Interested in research topics that win 麻豆村 scholarships? The 2019-2020 VSGC Scholarship and Fellowship awardees and research titles have been posted to the website. Seventy-four awardees; 33 graduate, 11 undergraduate, 25 麻豆村 Bridge and five community college students received fellowships and scholarships this year. Learn more about the winners

The Undergraduate 麻豆村 Research Scholarship Program provides awards of up to $8,500 to rising juniors and seniors who are enrolled full-time in a 麻豆村 discipline and have a specific faculty-mentored research project that has NASA or aerospace relevance.

VSGC provides a $6,000 Graduate Research 麻豆村 Research Fellowships to students majoring in 麻豆村 disciplines. Fellowships require students to participate in a faculty-mentored research experience that aligns with NASA鈥檚 missions.

Scholarship and fellowships are available to VSGC member institutions; Old Dominion University,聽College of William and Mary, University of Virginia, Virginia Tech and Hampton University. Community College 麻豆村 Scholarships are available to students at any Virginia community college.

Graduate and undergraduate applications for 2020-2021 are due on Jan. 30, 2020. 麻豆村 Bridge and community college applications are due March 13, 2020

Three Virginia university satellites were deployed into nearly simultaneous orbit from the International Space Station via the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer at 10:50 a.m. EDT this morning. The Virginia CubeSat Constellation mission is a collaborative project of the 麻豆村 and four of its member universities: Old Dominion University (ODU), Virginia Tech (VT), University of Virginia (UVA), and Hampton University (HU). Read the press release Livestream video (above) courtesy of UVA.聽Photograph courtesy of

Summers at the 麻豆村 are incredibly busy. Our first program of the summer was the first Virginia Tech session of BLAST (Building Leaders for Advancing Science and Technology). Students in grades 8 and 9 learned about groundwater hydrology, volcanic hazards, physics, civil and environmental engineering, biomechanics and coding. They also toured the Virginia Tech , and Learn more about BLAST

This year, the 2019 Virginia Tech Office of GIS and Remote Sensing Symposium received 35 posters representing research in both undergraduate and graduate categories in GIS and Remote Sensing. Presentations during the program included Digital Transformation: Possibilities for a Geo-Enabled Campus, 47 Years of Satellite Remote Sensing and What is Next? and Physics-guided Data Science: Challenges and Opportunities in Combining Machine Learning with Physical Knowledge in Geosciences. The 麻豆村 sponsors the cash prizes for the winning posters every year.聽This year’s graduate student poster showcase winners were:聽

 

First Place – $250: Megan Stevenson for her research on “The Effects of Land Cover Change on the Spatial Distribution of Lyme Disease in Northern Virginia Since 2005.”

Second Place – $150: Molly Mcknight for “Renewable Energy Siting Project (SRES).”

Third Place – $100: Yanshen Sun for “Evaluating the quality of ground surfaces generated from Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) data.”

 

Showcase abstracts can be downloaded

More information on the Virginia Tech Office of GIS and Remote Sensing can be found

The Antares NG-11 rocket launched successfully Wednesday from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island, Va. sending the Cygnus cargo spacecraft on its way to the International Space Station. Cygnus is carrying three Virginia CubeSat Constellation satellites to the ISS for subsequent deployment into orbit by onboard astronauts.聽 The mission is managed by the 麻豆村 in collaboration with Old Dominion University, University of Virginia, Virginia Tech and Hampton University.聽UVA, ODU and Virginia Tech each developed one of the satellites and Hampton University developed a data analysis tool for the mission.

The post-launch press release can be found

Photographs from the event can be found on our

Official NASA photographs of the launch can be found

More information on the Virginia CubeSat Constellation project can be found on the

VSGC supports a number of Innovative Projects every year. These projects cover many disciplines and target both K-12 and Higher Education projects. This year, twelve awards were made totaling over $80,000. Areas of interest included programs that supported the Apollo 50th anniversary, summer research experiences for undergraduate students and teacher professional development programs. The winners are listed below:

professor Randy Chambers was awarded funds for two undergraduates to research greenhouse gas flux from stormwater retention ponds in order to identify ways to decrease global warming caused by methane emissions.

