NASA Armstrong’s Student Airborne Research Program celebrates 15 years of success in 2023.  An eight-week summer internship program, SARP offers upper-level undergraduate students the opportunity to acquire hands-on research experience as part of a scientific campaign using NASA Airborne Science Program flying science laboratories—aircraft outfitted specifically for research projects.  Students onboard NASA’s DC-8 aircraft, the largest flying science laboratory in the world, help scientists from NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with a science project investigating air quality and non-vehicular pollution sources called AEROMMA, which measures Atmospheric Emissions and Reactions Observed from Megacities to Marine Areas.  In 2023, NASA also introduced a sister program, SARP East to complement the West Coast program.

NASA Armstrong’s Student Airborne Research Program celebrates 15 years of success in 2023.  An eight-week summer internship program, SARP offers upper-level undergraduate students the opportunity to acquire hands-on research experience as part of a scientific campaign using NASA Airborne Science Program flying science laboratories—aircraft outfitted specifically for research projects.  Students onboard NASA’s DC-8 aircraft, the largest flying science laboratory in the world, help scientists from NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with a science project investigating air quality and non-vehicular pollution sources called AEROMMA, which measures Atmospheric Emissions and Reactions Observed from Megacities to Marine Areas.  In 2023, NASA also introduced a sister program, SARP East to complement the West Coast program.

NASA Armstrong’s Student Airborne Research Program celebrates 15 years of success in 2023.  An eight-week summer internship program, SARP offers upper-level undergraduate students the opportunity to acquire hands-on research experience as part of a scientific campaign using NASA Airborne Science Program flying science laboratories—aircraft outfitted specifically for research projects.  Students onboard NASA’s DC-8 aircraft, the largest flying science laboratory in the world, help scientists from NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with a science project investigating air quality and non-vehicular pollution sources called AEROMMA, which measures Atmospheric Emissions and Reactions Observed from Megacities to Marine Areas.  In 2023, NASA also introduced a sister program, SARP East to complement the West Coast program.

NASA Armstrong’s Student Airborne Research Program celebrates 15 years of success in 2023.  An eight-week summer internship program, SARP offers upper-level undergraduate students the opportunity to acquire hands-on research experience as part of a scientific campaign using NASA Airborne Science Program flying science laboratories—aircraft outfitted specifically for research projects.  Students onboard NASA’s DC-8 aircraft, the largest flying science laboratory in the world, help scientists from NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with a science project investigating air quality and non-vehicular pollution sources called AEROMMA, which measures Atmospheric Emissions and Reactions Observed from Megacities to Marine Areas.  In 2023, NASA also introduced a sister program, SARP East to complement the West Coast program.

NASA Armstrong’s Student Airborne Research Program celebrates 15 years of success in 2023.  An eight-week summer internship program, SARP offers upper-level undergraduate students the opportunity to acquire hands-on research experience as part of a scientific campaign using NASA Airborne Science Program flying science laboratories—aircraft outfitted specifically for research projects.  Students onboard NASA’s DC-8 aircraft, the largest flying science laboratory in the world, help scientists from NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with a science project investigating air quality and non-vehicular pollution sources called AEROMMA, which measures Atmospheric Emissions and Reactions Observed from Megacities to Marine Areas.  In 2023, NASA also introduced a sister program, SARP East to complement the West Coast program.

NASA Armstrong’s Student Airborne Research Program celebrates 15 years of success in 2023.  An eight-week summer internship program, SARP offers upper-level undergraduate students the opportunity to acquire hands-on research experience as part of a scientific campaign using NASA Airborne Science Program flying science laboratories—aircraft outfitted specifically for research projects.  Students onboard NASA’s DC-8 aircraft, the largest flying science laboratory in the world, help scientists from NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with a science project investigating air quality and non-vehicular pollution sources called AEROMMA, which measures Atmospheric Emissions and Reactions Observed from Megacities to Marine Areas.  In 2023, NASA also introduced a sister program, SARP East to complement the West Coast program.

