High Altitude Ballooning Team at St. Catherine University
The High Altitude Ballooning (HAB) Team at St. Catherine University is an all-women’s research team devoted to exploring the stratosphere through a multitude of experiments. This research has been conducted at St. Catherine University since 2009 and the collaborative undergraduate research is presented at conferences throughout the year. These experiments are conducted through weather […]
Taylor-Couette Flow Apparatus Formation at Bethel University
At Bethel University, student Jake Stein worked to build three Taylor-Couette flow apparatuses for their Physics department. The creation of these apparatuses required research and prototyping to be done beforehand in order to best understand the math and science behind these physical devices. After the Taylor-Couette apparatuses have been assembled, future fluid mechanics students and […]
Freja Olsen
Freja Olsen is from St. Louis Park, Minnesota, and majored in physics at Carleton College. Freja, in collaboration with Adam Ickler and Dr. Ryan Terrien, worked on a project to refine techniques for the measurement of atomic absorption lines in the spectra of low-mass stars during the summer of 2020. She led the development of […]
Lakers Rocket Team at Leech Lake Tribal College
The Lakers Rocket Team at Leech Lake Tribal College creates high-powered rockets yearly to compete in the First Nations Launch in Kenosha, WI. The competition is focused on giving Tribal Colleges across the United States $3000 to build, travel, and launch their rockets at the Bong Recreation State Park in Wisconsin. For a recent competition, […]
Prof. Erick Agrimson
Professor Erick Agrimson, M.S., uses high-altitude weather balloons (HABs) as a delivery method to send up payload boxes with varied instrumentation to study the stratosphere. As a part of physics department at St. Catherine University in Saint Paul, Minnesota, his team of collaborative undergraduate researchers select HAB-related projects to work on. A current item of […]
Bailey Klause
Bailey Klause is from Redwood Falls, MN, and majored in physics, with chemistry and math minors, at Concordia College in Moorhead. Bailey, in collaboration with Dr. Thelma Berquó, Andrew Middendorf, and Dr. Graeme Wyllie, worked on a project synthesizing samples of α-FeOOH (goethite) doped with Al, Ni, and Cr during the summer of 2019. Bailey […]
Researching Spectroscopic Characterization of Low-Mass Stars at Carleton College
At Carleton College, students Freja Olsen and Adam Ickler developed and tested methods for measuring the chemical abundances of nearby low-mass stars using high-resolution spectra from the Habitable Zone Planet Finder. Their techniques, implemented in modular Python programs, have enabled the measurement of atomic absorption lines with improved precision, and are currently being extended to […]
Kyle Fraser-Mines
Kyle Fraser-Mines majored in physics at Carleton College and is from Tyngsborough, Massachusetts. During the summer of 2020, she worked with Dr. Cindy Blaha on a project to determine the luminosity functions of HII regions in galaxies and dwarf galaxies in the local group. She also created stacked emission line images for these galaxies. In […]
River Beard
River Beard is a physics student at Bethel University. River is driven to learn how the universe works and wants to use science and engineering to improve the lives of individuals and societies. River is researching the 5S – 5D two-photon transition in Rubidium as an optical frequency standard. The frequency standard can be deployed […]
Prof. Eric Kuha
Professor Eric Kuha, M.S., is an instructor of Information Technology at Leech Lake Tribal College in Cass Lake, Minnesota. He teaches by giving his students firsthand experiences by using a hands-on approach to learning with the use of cutting-edge technology. Professor Kuhn first studied at Bemidji State University where he earned his bachelor’s degrees in […]
Kei Heltemes
Kei is a current student Augsburg University, double-majoring in Chemistry (ACS-approved) and Physics, and minoring in Mathematics. He is also the president of both the Society of Physics Students (SPS) and the Augsburg Chemistry Society (ACS). He has participated in several different research projects in various disciplines. In the summer of his sophomore year, Kei […]
Thunder Rocketry Club at Fond du Lac Tribal & Community College
The Thunder Rocketry Club at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College has been building and launching high power rockets for over ten years. Their first experiences were with the First Nations Competition in Wisconsin but, as of late, they have also been attempting the MnSGC Midwest Competition, which is closer to home. The Thunder […]
Dr. Demoz Gebre-Egziabher
Director of NASA’s Minnesota Space Grant Consortium Dr. Demoz Gebre-Egziabher is a professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. Dr. Gebre-Egziabher teaches courses in aerospace systems and directs a research lab focusing on the design of multi-sensor navigation and attitude determination systems for aerospace vehicles. He […]
Dr. Cindy Blaha
Dr. Cindy Blaha is the George H. and Marjorie F. Dixon Professor of Physics & Astronomy at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. Dr. Blaha obtained her B.S. and Ph.D. in physics and astrophysics at the University of Minnesota and has been teaching and doing research with students at Carleton since 1987. Her astrophysics research centers […]
