When Virtual Incision tested its miniature robotic surgeon on the International Space Station in 2024, it was a victory for the Nebraska startup, which was able to remotely operate the robot from Lincoln. It also showed the impact that support from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration can make in the state

“We’re not taking credit for all the work that Shane (Farritor, a Virtual Incision co-founder) and his folks have done,” said Scott Tarry, co-director of the NASA Nebraska Space Grant and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) initiatives.

But the NASA Nebraska Space Grant has funded students working in Farritor’s lab at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. And Virtual Incision’s trip to space came through a NASA Nebraska EPSCoR grant awarded to Farritor and doctoral student Rachael Wagner.

That success speaks to the kind of matchmaking Tarry tries to do: connecting NASA priorities with Nebraska research. In the process, Nebraska gets support for its science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) workforce and a boost to local innovation.

Read the full article on: siliconprairienews.com

Author Credit: Lev Gringauz

Image Credit: NASA Nebraska Space Grant | Courtesy photo

Original Post Date: 3.25.26

Fly Me to the Moon (For Science)

BOZEMAN – At the invitation of NASA, a team of seven Montana State University students will travel to Spain this summer to fly stratospheric balloons while conducting sophisticated experiments during a total solar eclipse.

This is the sixth time that MSU’s Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project members will lead student teams from American universities as they investigate eclipse-driven phenomena and share images taken from the edge of space.

On Aug. 12, the MSU students will experience the total eclipse from Borgas, Spain, where they will conduct engineering flights along with teams from the University of North Florida and the universities of Bridgeport and Hartford in Connecticut. Each team will fly two balloons which, like weather balloons, rise to altitudes where the darkness of space and curvature of Earth are visible. The six craft will carry differing payloads of up to 13 pounds of scientific equipment needed for a variety of experiments, including some designed by local Spanish students. Among other investigations, the teams will measure changes in the concentration of atmospheric ozone during the eclipse and monitor the eclipse’s effects on radio communications. A long-range radio communications device called LoRa, designed by students at MSU, will be employed for the latter experiment.

“LoRa can communicate where the payload is and also send us great information about what’s going on with radio signals as things change in the atmosphere with the darkening from the eclipse,” said Angela Des Jardins, director of the Montana Space Grant Consortium and associate research professor in the Department of Physics in MSU’s College of Letters and Science. “So, it’s a little bit communications, a little bit science, and it also pushes the bounds on what that technology can do and shows us how far we can possibly transmit a good signal with that system.”

Read the full article on: montana.edu

Author Credit: Diana Setterberg, MSU News Service

Image Credit: MSU photo by Kelly Gorham

Original Post Date: 3.23.36

LARAMIE — While most students her age are just beginning high school, a 14-year-old home-schooled student in Laramie is preparing to enter college and has already earned global recognition from NASA for research focused on disaster response.

Antonika Shapovalova, the daughter of Veronika and Anton Shapovalov, was recently named a Global Nominee in the NASA International Space Apps Challenge, placing her among a select group of young innovators recognized worldwide.

The challenge, according to NASA, is a global hackathon that brings together participants from around the world to develop innovative solutions using open-source space and Earth data. The top projects are recognized for their impact, creativity and technical quality.

“I did research on remote sensing using the synthetic aperture for radar, writing code to analyze data and create a map that would model evacuation routes for floods with previously flooded areas,” Shapovalova explained. “I did this so people would know where to go and to prevent what happened last summer in Texas from happening again, because that was a very devastating event.”

Original Post Date: 3.26.26

Read the full article on: buffalobulletin.com

Author Credit: Rachel Finch

Image Credit: Photo courtesy of Antonika Shapovalova

Students awarded Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium Scholarship for senior design project

MSOE students are taking their Lunabotics senior design project to new heights after being awarded the Undergraduate Research Scholarship from the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium (WSGC). The WSGC awarded scholarships to Wisconsin students, educators, faculty and research teams conducting NASA-aligned research, STEM education and aerospace outreach across the state.

The team of mechanical engineering seniors is comprised of Mitchell Brust, Ruth Dobberpuhl, Clayton Fliss, Ethan Haselwood and Ian Rasmussen. For their senior design project, the team is designing and building a test chamber that can be used by the MSOE Lunabotics team to develop their vehicle for the annual NASA Lunabotics Competition hosted by NASA’s Artemis Program at Kennedy Space Center. The NASA Lunabotics Competition challenges university teams to design, build and operate autonomous lunar mining rovers that simulate real-world excavation tasks.

The MSOE team’s test chamber will be a smaller, more affordable version of NASA’s Artemis arena, and could be replicated by other universities in the future. “The chamber will be large enough to accommodate the Lunabotics team’s prototype moon rover and will include an air filtration system to prevent lunar regolith simulant from escaping into the lab,” explained Dobberpuhl. “Ultimately, we hope the chamber becomes a valuable resource for research, testing and community outreach.”

Read the full article on: MSOE.edu

Original Post Date: 1.14.26

Author Credit: MSOE University

Image Credit: MSOE University

Dr. Imelda Muller, a 2017 graduate of the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, has been selected as one of NASA’s 10 new astronaut candidates.

Muller, 34, was chosen from nearly 8,000 applicants, according to an announcement. She is part of NASA’s 24th group of astronaut candidates since the first group was selected in 1959.