NASA Armstrong’s Student Airborne Research Program celebrates 15 years of success in 2023.  An eight-week summer internship program, SARP offers upper-level undergraduate students the opportunity to acquire hands-on research experience as part of a scientific campaign using NASA Airborne Science Program flying science laboratories—aircraft outfitted specifically for research projects.  Students onboard NASA’s DC-8 aircraft, the largest flying science laboratory in the world, help scientists from NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with a science project investigating air quality and non-vehicular pollution sources called AEROMMA, which measures Atmospheric Emissions and Reactions Observed from Megacities to Marine Areas.  In 2023, NASA also introduced a sister program, SARP East to complement the West Coast program.

NASA Armstrong’s Student Airborne Research Program celebrates 15 years of success in 2023.  An eight-week summer internship program, SARP offers upper-level undergraduate students the opportunity to acquire hands-on research experience as part of a scientific campaign using NASA Airborne Science Program flying science laboratories—aircraft outfitted specifically for research projects.  Students onboard NASA’s DC-8 aircraft, the largest flying science laboratory in the world, help scientists from NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration with a science project investigating air quality and non-vehicular pollution sources called AEROMMA, which measures Atmospheric Emissions and Reactions Observed from Megacities to Marine Areas.  In 2023, NASA also introduced a sister program, SARP East to complement the West Coast program.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- – Inside a laboratory in the Engineering Development Laboratory, or EDL, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, research scientist Michael Johansen, in the blue polo shirt, describes dust mitigation technology to a group of Society of Physics students. About 800 graduate and undergraduate physics students toured Kennedy facilities. A group of about 40 students toured laboratories in the Operations and Checkout Building and the EDL during their visit. The physics students were in Orlando for the 2012 Quadrennial Physics Congress. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

3199: Molly Pleskus (undergraduate student from Tufts University) visited the MSFC electrostatic levitation (ESL) laboratory is support of Dr. Douglas Matson’s (Tufts University) grant, “Round Robin - Thermophysical Property Measurement” (NNX17AH41G). Ms. Pleskus is researching Inconel 718 in support of future experiments on the International Space Station (ISS).

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Inside a laboratory in the Engineering Development Laboratory, or EDL, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, research scientist Michael Hogue, in the green plaid shirt, describes several technologies to a group of Society of Physics students. About 800 graduate and undergraduate physics students toured Kennedy facilities. A group of about 40 students toured laboratories in the Operations and Checkout Building and the EDL during their visit. The physics students were in Orlando for the 2012 Quadrennial Physics Congress. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Inside the Applied Physics Laboratory in the Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, lead researcher Dr. Bob Youngquist describes technologies developed for the Space Shuttle Program to a group of Society of Physics students. About 800 graduate and undergraduate physics students toured Kennedy facilities. A group of about 40 students toured laboratories in the Operations and Checkout Building and the EDL during their visit. The physics students were in Orlando for the 2012 Quadrennial Physics Congress. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Inside the Applied Physics Laboratory in the Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, lead researcher Dr. Bob Youngquist demonstrates a technology developed for the Space Shuttle Program to a group of Society of Physics students. About 800 graduate and undergraduate physics students toured Kennedy facilities. A group of about 40 students toured laboratories in the Operations and Checkout Building and the EDL during their visit. The physics students were in Orlando for the 2012 Quadrennial Physics Congress. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Inside a laboratory in the Engineering Development Laboratory, or EDL, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, research physicist Phil Metzger describes lunar excavators and soil processing technologies to a group of Society of Physics students. About 800 graduate and undergraduate physics students toured Kennedy facilities. A group of about 40 students toured laboratories in the Operations and Checkout Building and the EDL during their visit. The physics students were in Orlando for the 2012 Quadrennial Physics Congress. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Inside a laboratory in the Engineering Development Laboratory, or EDL, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, research physicist Phil Metzger describes lunar excavators and soil processing technologies to a group of Society of Physics students. About 800 graduate and undergraduate physics students toured Kennedy facilities. A group of about 40 students toured laboratories in the Operations and Checkout Building and the EDL during their visit. The physics students were in Orlando for the 2012 Quadrennial Physics Congress. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Inside a laboratory in the Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, research chemist Mary Coan describes components of the Regolith and Environment Science and Oxygen and Lunar Volatiles Extraction, or RESOLVE, rover to a group of Society of Physics students. About 800 graduate and undergraduate physics students toured Kennedy facilities. A group of about 40 students toured laboratories in the Operations and Checkout Building and the EDL during their visit. The physics students were in Orlando for the 2012 Quadrennial Physics Congress. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

