Austin | In her young academic career, Avery has participated in more than half a dozen research activities, including an international internship she secured through her own legwork and persistence. Through the many outreach and student groups she is involved with, Avery looks forward to communicating her experience at the conference with younger students to encourage them to pursue research. She will attend the American Astronomical Society Meeting for the first time to present a poster on her research, "Morphology and Nearest Neighbor Analysis of IllustrisTNG Simulation Galaxies." | Presentation |
| A Fall 2024 awardee, Suchitra Narayanan is a fifth year graduate student in Astronomy at the University of Hawai'i, Manoa | Suchitra proactively built her graduate research portfolio across fields of astronomy, chemistry, and engineering and at universities across the country to address fundamental problems in astrochemistry. She also leads a group of students and scientists that discuss the effects of astronomy on climate change, encouraging scientists to advocate for and participate in climate action. Suchitra will attend the American Astronomical Society Meeting to present a talk on her research, "Understanding Organosulfur Chemistry in Star- and Planet-Forming Regions Using Experiments, Observations, and Theory." | |
| A Fall 2024 awardee, Brycen Pearl is a second year graduate student in Aerospace Engineering at West Virginia University | Brycen's ability to rapidly synthesize and clearly communicate research findings allowed him to pivot so effectively from undergraduate studies in crystallography to graduate work on modeling satellite networks that he was placed on the direct track Ph.D. program at WVU. He supports his peers as a teaching assistant and undergraduate research mentor. Brycen will attend the AIAA Science and Technology Forum and Exposition to present his technical paper, "Developing the Reconfigurable Earth Observation Satellite Scheduling Problem." | |
| A Spring 2024 awardee, Sathya Muruganandam is a junior in mechanical engineering at the University of Texas, Austin | Sathya has been involved with engineering and research since her freshman year. She is a member of the university solar car team, has won a local Space Apps Hackathon, and has participated in soft matter research at Glenn. Sathya will present her work on soft matter studies at lunar conditions at the European Low Gravity Research Association Symposium. This will be her first conference presentation. | |
| A Spring 2024 awardee, Shay Nair Sharma is a junior in human biology at Stanford University | Shay Nair began his education and outreach career in high school where he led the development, deployment, and evaluation of a skin cancer awareness and prevention program for his entire high school. His interests grew to include space biology, which he promotes through outreach as co-lead of the biology team of a university student space initiative. He will present his poster, "Weightlessness and Space Travel Induced Ocular Adaptations: Systematic Review and Bibliometric Analysis," at the 2024 Women in Ophthalmology Summer Symposium. This will be his first in-person conference presentation. | |
| A Spring 2024 awardee, Matthew Leung is a first year graduate student in Astronomy and Astrophyics at Harvard University | In both his undergraduate and graduate research, Matthew has worked to apply his engineering knowledge to push science forward. He is an avid creator, both in and out of the classroom, including creating award-winning custom neural networks and applications. He will present his poster, "Hartmann wavefront sensing for the GMT-Consortium Large Earth Finder (G-CLEF) red camera optics," at the SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation Conference. This will be his first opportunity to present his research at a conference. | |
| A Fall 2023 awardee, Jingyi Xiang is a senior in Electrical Engineering at University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign | Jingyi's abstract was one of the subset of those submitted that was accepted for presentation at the IEEE International Conference of Robotics and Automation in Summer 2024. Her work, "TrackDLO: Tracking Deformable Linear Objects Under Occlusion with Motion Coherence," is the latest project in a long line of successful, robotics-focused research as an undergraduate. Her interest in robotics extends outside the classroom via high school and college robotics teams that she both leads and mentors. This will be Jingyi's first conference presentation. | |
| A Fall 2023 awardee, Miranda Sturtz is a second year graduate student in Geosciences at Pennsylvania State University | Miranda will present her work on "Polyamines as a Potential Biosignature for Future Icy Moon Missions" at the 2024 Astrobiology Science Conference. Miranda hit the ground running in graduate school after an undergraduate research career in microbiology, publishing an astrobiology-focused paper in her first year. She shares her love of science through a STEM outreach program to elementary school students multiple times a month. This will be Miranda's first conference presentation. | |
| A Spring 2023 awardee, Takara O'Brien is a junior in Aerospace Physiology at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University | Takara has conducted research on topics combining biology and space since high school. She has served as a tutor for younger students and peers from high school through the present, and her advisor praised how she had improved the program she is studying in through her participation. She will attend the American Society for Gravitational and Space Research to present a poster on "Analysis of the Lung Microenvironment Following Spaceflight." This will be her first conference. | |