Muller, who grew up in Copake Falls, New York, earned a bachelor’s degree in behavioral neuroscience from Northeastern University before attending UVM. She is a former lieutenant in the U.S. Navy and served as an undersea medical officer after training at the Naval Undersea Medical Institute. She later provided medical support for Navy operational diving training at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Read the full article on burlingtonfreepress.com

Original Post Date: 9.24.25

Author Credit: Beth McDermott

Image Credit: University of Vermont / NASA

As a North Carolina Space Grant Graduate Research Fellow, Gwen Kirschke is shooting for the stars — but not in the way you might think.

At the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL) in Crested Butte, Colorado, Kirschke, a doctoral student pursuing a Ph.D. in geospatial analytics at NC State University, is pairing traditional boots-on-the-ground pollinator monitoring methods with aerial imagery captured by the U.S National Science Foundation’s National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) Airborne Observation Platform. Her goal is to create a floral resources map of the East River valley in Colorado and determine if it can accurately predict ecological factors such as the nesting rates of bees.

This fellowship is awarded to graduate students conducting research in STEM fields related to NASA Mission Directorates. Kirschke’s project represents NASA Science, which “seeks to discover the secrets of the universe … and protect and improve life on Earth and in space.”

The 2025 field season was Kirschke’s sixth visit to the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory. She previously studied floral nectar production as an undergraduate student and later worked as a research technician on related pollinator projects. Kirschke’s interest in geospatial analytics and pollination pairs perfectly with the interests of her advisor, Applied Ecology Associate Professor Elsa Youngsteadt, who studies plant-insect interactions on a landscape level.

Read the full article on cals.ncsu.edu

Image Credit: NC State University

Author Credit: Heather Frantz

Original Post Date:

The Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium (WSGC), housed at Carthage College, announced its 2025-26 fall awardees Dec. 8, distributing over $150,000 in funding to advance STEM education and research across Wisconsin.

This year, Carthage students secured five Undergraduate Scholarship Awards, highlighting the College’s role as a key contributor to the state’s aerospace and STEM workforce.

Congratulations to the Carthage Undergraduate Scholarship Awardees:

• Juliana Alvarez ’27, Engineering
• Owen Bonnett ’27, Physics
• Jordan Gozum ’28, Engineering
• Braedon Larsen ’27, Physics and Engineering
• Teagan Steineke ’26, Physics

As the lead institution for the WSGC, Carthage plays a vital role in strengthening the state’s STEM talent pipeline. This year, the consortium funded 37 competitive awards at 19 institutions statewide, supporting everything from K-12 aerospace outreach to museums, national competitions, and student-led research. This competitive funding provides Carthage students with hands-on research opportunities and enables their participation in events aligned with NASA priorities, directly connecting their academic work to real-world applications.

For a complete list of all recipients from all institutions across all award categories, you can view the full announcement on the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium News and Awards page.

Read the full story on cathage.edu

Author Credit: Robert Nagel

Original Post Date: 12.7.25

Last month, NASA’s Science and Technology Education for Land/Life Assessment (STELLA) initiative organized a hands-on workshop for middle and high school teachers at American University focused on advancing remote sensing skills and STEM workforce development. STELLA is a low-cost, open-source, handheld spectrometer platform that participants build and use to measure light reflectance and environmental parameters, helping connect field-based observations with NASA satellite remote sensing.

STELLA Team Lead Mike Taylor led the workshop, with NASA Acres’ Drs. Mike Humber and Allison Bredder serving as contributors alongside Paul Mirel, creator and lead engineer of STELLA, who delivered a talk and Q&A, and Natalia Quinteros Casaverde, who shared a presentation on her use of STELLA to support home garden monitoring in Jamaica. The workshop was organized and planned by Chelsey Brown, Program Manager for the NASA District of Columbia Space Grant Consortium and the Integrated Space Science and Technology Institute (ISSTI). Funding was provided by a grant Chelsey received from the American Physical Society. It included contributions from Rachel Stagner, a nationally recognized STEM educator, 2023 PAEMST Awardee, 2018–19 Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow at NASA, and founder of STEMTeachersDMV, which also organized and sponsored the workshop.

Read the full story on science.gsfc.nasa.gov

Author Credit: NASA Acres

Image Credit: NASA STELLA

Original Post Date: 2.21.26

WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. — West Liberty University recently welcomed area homeschool students to campus for a hands-on science experience designed to spark curiosity and deepen understanding of the human body.

Fifteen students in grades 8–12 from the Ohio Valley Christian Home Educators (OVCHE) cooperative participated in “Topper Science – Anatomy & Physiology for Homeschoolers” in December 2025. The immersive event provided participants with a college-level laboratory experience focused on comparative anatomy and physiology.

Hosted by Dr. Leslie Quinn, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, the program allowed students to explore the nervous systems of humans and animals through guided dissections of sheep brains and cow eyes. Students also examined detailed human anatomical models to better understand structural similarities and differences across species.

Throughout the session, students engaged directly in scientific observation, asked questions about biological systems, and gained exposure to laboratory procedures commonly used in undergraduate coursework. The event also provided an opportunity for participants to interact with West Liberty faculty and students, including Emma Wade, a first-year Biology/pre-veterinary major who assisted with the laboratory instruction.

Read the full story on westliberty.edu

Original Post Date: Dec. 2025

Author Credit: West Liberty University

Image Credit: West Liberty University