As if granted from the heavens above, my summer experience at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL, served as partial fulfillment of a life-long dream. As a member of the NASA Academy, I had the unique opportunity to work inside a facility of the world's leading space exploration agency.

The primary project that I worked on during my summer 1996 internship was an elliptical low-profile composite dome under internal pressure. Low profile domes are characterized by having a major to minor radius ratio greater than the square root of two. These composite domes are of interest because, as bulkheads, they maximize propellent volume per given tank length and can reduce overall vehicle weight. Under internal pressure, low-profile domes undergo compression in the hoop direction which leads to buckling in the equatorial region. The recent advances in composite materials and computer-aided stress analysis may make low-profile domes feasible in aerospace vehicle tank design. Possible future applications include use on future expendable launch vehicles and/or NASA's new RLV program.

My second project involved verification of theoretical equations presented in the NASA Structures Manual on eccentric lugs using finite element analysis. A lug is a simple structure that supports a load applied through a bolt hole drilled in the material. The manual suggests that eccentric lugs fail earlier than symmetic lugs. During my study, I found that eccentric lugs loaded axially do not have higher stress concentrations than their symmetric counterpart. In fact, the PATRAN/ANSYS finite element model indicated that the maximum stress was lower for eccentric lugs.

Interwoven with research were many social activities and excursions. NASA interns like myself received detailed tours of NASA Headquarters, and Goddard and Kennedy Space Centers. We also went white-water rafting on the Ocoee river.

I would like to express my thanks to the MnSGC and everyone at Marshall Space Center for making this experience possible for me. The NASA Academy was a wonderful program that helped reconfirm my desire to work with the nation's space program and helped advance me one giant leap toward realizing my dreams.

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BETHEL COLLEGE:

Brad Johnson, a Bethel College Senior in physics, presented at paper titled "Determination of the Quantum Efficiency of a PMT by Individual Photon Detection." The paper was presented at both the Winchell Competition of the Minnesota Academy of Science and the Spring Meeting of the Minnesota Area Association of Physics Teachers in April, 1996.

BEMIDJI STATE UNIVERSITY:

Anthony Zimmerman,a graduating senior and NASA fellowship awardee completed the Space Studies Minor at Bemidji State University last year. Anthony has developed a hypertext document known as Spaceward BSU. The document can be accessed at the following address: http://vax1.bemidji.msus.edu/~dogger/space.html.

Jason Dahl won an award for a paper titled, "Perocity Determinations in Interplanetary Dust Particles & Primative Meteorites," presented at the Lunar and Planetary Science Institute Proceedings in Houston, TX last year.

Student researchers, Jessica Godwin and Lisa Rossiter completed their field studies on the Leech Lake Watershed project in June. Their findings were incorporated into a larger publication by Dr. Robert Melchior and Dr. John Annexstad titled, Glaciers and Galcial Geology.

COLLEGE OF ST. CATHERINE:

Amye Sharlau, an art major at St. Cate's, developed photometric standards for dwarf novae and performed image analysis using the CCD camera at the O' Brien Observatory on the campus of St. Cate's.

UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS:

Undergraduates Bob Pahl and Jason LaMontagne worked under the direction of Dr. Paul Lane in the UST department of Physics to set up an electron scattering experiment in 1996. The experiment collected data for low energy electron scattering from polyatomic molecules.

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA:

Undergraduate Sarah Braasch spent the summer of 1996 as an intern at CERT (Centre d'Etudes et de Recherche de Toulouse) in Toulouse, France. This internship was sponsored through the AEM Dept. at UM-TC.

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The goals of the Minnesota Space Grant Consortium are to promote education, research and public service in the space sciences and aerospace engineering. To these ends, the MnSGC supports a fellowship and scholarship program, provides limited funds for research initiation, supports teacher enhancement programs, develops higher education programs, and supports programs to encourage women and minorities to pursue careers in science and engineering.

The MnSGC is comprised of ten diverse educational institutions ranging from community colleges to a large Ph.D. granting university. The programs supported by MnSGC reflect this institutional diversity. Some examples of these programs include the development of Space Studies and Space Science minors, the development of laboratory experiments for college physics classes, presentations on the use of the internet in K-12 classes, and financial support for students ranging from college freshmen to Ph.D. candidates. Several of our programs are described in detail in this newsletter.

We are very pleased to have Dr. Randi Quanbeck join us as Program Coordinator for the MnSGC. Randi began her duties with the MnSGC in September and will serve as the point of contact for the Consortium. She will work with all of the affiliates in coordinating Consortium-wide activities and will assist them in developing new initiatives and enhancing existing ones. In the coming year, Randi will work to find supplemental funding sources for several of the programs outlined in this newsletter. She will also play an important role in seeing to it that the programs and activities of the MnSGC support both the National Space Grant and the NASA Strategic Plans. Randi is currently working to develop ways that the MnSGC can align itself with the "best practices" document being developed by NASA Headquarters for Space Grant.