| A Spring 2023 awardee, Raj Dave is a first year graduate student in Aerospace Systems Engineering at University of Alabama-Huntsville | Raj has translated his passion for space into a history of research on propulsion systems to support interplanetary travel. He participated in multiple student space teams as an undergraduate all while captaining the men's varsity volleyball team. His rapid and positive progress in graduate school led to acceptance of his research, "Timescale Analysis for a Standard Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine" at the 29th International Colloquium on the Dynamics of Explosions and Reactive Systems. This will be his first conference. | |
| A Spring 2023 awardee, Julia Di is a graduate student in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University | Julia lived up to her peer-granted moniker "The Space Girl" through undergraduate and the start of graduate school by serving in, founding, or leading multiple aerospace- and space-related community groups. Her dream of becoming a space roboticist had to be put on hold for several years, however, to overcome personal adversity. Now triumphant, she is preparing to reenter the field by contributing to a talk on "Multi-agent 3D Map Reconstruction and Change Detection in Microgravity with Free-Flying Robots" at the International Astronautical Congress. | |
| A Fall 2022 awardee, Autumn Pearce is a junior in Astrophysics and Computer Science at Yale University | Autumn, who began keeping a "space binder" in middle school, started her astronomy research career in high school with a local mentor on a backyard telescope. She has kept that dedication to research through college, and will attend the American Astronomical Society Meeting to present a talk on her latest work, "Galactic Populations of Interstellar Small Bodies." This will be her first conference. | Presentation |
| A Fall 2022 awardee, Eleni Ravanis is a second year graduate student in Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of Hawaii | In her young career, Eleni has participated in operations and planning for two Mars missions while also conducting research on the data she helped to collect. She is committed to science communication, having led and contributed to multiple science blogs, and also to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives on mission teams and the wider planetary science community. She will present her research, "Planetary pyroclastic fall eruptions and the origin of the Nili Fossae olivine-rich unit on Mars" at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. | |
| A Fall 2022 awardee, Saira Hamid is a fourth year graduate student in Geological Sciences at Arizona State University | Sarai has held research internships at three NASA centers, and as a graduate student helped with pre-flight testing of multiple space-bound instruments. To enable her current research project, she brought together a multidisciplinary team of advisors that not collaborated previously. She will give a talk on "Volcanic Degassing: A Potential Source of Water Ice on Mars" at the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior. | |
| A Spring 2022 awardee, Annie Chen is a senior in dual degree program (Industrial Design and Behavioral Decision Sciences) between the Rhode Island School of Design and Brown University | Annie presented a talk on "Miniature Biomimetic Swarms for Remote Sensing" at the 2022 Astrobiology Science Conference. Annie uses her unique background in design to develop and build biodegradable, nature-inspired remote sensing platforms for atmospheric or water exploration. Her research advisor praised her efforts as emblematic of the creative and self-motivated work that should be supported in the field of astrobiology. The conference will be her first. | |
| A Spring 2022 awardee, Erica Molnar-Bufanda is a fifth year graduate student in Astronomy at the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii, Manoa | Erica presented a poster on "Modeling the Activity of Long Period Comets Using Bayesian Statistics" at the American Astronomical Society Meeting in June. Erica persevered through a pause in her graduate education to support her family, returning to school to thrive and excel in her research through tireless drive and hard work. She is continually active in outreach and mentoring activities, and is a positive force for support of new and incoming students. | |
| A Spring 2021 awardee, Matthew Gorman is a first year graduate student in Mechanical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University | Matt attended the 74th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics to present his research on "A Multiscale, Multiphysics, and Multiphase Model for Lunar Dust." Matt's essay was a NASA Academy-worthy exhibit in enthusiasm about space, and his story is one of impressive resilience and dedication in the face of personal challenges. | |
| A Spring 2021 awardee, Maya Nasr is a third year graduate student in Aerospace Engineering at MIT | Maya attended the International Astronautical Congress to present a policy paper on "The US-China Relationship in the Space Sector" and co-organize a session on "International Space Collaboration & Representation through Art & Technology." Maya pursues space policy work in addition to her thesis studies on Mars in situ resource utilization and future human exploration of Mars. | |