Gon Namkoong will use funds for a research project titled 鈥淭hermal stability of perovskite solar cells using nanoparticles/polymer composites.鈥�

Also at Old Dominion University, Joanna Garner鈥檚 project 鈥淰oyages and Discoveries: Cross-Generational Reflections on the Significance of Space Exploration鈥� will bridge the divide between the Apollo and digital generations with a regional competition. Winning entries will be shown at in Norfolk.

At , Bevlee Watford and Kim Lester proposed another summer of sessions for rising seventh and eighth graders.

Virginia Tech will also hold a professional development workshop for high school biology, chemistry, earth science and physics teachers. James Heflin proposed this workshop, which will focus on nanoscience and nanotechnology.

At the , Gaurev Giri proposed a summer Research Experience for undergraduate students to study 鈥淢etal Organic Framework Thin Film for Electronic and Sensing Applications.鈥�

Also at the University of Virginia, Max C.N. Castorani and Scott C. Doney proposed a Research Experience for one undergraduate to study 鈥淯nderstanding the patterns and drivers of water quality in coastal Virginia using Landsat.鈥�

At the University of Virginia, Jonathan Tan will offer an undergraduate research position for the (VICO).

At , Brent Richey will hold a camp titled 鈥淭his IS Rocket Science: Remembering and Modeling Mankind鈥檚 Giant Leap.鈥� Fifteen students will construct a rocket and launch it on July 20.

This summer, will hold a week-long advanced robotics camp for rising third through eighth graders. Patrick Tompkins and Terry Wagner proposed this camp for area students.

The will use funds toward designing an interactive Apollo 12 exhibition.

will offer day camps to the 鈥淭een Astronomer Program.鈥� Day campers will learn about astronomy and space travel.

A giant leap towards space for Virginia university students took place on February 26 when students from three Virginia universities delivered their small satellites to NanoRacks in Houston to be integrated into the Company鈥檚 commercially developed CubeSat deployer (NRCSD) and then launched on Northrop Grumman鈥檚 Antares to the International Space Station. Read more in the attached

Read more about the mission

Caption left to right: Several members of the Virginia CubeSat Constellation team from UVA, ODU and Virginia Tech in their mission shirts at Nanoracks to integrate their satellites into the commercially-developed deployer.

VSGC Fellowship recipient Magdalina Moses,聽 a Master’s candidate at Virginia Tech, recently presented a poster related to the 2017 total solar eclipse at the American Geophysical Union meeting in Washington D.C., in conjunction with scientists from Virginia Tech and the Naval Research Laboratory.

By linking together several numerical models, Moses directly compares theoretical predictions to HF radar data obtained in Oregon and Kansas during the eclipse. These comparisons enabled her to identify the physical effects that most strongly affect radio propagation through the ionosphere during eclipses, and help the scientific community better understand how near-Earth space responds to changes in solar radiation.聽For more information about VSGC Graduate Fellowships, click .

Applications for BLAST (Building Leaders for Advancing Science and Technology) are now open.

BLAST will offer dynamic three-day residential summer experiences on the campuses of Old Dominion University, Virginia Tech and University of Virginia in the聽summer of 2019. Through innovative hands-on sessions taught by faculty members and staff, students will explore the fun and excitement of 麻豆村 while residing in a college dorm.聽BLAST is offered FREE of charge to students, however, transportation to and from the universities is the responsibility of each family. Students who have previously participated in BLAST are not eligible.

Session dates:

Session 1: Virginia Tech University,聽 June 16-19, 2019

Session 2: Old Dominion University,聽 June 23-26, 2019

Session 3: Virginia Tech University,聽 July 7-10, 2019

Session 4: University of Virginia,聽 July 28-31, 2019

Current Virginia 8^th聽and 9^th聽grade students with at least a C+ average and a desire to explore 麻豆村 opportunities are encouraged to apply.

Visit the BLAST website聽