MnSGC News
(most recent items on top)
Fall 2005
Fall 2005 MnSGC Meeting
The meeting was held at the UM-TC on November 12, 2005.
- James Flaten was introduced as the new MnSGC coordinator. Randi Quanbeck-Lundell stepped down from the coordinator position at the end of October.
- Budgets and statements of work are being collected for FY 2006-2007.
- Garrard reported on the status of funding for the augmentation and upcoming budgetary cycle. He also discussed the current NASA emphasis on Lunar/Mars missions and the standing list of NASA directives to consider when proposing projects and/or programming.
- Flaten discussed the status of longitudinal tracking of MnSGC scholarship recipients. He distributed requests for additional information on scholarship alumni and also for participant numbers for certain 2004/2005 projects.
- People shared comments and strategies regarding the use of scholarships (how to attract a broad pool of qualified applicants, how to be efficient with respect to faculty time spent on writing letters of recommendation, etc).
- An update was given regarding NASA summer internships for students (and faculty "deans"). More information will be forthcoming.
- Garrard and Flaten plan to visit MnSGC affiliate campuses in 2006.
Regional and National Space Grant Meetings
Garrard attended the Regional Meeting of NASA Midwestern Space Grant in Chicago, Illinois in mid-September. Garrard and Flaten attended the National Space Grant Director's meeting in Cocoa Beach, Florida in late October.
Winter 2005
MnSGC Faculty News
Congratulations to Professor William Garrard, Head of the Dept. of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics at the University of Minnesota and Director of the MnSGC, for receiving the distinction of AIAA Fellow.
Assistant Professor Heidi Manning, Concordia College, Dept. of Physics, is a collaborator at GSC for the Mars Science Laboratory. She is working with Paul Mahaffy on a sample analysis at Mars with an integrated suite consisting of a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer.
Higher Education News
The National Space Grant Program has indicated its support for a USDA initiative called the Geospatial Extension Program. The USDA initiative would offer $4 million in funding for Geospatial Extension Programs nationally.
The Institute for Women in Trades, Technology & Science (IWITTS) is looking to form collaborative partnerships with NSF ATE Project grant recipients. IWITTS has directed two successful NSF grants, most recently the WomenTechProject which was a 3 year effort in which IWITTS worked collaboratively with three community college demonstration sites to help them increase the number of females enrolled and retained in technology programs.
Pre-College News
Those Amazing Engineers! published by Trilogy LLC is available for purchase through Rose Reichman at 201-816-1211.
The 11th Annual Space Exploration Educators Conference, February 3-5, 2005, Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX.
Fall 2004
Regional Meeting of NASA Midwestern Space Grant
The meeting was held in Chicago on November 4-6, 2004.
- Presentation by NASA Headquarters (Brad Weiner & Jim Stofan) on an overview of higher education programs common to all NASA centers; an overview of informal education programs; and specific ways that HQ would like to collaborate with SG.
- Presentation by KSC (Gregg Buckingham) and GRC (JoAnn Charleston) and MSFC (Frank Brannon) on unique approaches and opportunities for GMSGR & GRC in higher education, research, scholarships/fellowships, workforce activities, pre-college activities, general public, and other areas.
- Federal Employment Briefing by Rhonda Horton-Taylor.
- Panel on student opportunities in NASA Education.
- Augsburg student, Heather Greene, won Honorable Mention in student poster contest.
Link: NASA Office of Education
Fall 2004 MnSGC Meeting
The meeting was held at the UM-TC on October 9, 2004.
- Budgets and statements of work were submitted for FY 2005-2006.
- Recruitment strategies of minorities and women were discussed for the scholarship program.
- The national student satellite program (CubeSAT) is a new initiative that will start this year.
- The BalloonSAT program is progressing and has participation from Concordia, Augsburg, UST, and the U of M.
- The MnSGC Internal Survey Process was completed with a final focus group discussion.
Last Modified: 2014-10-02 at 09:39:40 -- this is in International Standard Date and Time Notation