| A Spring 2021 awardee, Golda Nguyen is a second year graduate student in Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT | Golda attended the International Astronautical Congress to present her work on "Learning from Asynchronous, Space-based Telemedicine Systems to Support Spinoffs for Earth-based Healthcare." Her noble research topic is consistent with her history of research internships that bridge medicine and space science. She is a 2016 NASA Academy alumna from Glenn Research Center. | |
| A Spring 2021 awardee, Mansi Padave is a third year graduate student in Astrophysics at Arizona State University | Mansi presented her research on "Unveiling the Connections between Star formation and Interstellar Medium in the Extended Disk of NGC 3344" at the Star Formation: From Clouds to Discs symposium. Mansi has served in leadership positions on her school's graduate council, and mentors both peers and undergraduate researchers. This will be Mansi's second conference presentation. | |
| A Spring 2021 awardee, Jack Reid is a third year graduate student in Media Arts and Sciences at MIT | Jack attended the International Astronautical Congress to present his work on "Vida Decision Support System: An International, Collaborative Project for COVID-19 Management with Integrated Modeling." Jack's multidisciplinary work seeks to adopt a systems modeling framework initially intended for environmental issues to guide public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This timely work continues his consistent history of research on space and system engineering-related topics. | |
| A Spring 2021 awardee, Ifeoma Ugwuanyi is a third year graduate student in Earth and Environmental Sciences at Rutgers University | Ifeoma presented her research on "Subsurface Fluid Geochemistry Shape Microbial Community Structure and Function at Solfatara-Pisciarelli Hydrothermal Systems, Italy" at the Goldschmidt 2021 conference. Ifeoma has a strong history of research in microbiology and biotechnology, and has served as a research mentor for undergraduates. | |
| A Fall 2021 awardee, Sarah Preston is a junior in Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences at Rice University | Sarah presented her research on evaluating characteristics of sedimentary rocks studied by the Curiosity rover in Gale crater at the American Geophysical Union meeting in December 2021. Sarah proactively dove into research her freshman year, independently tackling complex papers and research tasks and making consistent progress. Sarah is a peer advisor for students at Rice and holds leadership positions in the Geoscience Society all while working part time. | |
| A Fall 2021 awardee, Bela Power is a graduate student in Aviation and Space at Oklahoma State University | Bela presented a self-developed, standards-based workshop on dark energy and dark matter at the Space Exploration Educators Conference in February 2022. The workshop aims to give educators fun and informative hands-on activities to teach their K-5 students about dark matter and dark energy. In addition to her job as an elementary school teacher, she is pursuing her Masters degree and serves as a NASA Mission to Planet Earth Ambassador. | |
| A Fall 2020 awardee, Meet Patel is a first year graduate student in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan. | Meet attended the virtual AIAA SciTech Forum in January 2021 to present his research on "A Two Equation Eulerian-Lagrangian Model for Simulation of Shock Induced Flow Through Particle Suspensions." This was Meet's first conference presentation. | |
| A Fall 2020 awardee, Johnny Zhang is a second year graduate student in Aerospace Engineering Sc"nces at the University of Colorado-Boulder. | Johnny will attend the Aerospace Medical Association's Annual Scientific Meeting in August 2021 to present his Master's thesis research on "Validation and Estimation of Human Cognitive State through Psychophysiological Signal Analysis for Aerospace Systems." | |
| A Fall 2017 awardee, Jomardee Perkins is an undergraduate in Physics at the University of Washington-Bothell. | Ms. Perkins presented a poster on her work, "Characterization of Transient Noise in LIGO Data" at the Spring LIGO and Virgo Collaboration meeting in March 2018. Her work on distinguishing signals of noise and actual gravitational waves contributes to the work of an international team of researchers. She is a leader in the university physics club and the Society of Physics Students, and was selected as University of Washington-Bothell's Outstanding Student for 2016-2017. This will be Ms. Perkins first conference presentation. | |
| A Spring 2016 awardee, Alex Mundal is a senior undergraduate in Aerospace Engineering at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. | Alex presented a talk about his research on "Linear Burn Rates of Monopropellants for Multi-Mode Propulsion" at the AIAA Propulsion and Energy Conference in July 2016. Alex has demonstrated creativity, work ethic and leadership as a member of the university's aerodynamics and propulsion team. These traits also support his research on propulsion, through which he seeks to inspire the next generation. The conference was Alex's first. | |