Also included in this newsletter is a list of publications that are supported, at least in part, by MnSGC funds. So far, the total is 26 publications. There have also been 14 Masters degrees and 2 Doctoral degrees completed by students who have received Space Grant Fellowships. This year, we are adding several more graduate degrees--including several Ph.D's--to our list of recipients of Space Grant Fellowships. We also expect to have four minority students finishing advanced degrees this year who are partially supported by Space Grant. This is an impressive record given the relatively small amount of Space Grant funding available for research; an indication that we have done a good job in leveraging our resources in this area.

In addition to continuing many of our successful programs, we are starting several new programs for the recruitment of minority and female students into science and engineering. These new programs are listed on page six of this newsletter. One of the programs that we are very excited about, "Rockets for Schools," represents a new level of collaboration between MnSGC and the Kennedy NASA Spaceport Authority. Another priority for us has been to enhance our web site to provide web page information on the activities of each MnSGC affiliate. The new MnSGC web site also contains many specific resources for teacher enhancement and for Space Science inquiry for a variety of users. We invite you to make frequent use of this important resource.

Our main need in the coming year is for additional funds so that we can expand our activities. The coming year promises to be challenging, but it is one that we look forward to for increasing our activity level and for creating new partnerships in space science and aerospace engineering.

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The theme of native spirituality provided the focus for the meeting of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) which met in Rapid City, SD on October 11-12, 1996. Institutional representatives from about 25 tribal colleges nationwide were present. Dr. Carty Monette, AIHEC President, chaired the meeting.

The AIHEC began in the early 1970's with a grant from the Department of Education, Title III, to the Navajo Community Colleges and included all existing (at the time there were six) Tribal Colleges. The purpose of the grant was to provide a central communication and coordination point for existing colleges so that they could work together on joint issues such as funding and accreditation. The grant also provided support to existing tribal colleges to promote the development of new tribal colleges.

Several outside groups made presentations at the AIHEC board meeting. A NASA delegation comprised of Dr. Elizabeth Ward, Space Grant Fellow at Langly Research Center, Dr. Paul Smith, director of the South Dakota Space Grant Consortium, Dr. Brent Bowen of the Nebraska Space Grant Consortium, and Dr. Bill Hiscock, Director of the Montana Space Grant Consortium were present. Dr. Ward explained the opportunities available to AIHEC colleges through Space Grant funding. She also emphasized her desire for collaboration on faculty and student research projects, and encouraged tribal college representatives to become acquainted with NASA facilities. Each tribal college representative received a copy of the 1997 Information Guide to Research and Education Programs published by NASA.

As an observer, I was very impressed by a number of things at this meeting. One program that specifically relates to MnSGC was presented by Dr. Judy Gobert, Professor of Biology at Salish Kootenai College in Pablo, MT. Dr. Gobert is the Program Manager for the Alliance for Minority Programs (AMP). Dr. Gobert summarized the findings and recommendations of the second year external review conducted by the peer evaluation team of the All Nations Alliance for American Indians in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics that is being implemented as a National Science Foundation Program. With help from an NSF grant, Dr. Gobert has been able to implement a plan for developing degree pathways for native peoples in science and engineering that extends from high school all the way to the Ph.D.

Several other encouraging statistics surfaced during the course of Dr. Gobert's presentation. For example, once Native American students have completed their high school math requirement and have chosen to go on to a two-year tribal college, 82% reach graduation and 42% of those graduating go on to a 4-year college. This is much higher than the national average. On the other hand, Dr. Gobert expressed some concern about the need for improving fundamental math skills for native American students preparing for degrees in science and engineering. She had positive news about the progress that has been made in the AMP alliance in terms of institutional support and networking for native American students.

AIHEC has a 4.6 million dollar endowment for its activities. Money is becoming tighter everywhere, however, and President Monette's staff encouraged those present to become involved in grant writing initiatives to supplement their programs. AIHEC is on New Land Grant status and is being encouraged to develop New Land Grant programs. They are looking at the possibility of reserving approximately 15% of their endowment to serve underrepresented populations in rural areas.

The AIHEC staff in Washington, D.C. is working to improve the infrastructure of the organization. Improved data collection and development of a research archives were among the priorities mentioned. Anyone interested in contributing material for the AIHEC archives is encouraged to contact Mr. Sky Hauser at AIHEC, 121 Oronco Street, Alexandria, VA 22314 (703) 838-0400.

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