On Friday, November 2, 2012 at UC San Diego, learn about the most complex landing ever accomplished on Mars. NASA/JPL’s Brian Schratz, lead engineer for Curiosity’s Entry Descent and Landing telecommunications team, will share his experience with UC San Diego students, faculty, and staff. The public is also invited.

Mars Science Lab--Powered Descent

Brian Schratz, Lead Engineer--EDL Telecom, Mars Science Lab

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The California Space Grant Team recently led a distance learning activity between the Los Angeles County Fair and physics students at Mountain Empire High School, which is located in rural southeast San Diego County.

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The Gerald A. Soffen Memorial Fund is pleased to announce the last 2012 Travel Grant application opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students pursuing studies in fields of space science and engineering. Read the rest of this entry »

NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate is accepting scholarship applications from graduate and undergraduate students for the 2013-2014 academic year. The application deadline is January 14, 2013. Read the rest of this entry »

MSL Artist's Rendering, Courtesy: NASA/JPL-Caltech

History was made the night of August 5th with perfect execution of an autonomous landing sequence to bring the Mars Science Laboratory safely to the surface of Mars. After leaving Earth November 26, 2011 and traveling 352 million miles, the Mars Science Laboratory will study whether the Gale Crater area of Mars has evidence of past and present habitable environments. This is part of a broader examination of past and present processes in the Martian atmosphere and on its surface.

It is only through excellence in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) that such a mission could be successfully accomplished. The California Space Grant Consortium works in the STEM fields to engage, inspire, educate, and train the STEM workforce of today and the future.

For more information please visit the NASA JPL Mars Science Laboratory website.

To read President Obama’s statement on the successful landing, please click here.

To read reflections from California Space Grant students attending the JPL Mars Science Laboratory landing party, please click here.

The California Space Grant Consortium is saddened with the passing of Dr. Sally K. Ride July 23, 2012, after a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Dr. Ride was the first American woman in space, with flights as mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1983 and 1984. She served as Director of the California Space Institute, a University of California research unit which was the lead organization for the California Space Grant Consortium. While there, she created EarthKAM, a NASA program involving middle school students shooting and analyzing photos of Earth from cameras on board the International Space Station, inspiring students in space sciences, geography, and mathematics. In 2001 Dr. Ride formed Sally Ride Science, an educational outreach organization, to pursue her passion of inspiring and engaging children into Science, Mathematics, and Technology. Through her stellar achievements and grassroots educational outreach efforts, Dr. Ride has served as a role model for women of all ages to pursue their dreams and reach for the stars.

For a timeline of Dr. Ride’s life and career, please click here. For a biography, please click here.

California Space Grant students have gained valuable experience through hands-on, real-world projects preparing them for excellence in a wide range of Science and Engineering fields. Our students have accepted positions at NASA/JPL as well as the aerospace industry, including SpaceX, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and General Atomics. Read the rest of this entry »

The California Space Grant Consortium provided scholarships to nine students for NASA Academy internships this summer (2012):

• Samira Motiwala (NASA Glenn Research Center)
• Javier Gonzalez-Rocha (NASA Dryden Flight Research Center)
• Steffi Valkov (NASA Dryden Flight Research Center)
• Meagan Sung (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center)
• Michael McCormack (NASA Langley Research Center)
• Tanya Das (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
• Guadalupe Banales (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
• Guillermo “Willie” Costa (NASA Ames Research Center)
• Ivan Lucatero (NASA Ames Research Center).

These students are applying classroom knowledge to exciting real-world projects, gaining experience far beyond any classroom. Through NASA Academy, our students become leaders with a deeper understanding of NASA objectives and outstanding real-world aerospace expertise.

For photos and personal statements, click here.

To increase diversity in the STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math), the California Space Grant Consortium supported this summer’s “My Daughter is an Engineer” program, July 6-8, 2012. This program is designed for high-performing middle school girls to explore the field of engineering. This year, the program had its highest participation yet with 19 parent-daughter pairs.

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With support from the California Space Grant, UC Davis’ AggieMentors program has achieved  much success. AggieMentors is a part of the EnvironMentors program aimed at providing opportunities for underrepresented high school students in the Environmental Sciences and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields. Through AggieMentors, students are paired with individual graduate students and collaborate to develop student projects.

This year, UC Davis’ AggieMentors was able retain 100% of participating high school students who finished the program. And at the EnvironMentors fair in Washington, DC, AggieMentors student Angelica Cervantes was the recognized winner at this year’s national competition with her project titled “The Effectiveness of Different Antibacterials on Killing Bacteria”.

For more information on this story and the AggieMentors program, please click here.

For more information on EnvironMentors, please click  here.