| A Spring 2016 awardee, Caleb Wheeler is a graduate student in Astrophysics at Arizona State University. | Caleb attended the Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers: Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation conference In June 2016 to present a talk on his research "Efficient Receiver Tuning Using Differential Evolution Strategies". Caleb developed a first-of-its-kind Terahertz detector array to expand the field of Terahertz astrophysical observations. His unique dual skill set in hardware and software development greatly contributed to the success of his work. | |
| A Fall 2015 awardee, Vaughn Petersen is an undergraduate double major in Physics and Applied Mathematics at the University of the Pacific. | Vaughn presented his poster "Modeling the SED of LLAGNs" at the 227th American Astronomical Society Meeting. On a largely volunteer basis, Vaughn learned his research topic and coding techniques to be able to significantly contribute to his research project. This was Vaughn's first conference. | |
| A Fall 2015 awardee, Maria Charisi is a graduate student in Astronomy at Columbia University. | Maria presented her poster "Catalog of Isolated Emission Episodes in Gamma-Ray Bursts from Fermi, Swift and BATSE" at the Sixth International Fermi Symposium. Maria has successfully tackled a variety of astrophysics topics in her graduate school career while remaining dedicated to her involvement in STEM outreach activities. | |
| A Spring 2015 awardee, Anthony Coleman is an undergraduate student in Biochemistry at Oakland University. | Anthony attended his first conference, the Astrobiology Science Conference in June 2015, where he presented his talk, "Building a Large Phylogeny of Archea". Motivated by his interest in space exploration, Anthony remains dedicated to his research pursuits even as he takes classes and works outside the university. | |
| A Spring 2015 awardee, Nicholas D'Amore is a graduate student in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Maryland. | Nicholas attended the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation to present a talk on his work, "IMU-based Manipulator Kinematic Identification". Nicholas sports a perfect academic record, and grew his childhood fascination with spacecraft design into involvement in aerospace-related engineering throughout college and graduate school. | |
| A Fall 2014 awardee, Haylee Archer is an undergraduate student in Physics at the University of North Dakota. | Haylee attended her first major conference - the 225th American Astronomical Society Meeting in Seattle - to present her poster on "The Alignment of Red-Sequence Dwarf Galaxies". Haylee's motivation to study space was born at an early age, and she has not only been proactive in pushing forward her research but in her involvement with public outreach activities. | |
| A Fall 2014 awardee, Jessica McBeck is a graduate student in Geosciences at the University of Massachutsetts, Amherst. | Jessica presented a poster on "Using CRISM and THEMIS to Characterize High Thermal Inertia Terrains in the Northern Hellas Region of Mars" at the Fall American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco. Jessica has a diverse research background bridging earth and space sciences, yet has excelled in each of her research pursuits. She has been involved with community outreach activities during her entire graduate career and her teaching skills make her an in-demand teaching assistant. | |
| A Spring 2014 awardee, Eve Vavagiakis is an undergraduate student in Physics with an Astronomy Concentration at Cornell University. | Eve presented her poster, "A Miniature Cryogenic Scanning Fabry-Perot Interferometer for Mid-IR to Submm Astronomical Observations" at the SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation Conference in June 2014. Eve's essay describing the rewards of research, her strongly supportive letter and her amazing research accomplishments indicate she is poised for success as she pursues graduate studies at Caltech. | |
| A Spring 2014 awardee, Brandon Cook is a graduate student in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Cincinnati. | Brandon attended the 53rd AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting in Florida in January 2015 to present his work, "UAS Collision Avoidance, Navigation, and Target Assignment in a Congested Airspace Using Fuzzy Logic". Brandon's essay described the birth of his interest in space as a youth, and he maintained a consistent involvement in research and a stellar GPA all while competing as a varsity track and field athlete. | |
| A Fall 2013 awardee, Whitney Lohmeyer is a graduate student in Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. | Whitney presented an invited plenary keynote talk discussing her work on the effects of the space environment on satellites in geostationary orbits at the European Space Weather Week Conference in Antwerp, Belgium. Whitney has been consistently involved with aerospace research since her early undergraduate career, and complements her graduate research pursuits with a nearly perfect GPA. | |
| A Fall 2013 awardee, Rachel Harris is an undergraduate student in Biology and Russian Language at Wellesley College. | Rachel presented a poster on the production and preservation of biomarkers in acidic environments, with astrobiological relevance to Earth and Mars, at the Fall 2013 American Geophysical Union Meeting in San Francisco, CA. Rachel contributed to the work as an Astrobiology Intern at Ames Research Center, one of the many successful research opportunities she pursued during her undergraduate career. | |