jsc2025e036189 (4/4/2025) --- The UCONN lab team who all contributed to space research leading up to DNA Nano Therapeutics-Mission 2. Front: Maxwell Landolina. In back, from left to right: Annie Nguyen (Ph.D. Student), Qianyu Chen (Undergraduate Student), Jin Zhai (Ph.D. Student), Toan Dang (Ph.D. Student), Trystin Cote (Ph.D. Student), Dr. Yupeng Chen (Principal Investigator), Madelyn Pickett (Master's Student). Biomimetic Fabrication of Multi-Functional DNA-Inspired Nanomaterials via Controlled Self-assembly in Space (DNA Nano Therapeutics-Mission 2) continues prior research on in-space manufacturing of nanomaterials that mimic DNA and have applications for vaccines and regenerative medicine. Image courtesy of University of Connecticut.

Harry Mergler stands at the control board of a differential analyzer in the new Instrument Research Laboratory at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory. The differential analyzer was a multi-variable analog computation machine devised in 1931 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher and future NACA Committee member Vannevar Bush. The mechanical device could solve computations up to the sixth order, but had to be rewired before each new computation. Mergler modified Bush’s differential analyzer in the late 1940s to calculate droplet trajectories for Lewis’ icing research program. In four days Mergler’s machine could calculate what previously required weeks. NACA Lewis built the Instrument Research Laboratory in 1950 and 1951 to house the large analog computer equipment. The two-story structure also provided offices for the Mechanical Computational Analysis, and Flow Physics sections of the Physics Division. The division had previously operated from the lab’s hangar because of its icing research and flight operations activities. Mergler joined the Instrument Research Section of the Physics Division in 1948 after earning an undergraduate degree in Physics from the Case Institute of Technology. Mergler’s focus was on the synthesis of analog computers with the machine tools used to create compressor and turbine blades for jet engines.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, Kennedy Center Director Bob Cabana looks at the Polaris rover on display at NASA’s Fourth Annual Robotic Mining Competition. Developed by Astrobotic Technologies Inc. under a Small Business Innovative Research contract, Polaris will be demonstrated during the competition that takes place through May 24. The mining competition is coordinated by Kennedy Space Center’s Education Office for the agency’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. Undergraduate and graduate students from 50 universities and colleges in the U.S. and eight countries around the world will use their remote-controlled robots to maneuver and dig in a supersized sandbox filled with a crushed material called regolith that has characteristics similar to asteroids, moons of Mars and Mars itself. Photo credit: NASA_Lorne Mathre

Kelly Latimer is a research pilot in the Flight Crew Branch of NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif. Latimer joined NASA in March 2007 and will fly the T38, T-34, G-III, C-17 and the "Ikhana" Predator B. Latimer is Dryden's first female research test pilot. Prior to joining NASA, Latimer was on active duty with the U.S. Air Force. She has accumulated more than 5,000 hours of military and civilian flight experience in 30 aircraft. Latimer's first association with NASA was while attending graduate school at George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Her studies included work with the Joint Institute for the Advancement of Flight Sciences at NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va. She flew an Air Force C-17 during a 2005 NASA study to reduce aircraft noise. A team of California Polytechnic State University students and Northrop Grumman personnel were stationed on Rogers Dry Lake located at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., to record the noise footprint of the aircraft as it made various landing approaches to Edwards' runway. Latimer completed undergraduate pilot training at Reese Air Force Base, Texas, in 1990. She remained at Reese as a T-38 instructor pilot until 1993. She was assigned as a C-141 aircraft commander at McCord Air Force Base, Tacoma, Wash., until 1996. Latimer graduated from the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards in Class 96B. She served as a C-17 and C-141 experimental test pilot at Edwards until 2000. She then became the chief of the Performance Branch and a T-38 instructor pilot at The Air Force Test Pilot School. She returned to McCord in 2002, where she was a C-17 aircraft commander and the operations officer for the 62nd Operations Support Squadron. In 2004, Latimer became the commander of Edwards' 418th Flight Test Squadron and director of the Global Reach Combined Test Force. Following that assignment, she deployed to Iraq as an advisor to the Iraqi Air Force. Her last active duty tour was as an instructor a

