Welcome and Farewell

Here on the Purdue campus, it’s getting to the end of the first week of classes.  After a summer of languid quiet, there are now tens of thousands of folks that weren’t here just a few days previously.  There are new schedules and new constraints: fewer construction barrels and more busses, but more requirements to be someplace for a meeting that starts right at that time.  Yes, the shifts associated with an academic lifestyle.

We also have some welcoming to do for three new affiliates: Anderson University, Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, and Evansville Museum.  You probably know something about them, but here’s a little bit more about how they work within our Consortium:

Anderson University is a private university located in Anderson, IN, between Indianapolis and Muncie.  They have a strong program in Astronomy, and in fact will be hosting the next meeting of the Indiana Astronomy network of student and faculty researchers.  In terms of size (a bit over 2000 students), history, and mix, Anderson is more like our existing affiliates at Evansville, Taylor, and Valparaiso: competitive, highly regarded, undergraduate focused institutions with a strong religious tradition.  We are looking forward to their increasing participation in the astronomy network and their engagement of undergraduates in research in the physical sciences.

Children’s Museum of Indianapolis is located near the famous Meridian-Kessler neighborhood of Indianapolis.  They are internationally known as the largest children’s museum in the world, and one of the nation’s top museum tourist attractions  (not just children’s museums, but all museums).  They have a new NASA exhibit underway on aviation and modeling, and will be a strong partner in our informal education activities.

Evansville Museum is located on the banks of the Ohio River in the City of Evansville, at the southern end of Indiana (if you wade in the Ohio, or travel one mile south, you’re in Kentucky).  They are home to the Koch Planetarium, and have been hosting a featured Outreach to Space exhibit (INSGC has been working with Science Central to bring Outreach to Space to venues across Indiana, including some exhibits at the Indiana State Fair).  If you’re down there, check out the Moon Watch on September 3. 

As you can tell, these new affiliates all build on existing partnerships and strengths of INSGC, and represent richness in academic and outreach interactions that I believe is unparalleled in the country.  (According to one presentation, INSGC already has over one third of all outreach affiliates in the national Space Grant network; we are the only state with three Challenger Learning Center affiliates.)  In 2003, we were worried how we would manage on 12 or fewer affiliates; now we’re close to 25, and the major question facing INSGC is how to keep from growing too much.  We have this question because of the success and participation of our affiliates, and an ongoing habit of bold innovations and exciting engagement of NASA materials and experiences.

With all of this hoopla, though, there is one bit of mixed feelings with the coming of this fall.  Ben Weiss, who has been our undergraduate INSGC intern since 2009 (with responsibilities for website, data reporting, longitudinal tracking, Facebook upgrading, and general honesty, integrity, and “what else do you need me to do” approach), has graduated and is moving on.  We just heard a few days ago that Ben has been accepted into the Marine Corps Officer Candidate School, fulfilling a long-term dream.  He promises to buzz the INSGC Central office in a high performance jet the first chance he gets.  Good luck, Ben, and be well.  I for one will miss you tremendously.  INSGC owes you more than we can express.

Looking Up

This month, I have gotten to have several enjoyable experiences in naked-eye astronomy, and a reminder of a bit of memory and trivia.  Years ago, there was a program called “Jack Horkheimer, Star Hustler” on PBS, hosted by Jack Horkheimer, Director of the Miami Space Transit Planetarium.  With his distinctive voice and waddle along the rings of Saturn, Jack would talk about the various constellations, displays, and events in the night sky that week.  He would end each show with the happy encouragement to “Keep Looking Up!” Unfortunately, the timing of the broadcast where I was living at the time was such that Star Hustler broadcast was the Saturday night at the end of the week Jack was describing.  Thus, the shows weren’t very useful at all. 

Real-time information technology access and electronic search has changed all of that.  (Supposedly, it even changed the name of the show: after the advent of web browser search, the program stem “Star Hustler” was changed to “Star Gazer” so that well-meaning young astronomers would not accidentally begin their search with the pages of an adult magazine.  I will not add any racy or humorous comments here.)    Smart devices and smartphone applications have made tremendous progress in helping the amateur with keeping tabs on what is going on in the skies, and I was able to enjoy and learn about several tools.  One of my favorite iPhone apps is StarWalk, one of the best things on the device (not just my opinion!)  StarWalk allows you to point your iPhone up at the sky, and its accelerometers and GPS sensors will allow you to identify what you’re looking at, and what celestial events are ongoing.  I’ve used StarWalk in South Africa (note my prior blog entry “Under African Skies”) and China.  Late last Friday night (August 12-13), I also managed to find and watch some of the Pleiades meteor shower while I was at a conference in Boise.  (Too bad I didn’t have a car, to go up into the mountains for a much darker sky…)