| An April 2013 awardee, Jennika Greer is an undergraduate student in Astronomy and Geology at the University of Colorado, Boulder. | Jennika presented a poster on her work determining the radiometric age of some of the oldest sedimentary rocks on Earth at the 2013 Goldschmidt Conference in Florence, Italy. Jennika possesses a strong research record, and was praised for her nearly singular academic and research abilities and accomplishments. The meeting served as Jennika's first professional conference. | |
| An April 2013 awardee, Masaki Kakoi is a graduate student in Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University. | Masaki presented a talk on his research in the use of Earth's L1 and L2 libration points to access Mars at the 64th International Astronautical Congress in Beijing, China. Masaki won praise for his persistence in an unique path through graduate school, and his service to freshman engineering students in an intense mentorship program at Purdue. | |
| An October 2012 awardee, Marie McBride is an undergraduate student in Solar, Earth and Planetary Science at the Florida Institute of Technology. | Marie presented a poster on her work restoring and calibrating the Apollo dust detector dataset at the Fall 2012 American Geophysical Union Meeting in San Francisco, CA. In addition to presenting her poster, Marie participated on a panel, which included Apollo 17 astronaut Dr. Harrison Schmitt, discussing the use of Apollo data 40 years after its collection. Marie began her research as an intern at Goddard's Lunar and Planetary Science Academy in 2011, and served as a Mars Science Laboratory operations intern at JPL in 2012. | |
| An October 2012 awardee, Matthew Route is a graduate student in Astronomy and Astrophysics at Pennsylvania State University. | Matthew presented a poster on his work seeking radio emissions produced by magnetic fields in brown dwarfs in a poster at the American Astronomical Society Meeting in January, 2013. This was his first presentation at a professional conference. Matthew's exciting research efforts are complemented by a rich history of education and public outreach activities. | |
| An April 2012 awardee, Jay Kroll is an undergraduate student in Chemistry at Emory University. | Jay presented a talk on his work related to laboratory spectroscopic characterization of complex organic molecules that may be present in the interstellar medium at the Ohio State University International Symposium on Molecular Spectroscopy in June 2012. Jay has been involved with research his entire undergraduate career and has participated in all aspects of research, from proposal writing to instrumentation construction to data analysis. The conference represented his first, first-author professional presentation. | |
| An April 2012 awardee, Caitlin Nolby is a graduate student in Space Sciences at the University of North Dakota. | Caitlin presented her poster on the development, teaching and refinement of an introductory observational astronomy class for high school students at the Astronomical Society of the Pacific's "Communicating Science" Conference in August 2012. Caitlin has a long-lived interest in space, and wrote a wonderful essay that captured her desire to turn her own interests into inspiration and educational opportunities for other students. The conference represented her first professional presentation | |
| An October 2011 awardee, Jessica Blagen is a graduate student in Space Sciences at the University of North Dakota. | Jessica presented her research into potential linkages between the Gefion family of asteroids and the L-chondrite family of meteorites in a poster at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in March, 2012. Jessica recently focused her diverse talents (degrees in geology and film studies, a dedicated volunteer at the Mauna Kea Observatories Visitor Information Station) on planetary science, fulfilling a life-long interest in the field. | |
| An October 2011 awardee, Rebecca Jensen-Clem is an undergraduate student in Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. | Rebecca presented her work on the development of a new adaptive optics sensor, which involved both numerical simulations and hands-on laboratory work, in a talk at the IEEE Aerospace Conference in March, 2012. Rebecca has been consistently involved in space-related activities throughout college and was supported by a stellar letter from her Space Grant advisor at JPL. | |
| An April 2011 awardee, Thomas Catanach is an undergraduate student in Physics at the University of Notre Dame. | Thomas is the recipient of the American Pioneer Ventures Travel Grant. Thomas presented a poster entitled "Atmospheric Effects on Muon Flux at Project GRAND" and a talk entitled "Periodic Variations in Muon Flux at Project GRAND" at the International Cosmic Ray Conference in August 2011 detailing his research using a Notre Dame-based cosmic ray detector. Thomas has been involved in astrophysics research since high school and anticipates that the conference will help him determine which field of astrophysics he will focus on in graduate school. | Presentation Poster |
| An April 2011 awardee, Lourdes Medina is graduate student in Industrial Engineering at Pennsylvania State University. | Lourdes presented her talk entitled "A Review of Design for X Methods for Medical Devices: The Introduction of a Design for FDA Approach" at the ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conference in August 2011. Lourdes, who has a spotless academic record, chose to focus on medical device design for her Ph.D. because it fed her desire to conduct research that contributes to the betterment of society. | |