NMTSat is a student-built satellite built by undergraduate and graduates students primarily from New Mexico Tech. NMTSat is designed to operate five sensors in four experiments in space for 3 months of data collection. The experiments will provide data on earth’s magnetic field, high altitude plasma density, atmospheric weather measurements, and an optical beacon experiment. Approximately 50 students have contributed to NMTSat and its design not including the students and groups who have developed the science instruments. NMTSat CubeSat is providing the opportunity for these science experiments to be conducted on orbit and demonstrates the collaborative nature of the Educational Launch of Nano Satellite (ELaNa) Program at NASA. The instruments have been contributed by New Mexico Tech, Turabo University in Puerto Rico, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Atmospheric and Space Technology Research Associates (ASTRA) in Boulder, CO. Dr. Anders M. Jorgensen, Associate Professor at New Mexico Tech is the PI and Dr. Hien Vo from Vietnamese-German University in Ho Chi Minh University in Vietnam is a Co-Investigator. NMTSat is funded by the New Mexico NASA EPSCoR program as well as New Mexico Tech.

NMTSat is a student-built satellite built by undergraduate and graduates students primarily from New Mexico Tech. NMTSat is designed to operate five sensors in four experiments in space for 3 months of data collection. The experiments will provide data on earth’s magnetic field, high altitude plasma density, atmospheric weather measurements, and an optical beacon experiment. Approximately 50 students have contributed to NMTSat and its design not including the students and groups who have developed the science instruments. NMTSat CubeSat is providing the opportunity for these science experiments to be conducted on orbit and demonstrates the collaborative nature of the Educational Launch of Nano Satellite (ELaNa) Program at NASA. The instruments have been contributed by New Mexico Tech, Turabo University in Puerto Rico, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Atmospheric and Space Technology Research Associates (ASTRA) in Boulder, CO. Dr. Anders M. Jorgensen, Associate Professor at New Mexico Tech is the PI and Dr. Hien Vo from Vietnamese-German University in Ho Chi Minh University in Vietnam is a Co-Investigator. NMTSat is funded by the New Mexico NASA EPSCoR program as well as New Mexico Tech.

NMTSat is a student-built satellite built by undergraduate and graduates students primarily from New Mexico Tech. NMTSat is designed to operate five sensors in four experiments in space for 3 months of data collection. The experiments will provide data on earth’s magnetic field, high altitude plasma density, atmospheric weather measurements, and an optical beacon experiment. Approximately 50 students have contributed to NMTSat and its design not including the students and groups who have developed the science instruments. NMTSat CubeSat is providing the opportunity for these science experiments to be conducted on orbit and demonstrates the collaborative nature of the Educational Launch of Nano Satellite (ELaNa) Program at NASA. The instruments have been contributed by New Mexico Tech, Turabo University in Puerto Rico, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Atmospheric and Space Technology Research Associates (ASTRA) in Boulder, CO. Dr. Anders M. Jorgensen, Associate Professor at New Mexico Tech is the PI and Dr. Hien Vo from Vietnamese-German University in Ho Chi Minh University in Vietnam is a Co-Investigator. NMTSat is funded by the New Mexico NASA EPSCoR program as well as New Mexico Tech.