The NASA App is available on a variety of devices, and I have found this extremely useful as well.   There’s great access to NASA images, NASA TV schedules, and other information about the Space Program (yes, we still have one), but my favorite component this past week was the ISS sighting opportunities.  Sunday night (August 14), the NASA app told me where and when to look for a sighting of the International Space Station from my home in Lafayette, IN.  On a good night (such as last Sunday), the ISS is one of the 3-5 brightest objects in the sky, streaking high overhead much faster than any star or planet, but without the tell-tale blinking lights of an aircraft.  (Please note that NASA has a number of other mobile device apps available; I just haven’t used them.)

Coincidentally, my best friend was also outside, looking up at the same time, happily seeing the same streaking ISS between the clouds.  My friend was using another nice app named (with some unfortunate irony) Space Junk.  Once again, beautiful graphics and “through the device” viewing of the live night sky.  It’s easier to see the orbital tracks of the Hubble, ISS, and a number of satellites, although NASA App is easier to search for future passes over several days.  Either way, your smartphone turns into a delightful tool to learn what is happening in the sky (even below the horizon or on a cloudy night), anywhere in the world, right now.

While I was in Boise last week, I did see a new episode of “Star Gazer”: it had the same picture of Saturn as the background, the same music, and the same encouragement to “keep looking up!”  Jack Horkheimer, though, was not there.  He died almost exactly one year ago, on August 22, 2010.  I don’t think he’d mind that the software now available has made it much easier than his show ever was to follow his advice. 

(Did you know that Libra is rising just south of due east, as I finish this blog at 4:45 PM?  The sun is bright this afternoon, but my iPhone can still tell me about the other stars.)

Summer Vacation, Part 2

In my prior entry, I described some of my experience, and sense of beauty and passion, of my vacation trip to the Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum.  Now, I would love to tell you that not all of my vacation was technology geek focused, and that would be true.  (I went to two plays, including a performance of The Merchant of Venice set in 1930’s Chicago.)  In addition to the history of aviation and space flight, I spent time in the National Building Museum’s exhibits of the World’s Fairs and Exhibitions of the 1930s (entitled “Designing Tomorrow”), and Lego(TM) models of several iconic buildings from around the world.   But, all of that was an appetizer, a warm-up, for the primary emphasis of the week:

I went to Kennedy Space Center for the launch of Atlantis and STS-135.

From what I hear, the traffic and crowds were intense, and potentially overwhelming, but I did get to miss much of that.  (Just the families of the astronauts took up 18 busloads of guests.)  Because of the Avicenna Academy participation in the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program, I was invited to access just a few miles south of the KSC launch complex.  There I met Amanda Arceo, the lead (and heart) of the Avicenna project.  She, some of the students, and members of the Academy’s board were in attendance as part of the celebration of the participation of these amazing student researchers.   (You can read more about Amanda’s launch experiences at the NCESSE site.)  It was an exciting morning, with lots of the hopes and promises of the entire Shuttle Program and NASA in general symbolized in the periods of clear skies among the cloudy morning, and uncertainties all the way through the launch hold at T-minus 31 seconds.  Commander Ferguson’s pre-launch message was one of the highlights for me, as he spoke of the capabilities of a people who dare to attempt bold goals and work hard to achieve them.  (If I can find a recording of those remarks, I will certainly link to it.)  Eventually, we got to zero, and the flames from the engines became brightly and intensely visible over the water and trees at KARS.  (Because of the cloud cover background, this was an even brighter display than the previous launch I witnessed, during mid-afternoon of a nearly cloudless day in August.)  A few seconds later, the ground (and our bodies) shook with the echoes from the launch pad.

Yes, there were more tears.

I remember being a college frosh in April of 1981, in the “Lobby 7” of MIT with others craning to watch one of the television screens for the first launch of Columbia and STS-1.  For STS-135, there was a lot of bittersweet memory, and thoughts, and hopes.  When will we be able to go see astronauts launch from Kennedy Space Center again?  I’m not sure.  Is the space program over?  No, but I do believe that it will look very different in 5-10 years than at any previous time in my adult life.  Would I want to be involved in whatever comes next?  Of course—that’s what I designed my life and career to be able to do. 