| An October 2010 awardee, Erin Kara is an undergraduate student in Physics at the Barnard College. | Erin is the recipient of the American Pioneer Ventures Travel Grant, the first sponsored Soffen Fund Travel Grant. Erin presented her poster entitled "Blazar Counterparts for Low-Latitude Unidentified Sources: 1FGL J2015.7+3708 and 1FGL 2027.6+3335" at the Fermi Symposium in May 2011. Blazars are a specific type of active galactic nuclei which are uniquely visible with the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Erin has been consistently involved in astrophysics research throughout her undergraduate career and plans to pursue a Ph.D. in astrophysics. |
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| An October 2010 awardee, Jarret Lafleur is a Ph.D. student in Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech. | Jarret presented his talk entitled "Probabilistic AHP and TOPSIS for Multi-Attribute Decision-Making under Uncertainty" at the IEEE Aerospace Conference in March 2011. His work uses probabilistic methods to improve and facilitate the decision-making process early in complex projects, when uncertainty is high. Jarret penned a philosophical application essay, has an outstanding academic record and a long-standing record of participation in space-related research. | |
| An April 2010 awardee, Valerie Klavans is an undergraduate student in Astronomy at the University of Maryland. | Valerie presented her talk entitled "Analysis of High Resolution Laboratory Propane Spectra (v21, 922 cm-1) and the Interpretation of Titan's Infrared Spectra" at the International Symposium on Molecular Spectroscopy in June 2010. Valerie has been continuously involved in promoting astronomy and space science at her school through campus organizations and various conferences. In the future, she hopes to pursue a career in Planetary Astronomy with NASA. | |
| An April 2010 awardee, Geoffrey Wawrzyniak is a Ph.D. candidate in Astrodynamics and Space Applications at Purdue University. | Geoff presented his talk entitled "Creating Solar Sail Trajectories Using Boundary Value Problem Solvers" at the Second International Symposium on Solar Sailing in July 2010. Geoff's background in astrodynamics has led him to pursue doctoral research work on the generation and control of solar sail orbits in the Earth-Moon system. He hopes to "continue the human adventure into space" by means of solar sailing. | |
| An October 2009 awardee, Courtney King is an undergraduate student at the University of Arizona. | Courtney presented her poster entitled "Determining the Metal/Silicate Partition Coefficient of Germanium: Implications for Core and Mantle Differentiation" at the Lunar and Planetary Science meeting in March 2010. | |
| An October 2009 awardee, Jeff Bowman is a graduate student at the University of Washington. | Jeff presented a poster on his research entitled "Elevated bacterial abundance in laboratory-grown and naturally occurring frost flowers under late winter conditions" at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in December 2009. | |
| The April 2009 awardee, Sarah Miller is an undergraduate in materials science and engineering at Washington State University. | Sarah presented her talk entitled "Effect of substrate composition on whisker formation in Sn films" at the Materials Science and Technology 2009 conference in October. Motivated by her long-standing interest in space, Sarah has conducted research since her freshman year of college and is a leader of the WSU branch of Material Advantage, a national materials science student group. | |
| An October 2008 awardee, Nishant Agarwal is a PhD candidate in Astronomy and Space Sciences at Cornell University. | Nishant presented his research, entitled "Cosmological Constraints on General, Single-Field Inflation," at the American Physical Society meeting in April 2009. This research seeks to aid the development of a physical model of the expansion of the universe which agrees with theory, while being based on observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background and the large-scale structure of the universe. In addition to being one of the top graduate students in his department, according to his advisor Rachel Bean, "he is already working, in terms of competence and independence, at the level of a senior graduate student despite only being half way through his graduate career." Not only is Nishant an outstanding researcher and student, but he is also active in engaging undergraduates and teenagers in astronomy education, and has already given talks at a number of conferences and seminars. | |
| An October 2008 awardee, Paul Richardson is an undergraduate at the University of Washington in Earth and Space Sciences with a minor in Applied Mathematics. | Paul was a participant in the USRP at Goddard Space Flight Center conducting research under Dr. Jacob Bleacher. He presented his research entitled "Small Volcanic Features on Olympus Mons in the Tharsis Region, Mars" at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in March 2009. This research uses hi-res images from Mars Odyssey's THEMIS and Mars Express's HRSC to catalog small volcanic vents and improve the understanding of the geological history of the Tharsis region. Paul has been an undergraduate research assistant on a number of projects at UW, a teaching assistant in two courses, and is a member of many professional clubs and societies in his field. His PI at Goddard described him as an outstanding intern based on both his progress so far and his ability to see the implications of this research on the global scale. | |
