WASHINGTON, May 10, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- NASA is awarding approximately $45 million to 21 higher-education institutions
to help build capacity for research. The awards were made possible
through the Minority University Research and Education Project
Institutional Research Opportunity (MIRO) and Established Program
to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) grants, which are funded
by the agency's Office of Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Mathematics (STEM) Engagement.
"NASA's Minority University Research and Education Project
Institutional Research Opportunity and Established Program to
Stimulate Competitive Research awards help institutions raise their
technological bar," said Torry
Johnson, deputy associate administrator of STEM Engagement
Programs at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "When institutions enhance their
capabilities and infrastructure, they become more competitive in
their research, which opens doors to valuable experience and
opportunities."
Minority University Research and Education Project
Institutional Research Opportunity (MIRO) Awards
Seven
minority-serving institutions will receive approximately
$5 million each over a five-year
period of performance for projects that span a variety of research
topics. The institutions and their proposed projects are:
- Alaska Pacific University in
Anchorage – Alaska Pacific
University Microplastics Research and Education Center
- California State University in
Fullerton – SpaceIgnite Center for Advanced
Research-Education in Combustion
- City University of New York, Hunter
College in New York –
NASA-Hunter College Center for Advanced
Energy Storage for Space
- Florida Agricultural and Mechanical
University in Tallahassee – Integrative Space Additive
Manufacturing: Opportunities for Workforce-Development in NASA
Related Materials Research and Education
- New Jersey Institute of
Technology in Newark –
AI Powered Solar Eruption Center of Excellence in Research and
Education
- University of Houston in
Houston – NASA MIRO Inflatable
Deployable Environment and Adaptive Space Systems Center
- University of Illinois in
Chicago – Center for In-Space Manufacturing: Recycling
and Regolith Processing
NASA's MIRO award was established to strengthen and develop
research capacity and infrastructure of minority serving
institutions in areas of strategic importance and value to NASA
missions and national priorities.
Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research
(EPSCoR) Award
NASA establishes partnerships with government, higher education,
and industry to create lasting improvements in research
infrastructure and capacity for specific states or regions, while
enhancing its national research and development competitiveness.
The program is directed at those jurisdictions that have
traditionally not participated in competitive aerospace and
aerospace-related research activities.
NASA will award 14 institutions up to $750,000 each over the course of a three-year
period of performance. The awarded institutions and their projects
are:
- University of Mississippi in
University – Development of a Lagrangian Stability Analysis
Framework for High-Speed Boundary Layers
- University of Alabama in
Huntsville – Testing the functionality and performance
of a large area detector for STROBE-X
- Louisiana State University in Baton
Rouge – Colloidal Assembly: Understanding the Electric
Field Driven Assembly of Colloids and its Applications (Science
Mission Directorate)
- West Virginia University in
Morgantown – Science Mission Directorate: Bringing
Gravitational-Wave Astronomy into the Space Age: Next-Generation
Waveform Modeling of Black-Hole Binary Coalescences for Laser
Intererometer Space Antenna Data Analysis
- University of Puerto Rico in
San Juan – NASA EPSCoR: Space
Technology Mission Directorate/Jet Propulsion Laboratory: Advancing
High-Energy, Cycle-Stable Sulfur-Based Batteries for NASA Space
Missions: An Integrated Framework of Density Functional Theory,
Machine Learning, and Materials Innovation
- Desert Research Institute, Reno,
Nevada – NASA's Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley,
California: Prospecting and
Pre-Colonization of the Moon and Mars using Autonomous Robots with
Human-In-The-Loop
- Oklahoma State University in
Stillwater – A.7.4.2 Biosignature Detection of Solar
System Ocean Worlds using Science-Guided Machine Learning
- Iowa State University in
Ames – Johnson Space Center, Ames Research Center: Non-GPS
Navigation System Using Dual Star/Planetary Cameras for Lunar and
Deep-Space CubeSat Missions
- University of Alaska Fairbanks
in Fairbanks – NASA's Glenn
Research Center in Cleveland: The
Alaska – Venus analog:
synthesizing seismic ground motion and wind noise in extreme
environments
- University of the Virgin Islands
in Charlotte Amalie – University of the
Virgin Islands Etelman Observatory in the Era of Time Domain
and MultiMessenger Astronomy: Preparing for a New Era of Science
Productivity
- University of Hawaii at Manoa in
Honolulu – Cubesats for
Climate Change Detection of Transient Greenhouse Gas Emissions
- University of Idaho in
Moscow – Science Mission
Directorate and Goddard Space Flight Center: Improving Global
Dryland Streamflow Modeling by Better Characterizing Vegetation Use
of Deep-Water Resources Using NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate
Experiment/Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On, SWOT,
and Land Information System
- University of Arkansas in Little
Rock – AR- III-Nitride Ultraviolet Laser Diodes for
Harsh Environments, Space Based Communications, and Remote Sensing
(Space Technology Mission Directorate)
- South Dakota School of Mines and
Technology in Rapid City – Science Mission Directorate:
High Spatial-Temporal Resolution Soil Moisture Retrieval using Deep
Learning Fusion of Multimodal Satellite Datastreams
Both awards were made through NASA's Office of STEM engagement
solicitations. They promote STEM literacy to enhance and sustain
the capability of institutions to perform NASA-related research and
education, which directly supports the agency's mission
directorates.
For more information about NASA STEM, visit:
https://stem.nasa.gov
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SOURCE NASA