So, was this vacation, or work?  Neither, and both—attending the launch of STS-135 was a form of passage for me, and a gift, and a piece of sacred experience.  I was there, and it is a memory I can carry with me.  That is beauty, and life, and passion—and isn’t that worth doing when you get the chance? 

Summer vacation, Part 1

One thing that I will have trouble understanding about blogs... if you blog about your work, you can spend time at work blogging.  If you blog about your vacation, and tie it to your work... there's a risk of spending time blogging about your vacation instead of having your vacation.  So, I hope you will excuse the delay in this first of two little blurbs about how I spent the week of July 4.  (Pictures to follow.)

I've heard for a long time that you have to go to the National Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles Airport.  However, most times I am in Washington, I am car-free and with a tight schedule--both factors that limit the ability to get there.  But, on Tuesday, my best friend and I decided to take a trip, as part of my aerospace history vacation.  It's one thing to see pictures of a museum on a website.  However, it's pretty amazing to go into the front hallway of the Center, and off to one's left, is a bunch of planes.  (Since it's the Smithsonian, you just walk past the security desk, and you're in.  No hiding the goodies from view, or waiting for you to pay your admission (other than the $15 parking fee).  No preparation, or pretense.  Instant immersion.)  Normally, I'm a pretty calm and circumspect engineering type person.  And, to be honest, I don't remember aircraft silhouettes or production specifications.  But, the first experience I had of the exhibit was about a dozen planes dating from before 1930, suspended from the ceiling or sitting on the floor, or mounted in various poses.  Samuel Langley's monument to elegant failure (scaling up a small test model doesn't always get you a working bigger system).  I had never seen this concentration of prior flight before.  Wood and canvas, bold new experiments in pushing back the frontier of the heavens.  Life and dreams from over a century ago.  I got every one of the airplanes' names wrong.  The planes were displayed, almost as though encased in amber, flies from a past age.  One was even unrestored, with canvas frayed and torn from flapping in the winds and a century of waiting for its story to be told.

I broke down and started crying.

I've cried at sunsets, and night skies filled with stars, and expanses of oceans, and wonderful music, and exquisite poetry.  People understand those things as beautiful, as precious, as transcendent.  How can an old plane garner that response?  Because, to me, such museum pieces speak of the history of science, technology, and society.  I get a sense of the passions of those who built and flew those planes, and their desires to do something that spoke to their souls.  That's beautiful to me, too.  It's how I feel with some of my research.  It gets me excited when I see a student getting turned on about their internship, or their research project.  It's an expression of what I have always called, signs of life.  And that is overwhelmingly compelling.

There were lots more experiences, and dozens of photos, and wonderful stories about the history of flight and space travel.  No more tears, but lots more enjoyment and excitement and wonder.  Since I was on vacation, I resisted going into lecture mode when listening to kids talking about their newly-blossoming enthusiasm and learning about a particular aircraft system or element of human physiology.  It was nice to just drink it in, on a summer day.  That's a good vacation experience, whether you're a passionate engineer or not.

Stay tuned for Part 2, with mosquitos, more tears, and flames against the sky.  (Yes, I went to the STS-135 launch.)  

Summertime...

From an astronomical perspective, it's only been summer for 10 days now, since Solstice on June 21.  I worked it out, though, that my "summer" (in other words, the time between the end of Spring Semester and start of Fall Semester obligations) is approximately half over on that date.  However, the life of an academic is never really "done," and of course Space Grant obligations operate on a 12-month basis.

My latest INSGC-related activity was at the Purdue Alumni Club of Dubois County, and its annual Grissom Memorial Scholarship Awards (and golf outing) on June 23.  Lots of people say that the worst day golfing is better than the best day at work.  I would tend not to agree with that in general, but hey--in how many other jobs can one say that a day golfing is a day at work?  Here I am, in my "Work Outfit," in a picture from Kent Olinger:

See, I'm wearing my NASA Space Grant Director hat, and the INSGC pin.

Any rumors of me becoming a golf pro are drastically exaggerated.  However, I did actually hit a ~60 foot putt with my foursome, clearly witnessed.  It's amazing how a couple of great shots do manage to offset even a day's worth of mediocre play... and for me, this is my first full season of golf.  Ever.

I was also able to award $1500 scholarships to four outstanding young students from Southern Indiana who are attending Purdue this fall.  You know, this is the real reason I go to this event.  Fortunately, the scholarship committee enjoyed the surprise element of this award, so I got to work up to this surprise, and I admit to truly enjoying the expressions on the faces of the students and their parents.  By the time of this photo, they're starting to have it set in (photo credit again goes to Kent Olinger):

(I did get changed into something slightly more work-relevant--a Purdue Space Day polo shirt.)