Nils Larson is a research pilot in the Flight Crew Branch of NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif. Larson joined NASA in February 2007 and will fly the F-15, F-18, T-38 and ER-2. Prior to joining NASA, Larson was on active duty with the U.S. Air Force. He has accumulated more that 4,900 hours of military and civilian flight experience in more than 70 fixed and rotary winged aircraft. Larson completed undergraduate pilot training at Williams Air Force Base, Chandler, Ariz., in 1987. He remained at Williams as a T-37 instructor pilot. In 1991, Larson was assigned to Beale Air Force Base, Calif., as a U-2 pilot. He flew 88 operational missions from Korea, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Panama and other locations. Larson graduated from the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., in Class 95A. He became a flight commander and assistant operations officer for the 445th squadron at Edwards. He flew the radar, avionics integration and engine tests in F-15 A-D, the early flights of the glass cockpit T-38C and airworthiness flights of the Coast Guard RU-38. He was selected to serve as an Air Force exchange instructor at the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, Patuxent River, Md. He taught systems and fixed-wing flight test and flew as an instructor pilot in the F-18, T-2, U-6A Beaver and X-26 Schweizer sailplane. Larson commanded U-2 operations for Warner Robins Air Logistics Center's Detachment 2 located in Palmdale, Calif. In addition to flying the U-2, Larson supervised the aircraft's depot maintenance and flight test. He was the deputy group commander for the 412th Operations Group at Edwards before retiring from active duty in 2007 with the rank of lieutenant colonel. His first experience with NASA was at the Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, where he served a college summer internship working on arcjet engines. Larson is a native of Bethany, W.Va,, and received his commission from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1986 with a

Richard A. Searfoss became a research pilot in the Flight Crew Branch of NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif., in July 2001. He brought to Dryden more than 5,000 hours of military flying time and 939 hours in space. Searfoss served in the U.S. Air Force for more than 20 years, retiring with the rank of colonel. Following graduation in 1980 from Undergraduate Pilot Training at Williams Air Force Base, Ariz., Searfoss flew F-111s at RAF Lakenheath, England, and Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho. In 1988 he attended the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, Patuxent River, Md., as a U.S. Air Force exchange officer. He was an instructor pilot at the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., when selected for the astronaut program in January 1990. Searfoss became an astronaut in July 1991. A veteran of three space flights, Searfoss has logged 39 days in space. He served as STS-58 pilot on the seven-person life science research mission aboard Space Shuttle Columbia, launching from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., on Oct. 18, 1993, and landing at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., on Nov. 1, 1993. The crew performed a number of medical experiments on themselves and 48 rats, expanding knowledge of human and animal physiology. Searfoss flew his second mission as pilot of STS-76 aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis. During this nine-day mission, which launched March 22, 1996, the crew preformed the third docking of an American spacecraft with the Russian space station Mir. The crew transported to Mir nearly two tons of water, food, supplies, and scientific equipment, as well as U.S. Astronaut Shannon Lucid to begin her six-month stay in space. Completing 145 orbits, STS-76 landed at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., on March 31, 1996. Searfoss commanded a seven-person crew on the STS-90 Neurolab mission launched on April 17, 1998. The crew served as both experiment subjects and operators for life science experiments focusing on the effects of m

“I’m a big community person. I’m a person who will be like, ‘I think I know someone for you.’ And then I’ll put everyone together. So I’m a big person on lending a helping hand. My platform is for highlighting folks. I’ve highlighted over 50 black junior astronomers for Black History Month, which I will continuously do. I founded the #BlackInAstro Week, which was very successful. I had no clue it was even trending until other people told me. I didn’t even realize until it was the middle of the week, and people were saying, ‘congratulations!’ And I was like, ‘wait, what? Okay, thanks!’ I didn’t realize it was that big. “Community for me and using my platform to promote others — it’s something that really makes me happy. It’s very important to lift others up because for me, I don’t see people who look like me. You never know who’s watching, or who will get inspired. The next generation of scientists will be amazing. This generation of scientists is outstanding — but the next generation will be amazing, so on and so forth. We’re just going to keep lifting each other up and making sure that we all have each other’s backs, because right now is a critical time in our lives. We need each other more than anything.” Ashley Walker, Intern in the Undergraduate Research Associates in Astrobiology program at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, is photographed in her home in Chicago, Ill. via video conference, Saturday, July 25, 2020 in Alexandria, Va. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)