Monthly Archives October 2020

We are excited to announce that the NASA MINDS proposal from our team of undergraduate students, led by Perla Latorre Suarez, has been accepted. This team, called LunarMakes3D, includes Rohan Madathil, Nya Segura-Watson, Vanessa D’Esposito, and Felix Morales.

The team members of LunarMakes3D will learn more about the Artemis mission. To contribute to this mission, they will develop autonomous 3D printed nanomaterial sensors. During the first semester, the team will be doing research and creating a plan that includes a preliminary design review form. Following the review of the preliminary report, the team may be selected for the second semester to focus on developing the printing method, printing the sensors, and testing them.

NASA MINDS is a multi-semester, undergraduate level opportunity that will support NASA’s Artemis mission and their Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. The skills, creativity, and innovation of the student teams are challenged as they are asked to design and build technologies needed for NASA’s Artemis mission, with the support of their faculty mentors. Teams selected by NASA will receive $1,500 to be used in the build of their design, and their faculty mentor will receive a $1,000 stipend upon successful completion of all requirements. Selected team projects will be reviewed by NASA judges and teams can receive recognition awards up to $5,000.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded Dr. Ghosh and Dr. Raghavan $100,000 to study the initiation and early incubation of stress-corrosion cracking (SCC) in aircraft components, and develop computer models to pinpoint these stages. The goal is that once these computer models are developed, the creation of physical models, and eventually SCC early detection systems, will begin development.

They were featured in UCF Today and UCF MAE, where you can learn more about their project.

The students currently working on the project are Doctoral student Zachary Stein (lead), and Undergraduate researcher Vanessa D’Esposito. They will be working with techniques such as in situ testing with high energy X-Ray diffraction and Raman Spectroscopy, both of which will provide insightful information regarding the team’s samples throughout the project.

The team will benefit from the expertise of postdoctoral scholar Dr. Quentin Foulard and graduate student Johnathan Hernandez, and the in situ testing instrumentation and methods developed in their research.

 

Through the IRES program, graduate and undergraduate students can participate in a research collaboration with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Cologne, Germany to conduct research on advancing materials and combustion technologies for next generation propulsion and power generation systems. Applicant requirements include being enrolled at UCF, being enrolled in directed research during the Spring and Summer 2021 terms, and participating in research activities 10-20 hours a week. Students who are accepted will have the opportunity to work with leading scientists at a state-of-the-art facility as well as be able to participate in industrial visits and cultural activities. Housing and a competitive stipend are provided. The deadline to apply is November 20^th, 2020.

Click here to learn more about the IRES program.