| An April 2008 awardee, Emily Tenenbaum is a graduate student in physical chemistry at the University of Arizona. | Emily, who studies the chemistry of stars using observational radio astronomy, presented her discovery of two P-bearing molecules around two different types of stars at the International Symposium on Molecular Spectroscopy in June of 2008. The discovery of P-bearing molecules in circumstellar space is important for understanding the development of life, as P is a crucial element in the building blocks of life. | |
| An April 2008 awardee, Erin Beck is a senior in physics at Washington University in St. Louis. | Erin, the project manager and mission planning lead of a team of 60 students designing and building a flight-ready satellite for the Air Force Research Laboratory's University Nanosatellite competition, attended the Small Satellite Systems and Services "4S" Symposium in May 2008. She not only presented her team's progress but also carried out her responsibilities for the overall meeting as a member of the meeting's technical committee. | |
| A 2006 awardee, Madeline Leong is a first--year M.D./Ph.D. student at Duke University. | Madeline enthusiastically wrote about how her experience leading her Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunity Program team redefined her perspectives on medicine and sparked a fascination with space research. She presented the results of her team's study on the influence of gravitational stress on immunity at the National MD-PhD Student Conference in July of 2007. | |
| A 2006 awardee, John Janeski is a senior at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. | John participated in the Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunity Program where his team demonstrated electrostatic orbits between two charged spheres. John presented the results of their experiment at the American Association of Physics Teachers meeting in January 2007 in hopes of providing physics teachers with a unique and exciting way to teach basic principles of physics in their classrooms. | |
| A 2005 awardee, Matthew Gajda is a second year graduate student in engineering physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. | Matthew presented a talk on the design of "A Lunar Volatiles Miner" at the International Conference on Engineering, Construction, and Operations in Challenging Environments in Houston, Texas in March of 2006. Matt has a longstanding interest in space and was a high-performing engineering physics major as an undergrad while lettering as a member of the University of Wisconsin football team. | |
| A 2005 awardee, Nicole Jordan is a second year graduate student in the Aeronautics and Astronautics/Technology and Policy program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. | Nicole presented a talk on the "Development and Validation of a Multidisciplinary Spacesuit Model" at the 44th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting in Reno in January of 2006. Nicole has extensive experience in spacesuit research and an impressive academic record. | |
| A 2004 awardee, David Harmon was a senior double major in computer science and mathematics at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina. | David attended the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics: Computation Science and Engineering conference in February of 2005. He presented the work he did as a summer intern at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Maestro, a software package used to control the Mars Exploration Rovers during surface operations . David's application was noteworthy for its outstanding letter of support from his computer science department chair, who also had served as his professor in numerous courses. Awarding a Travel Grant to David marks the second year in a row the Soffen Fund was able to provide support to a student at a small college outside the mainstream of NASA university activities. | |
| A 2004 awardee, Amber Straughn was a second year graduate student in physics and astronomy at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. | Amber attended the American Astronomical Society's meeting in January of 2005 to present her research on characterization of "Tadpole Galaxies in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field" Dataset. Amber's application stood out not only for its glowing letter of support from her advisor, but by her enthusiastic essay. | |
| The 2003 awardee, Philip A. Ashley was a sophomore studying Physical Science at Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas. | Philip presented his work on "Measurement of Diatomic Oxygen in the Exhaust Plume of a Mini-Hybrid Rocket" at the American Chemical Society's 227th National Meeting in Anaheim, California. | |
| The 2002 awardee, Kristen Bethke was a senior studying Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. | Kristen presented her work on "Revolutionary Concepts for Human Outer Planet Exploration (HOPE)" at the Space Technology and Applications International Forum in Albuquerque, New Mexico on February 3rd, 2003. Kristen presented slides 14-26 of the presentation. |