Studying Emission-Line Survey of Local Group Galaxies at Carleton College
At Carleton College, research is being done on how stars and gas interact to affect the evolutionary history of local galaxies. Their group has been working on M31 and M33, spiral galactic neighbors to the Milky Way, plus seven of our dwaf galaxy neighbors, and they have compiled a complete sample of ionized hydrogen or […]
MnSGC Student Symposium – redirect to 2022
Looking for the March 26, 2022, MnSGC Symposium instead? Click here: https://www.mnspacegrant.org/student-symposium-2022-03-26/ The Minnesota Space Grant Consortium hosted a statewide Student Symposium on Saturday, March 27, 2021 – see link to “abstract booklet” (including recorded video links) posted below. This day-long virtual event included talks from 24 individual students and student teams who have […]
Perseverance Rover Lands on Mars
On Feb. 18, 2021, NASA’s Perseverance Rover landed in the Jezero Crater on Mars. The car-sized rover is set to have a mission duration of at least one Mars year, which is about 687 Earth days. Perseverance is tasked with seeking out signs of ancient life and collecting rock and soil samples for possible return […]
Midwest High-Power Rocketry Competition Cancelled for 2020-2021 Academic Year
Due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions and uncertainties in Minnesota (and around the country), the Space Grant Midwest High-Power Rocketry Competition for the 2020-2021 school year needed to be cancelled. We are optimistic that by late summer 2021 we will be able to propose a new competition for the 2021-2022 academic year. Stay tuned!
NASA’s Artemis Team Returning to the Moon
NASA recently created the Artemis Team, which is a group astronauts from diverse backgrounds that are planning to walk on the Moon in 2024. This mission will involve the first ever woman to walk on the lunar surface and will be focused around scientific objectives. Furthermore, this mission will prepare NASA for their next large […]
Collecting a Sample from the Bennu Asteroid with NASA’s OSIRIS-REx
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Touch-And-Go (TAG) spacecraft launched on Sept. 8, 2016, from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and it plans to return to Earth in 2023 with a surface sample from the asteroid titled “Bennu.” OSIRIS-REx is expected to make contact with on Bennu and it is tasked with gathering 2 ounces of regolith from […]
NASA Launched Perseverance Rover to Mars on July 30, 2020 – will land on Feb. 18, 2021
At 4:50 a.m. PDT on July 30, NASA successfully launched the Perseverance rover from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The Perseverance rover was launched on a ULA Atlas 541, which should carry it to the Jezero Crater on Mars where the rover will proceed to explore the landing site region for one […]
Minnesota Space Grant Involved in Mars-Themed Pre-College Robotics Competition
In the summer of 2020 a “Minnesota-Modified” Rover Observation and Drone Survey on Mars (MN-ROADS) student challenge was held with multiple middle school groups from the Minneapolis Public School District. Over the course of six weeks student teams worked with teachers and MnSGC higher education teaching assistants to learn how to code mBot robots then […]
MN Space Grant Is Holding a Quadcopter Competition – Sign up this September
** Preamble ** Here is a “doable in the days of COVID-19” student competition you might be interested in. Participants will learn about drones, soldering, microcontroller programming, electronic sensors, and more. If you have questions, contact Thelma Berquo tberquo@cord.edu at Concordia College – Moorhead. First steps are (1) sign up a faculty adviser no later than the […]
MnDOT Aerospace Teacher Workshops Gallery
MnDOT Runs Aerospace Teacher Workshops
The MN Space Grant program allowed the Minnesota Department of Transportation – Office of Aeronautics to offer teachers, grades K-12, a chance to learn how to incorporate aviation and aerospace into their classrooms. The Aerospace Teacher Workshop was held for four days during the month of June. Teachers from around the state have participated in […]
Comet NEOWISE makes its closest approach to Earth
Comet NEOWISE passed closest to the Sun on July 3 and will pass closest to the Earth on July 23. It is the brightest comet visible from Minnesota in over 10 years. It should be easy to spot (under reasonably dark-sky conditions) at least through the duration of July, and probably beyond that, as it […]
Concordia College Organizes a 2020 Collegiate Drone-Building Challenge
On March 27 to March 28, nine teams were scheduled to get together and compete in a drone challenge. This challenge required students to work together to learn how to use CAD software, 3D print parts, and to code and wire microcontrollers to build a remote controlled drone that is tasked with navigating an area […]
Space-X’s Demo-2 Crew Dragon Mission
Space-X is planning on launching their first crewed mission to the International Space Station. Inside of the Crew Dragon capsule, NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will be launched into space using Space-X’s Falcon 9 rocket, which has be tested extensively over the past couple of years. The Crew Dragon spacecraft can fit seven […]