Well, after a quick trip to Toronto for research meetings (one of my areas of human factors research is team coordination and performance improvement in radiation therapy), I'm back in the US.  Our joke is that this is the "North American Autonomy Celebration Non-Productivity Very Long Weekend": Canada Day is today, and US Independence Day is Monday.  Unfortunately, I couldn't stay in Toronto long enough to see the Philadelphia Phillies play the Blue Jays for a Canada Day matinee.  Hey, and it's Canadian Football League Opening Weekend!  (Just because I do aerospace, doesn't mean I prefer the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.  Any team highlighting that they're BC, though...)

Next up for me... an actual vacation.  I'm taking time off.  Hold it.  Part of my vacation is to go to the STS-135 launch, and celebrate the Avicenna Academy participation in the SSEP program.  So, when vacation includes work, most people say it's not vacation.  When your work includes justification to take a trip to Florida for a historic and memorable event like the last Shuttle launch...

Talk to you soon.

BC

Really, There are More First Round Awards …

In previous blog posts, I had announced both project awards and undergraduate scholarships as part of our First Round of 2011-12 awards.  We in the INSGC office continue to evaluate the proposals that have been submitted against our funding constraints.  There is no difference in priority or quality between the previously announced awards and the ones listed below. 

Our graduate fellowship awards are intended to support student pursuing a Master’s degree (with or without a thesis), or a PhD / EdD (dissertation research proposal required).  These awards are much larger than the $1500 undergraduate awards, and there are fewer affiliates with eligible students.  It’s not surprising, then, that the total number of fellowships is seven students:

Master’s Fellowships:

Name                                                Affiliate                                    Major

Galen Harden                                  Purdue WL                     Aeronautics and Astronautics

Corie Moore                                    Ball State                        Middle School Math Education

Helena Olatunji-Fleming                 Purdue WL                     Interdisciplinary Engineering

Adam Prise                                      ISU                                Geography

Doctoral Fellowships:

Name                                    Affiliate                        Major           

Jessica Dowell              IU-Bloomington            Astronomy

Dennis Lamenti            IU-Bloomington            Astronomy

Matthew Wierman        Purdue WL                    Aeronautics and Astronautics

Additional Projects:

In addition to the awards previously announced, INSGC is pleased to be able to support the following projects for 2011-12:

Project PI                        Affiliate                        Project

Martin Fisher                  Science Central            Outreach To Space

Elizabeth Rubens            IUPUI                         Multidisiciplinary Undergrad Research Institute

In some cases, revisions of budgets and changes in the statements of work can overcome previous concerns raised in the review process.  In other cases, we just need clarification of what the proposed means to do and when.  Sometimes, the reviews just take a couple extra days to get back to us.  We don’t want to hold up the entire awarding process for everyone to wait for these elements, so some awards may be announced on slightly different schedules. 

Again, congratulations to these INSGC awardees, joining the other students, faculty, and project staff that are part of the first round of 2011-12 awards.  

Selected in the First Round…

Now that the announcements have been distributed, the INSGC staff can take a bit of a breath and survey the first set of scholarship, fellowship, and internship awards for 2011-12.  Since the official name of the Space Grant NASA program is “The National Space Grant College Scholarship and Fellowship Program,” you can correctly guess that scholarships and fellowships are a major focus of what we do and why we exist.  In fact, there are only a few non-negotiable elements of how INSGC spends its NASA funds, and almost all of them are tied directly to the scholarship and fellowship piece.  NASA requires us to spend 25% of our total budget on scholarships and fellowships; for us in INSGC, these fellowships also involve opportunities at NASA Centers. 

INSGC is also quite fortunate to have a population of excellent students at a range of institutions, so there are of course challenges associated with giving out awards to the most deserving students.  The NASA internships are the easiest—the student has to apply to one or more NASA Centers, and then they have to be selected by researchers at those Centers.  Having said “the easiest,” that doesn’t make the process easy.  In 2011, there were 71 students from eligible Indiana institutions (only students from our 12 academic affiliates are eligible for funding) who applied to NASA internship positions through the online website system.  Approximately 12 were selected (this is already an acceptance rate of less than 20%), but of those, roughly half had other offers (either positions outside of NASA, or NASA opportunities that did not require INSGC funding).  Thus, we have a total of six outstanding students involved in NASA summer internships.  Each of them receives a summer fellowship stipend, and a travel allowance of $500. Their names, schools, and NASA Center placements are below:

Student                               Affiliate                        NASA Center

James Cutright                     Ball State               Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)

Adam Harden                       Purdue WL            Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC)

Timothy Harris                     Purdue WL            Langley Research Center (LRC)

Paul Johnson                        Purdue WL            Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Nicholas Kowalczyk            Purdue WL            Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Kevin Tait                             Purdue WL            Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC)

I know what you’re thinking—why all the Purdue folks?  Well, students at Purdue know that the best way to work at NASA is to get an internship at NASA, and they tell each other to apply.  Of the 71 students from Indiana, 57 were Purdue students—so, the acceptance rate is still pretty low, and thus being selected for a NASA internship for INSGC funding is still a highly competitive process.  In most cases, those students will be starting their internships next week—as you might guess, that was our highest priority to set up those awards as we received selection information from NASA.

The scholarship process is even more complex.  With 12 academic affiliates, and a variety of disciplines, it can be hard to get a good mix of students.  Sometimes, I feel like it’s a bad thing to encourage more competition, only to say “no” to more students.  But, as we see more and more applicants from across the range of INSGC colleges and universities, the value of an INSGC undergraduate scholarship or Master’s fellowship goes up.  (I won’t talk about the doctoral fellowships here, because the number of eligible institutions is so much smaller; it’s not the same process, or discussion.)  We try to keep the scholarships at a level that is large enough to mean something at every institution, but small enough that we can award a decent number across all of our affiliates.  Over the past three or so years, that level is $1500—enough to be worth at least a year’s worth of books at any school.  That enables us to award at least 25 undergraduate scholarships overall, and at least one to each of the academic affiliates who have more than one applicant. 

This list starts looking more like the list of a sports network’s mock draft projections, and in a way, that’s a good analogy.  A scholarship isn’t proof that the student will do well in a particular major or at a specific school, but it is our guess.  We’re making a bet that these are good folks, who are likely to excel.  We at INSGC want to be part of this process, and we hope that our support helps them be more successful.  So, the first round picks, with name, year, affiliate, and major, are:

Last Name	First Name	Major	Affiliate
Anderson	Carly	Mathematics/ Secondary Education (double-major)	Valpo
Baldwin	Markell	Electrical Engineering	Valpo
Cavanagh	Patrick	Computer Engineering	IUPUI
Cheek	Wesley	Physics	Valpo
Dibble II	Christopher	Computer Science	Ball
Fry	Shaun	Construction Engineering Technology	IPFW
Gosmeyer	Catherine	Astrophysics	IU
Heibel	Chelsea	Chemistry	USI
Hein	Alexander	Engineering	PUWL
Inman	Vincent	Mathematics Teaching: Secondary Education	PUC
Joyce	Tara	Electrical Engineering & Computer Engineering	IPFW
Khandoker	Azfar	Computer Science Honors	PUWL
Knight	Frances	Biomedical Engineering	PUWL
Marsh	Ashley	Mechanical engineering	PUWL
Mickey	Jessica	Biology	IUPUI
Neuer	Eric	Mechanical Engineering Technology	IPFW
Pheasant	HannahJoy	Agricultural Engineering	PUWL
Phillippi	Elizabeth	Chemistry and Biology	Valpo
Spoentgen	Nicolas	Aeronautical Engineering	PUWL
Storrer	Logan	Engineering	USI
Thompson	Sarah	Physics and Astronomy	Ball
Volk	Annette	Mechanical Engineering	UE
Wadzinski	Anne	Secondary Mathematics Education	IU
Whitney	David	Computer Science	Ball
Worthington	Sarah	Biomedical Engineering	PUWL

Next month, I will be in Jasper to congratulate four new winners of the Grissom Memorial Scholarships for local high school seniors attending Purdue in STEM majors.  I am proud of our opportunity to supplement those students’ scholarships with INSGC scholarship awards, and provide an ongoing recognition of the spacefaring legacy that Gus Grissom has left for all of us in Indiana.

We’re still processing the details of Master’s and Doctoral Fellowships; stay tuned for more on each of those students.  I should also point out that, if you’re not a first round selection for the undergraduate or graduate awards, that doesn’t automatically mean you’re rejected.  There are possibilities for additional funding augmentations, and our assumptions are that we will be funding additional students.  We just don’t have those numbers yet.

So, if you’re on one of these lists, or you’ve been an awardee in the past, we want to hear from you and let us know how you’re doing and whether INSGC has made a difference.