Communications

Undergraduate engineer improves technology used for robotic arm movements

Isaiah Bell's greatest moment of excitement during his summer internship came when he moved his hand in free space and simultaneously moved a robot arm across the room. It was a marvelous achievement weeks in the making. (Photo courtesy of Lynn Freeny, DOE).

Post-master's participant promotes nuclear non-proliferation initiatives on a global scale

At Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), one of the birthplaces of nuclear energy, Mari Gillogly is in the perfect location to accomplish one of her goals: that of enabling nuclear safeguards initiatives to work in harmony with nuclear safety and security.

Students Shine a Spotlight on Geothermal Energy and Discover Career Pathways

The consensus among advocates of geothermal energy seems to be that geothermal energy is a great alternative resource, but not enough people know what it is. Student competitors in the 2014 National Geothermal Student Competition were faced with the fundamental challenge of addressing this issue.

Spending 18 days on the Arctic Ocean to aid U.S. Coast Guard data collection efforts

Unlike many college students, Anton Yanchilin did not spend his summer lounging around in a bathing suit and soaking up the summer rays - instead he bundled up in waterproof gear and set sail on the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Cutter Healy (WAGB-20), for a research cruise on the Arctic Ocean. (Photo courtesy of Stephan Molvig, COWI Denmark).

Detecting high power explosives to improve U.S. transportation security checkpoints

Standing in line at the airport, most people don’t usually think about the intricacies behind the security machinery scanning their items, but Tierney Sugrue is one of the few who does. As a participant in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) HS-STEM Summer Internship Program, Sugrue conducted research on a high profile national security issue: the detection of explosives and the machinery used to detect them. (Photo courtesy of Richard Zoll, TSL)

Ensuring data quality of a new airborne radiation detector for the land and sky

Benjamin Kaiser, a physics major from Elon University, spent his summer in northeast Las Vegas, not tossing around dice, but instead playing it safe for a newly developed airborne radiation detector, ARES or the Airborne Radiological Enhanced-sensor System. Kaiser was a participant in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) HS-STEM Program, which is a summer internship for undergraduate students majoring in a homeland security related science, technology, engineering and mathematics (HS-STEM) discipline.(Photo courtesy of Nancie Nickels, RSL, NSTec)

Researching the geographic origin of illicit gemstones seized at U.S. customs borders

Regardless of whether undergraduate chemist Jessica Elinburg would say diamonds are a girl’s best friend, she has certainly spent a lot of time getting to know them better. Elinburg had a unique assignment as part of her summer research internship—inspecting and analyzing gemstones, particularly diamonds, at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Laboratories and Scientific Services Directorate (LSSD) facility in Springfield, Va. (Photo courtesy of Gene Bondoc, LSSD-Springfield)

Undergraduate engineer increases efficiency and performance of fossil-energy power systems

Andrew Sisler, a mechanical engineering major, was forced to step out of his comfort zone when researching fossil-energy power systems at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) in Morgantown, W. Va. As a result, his research has helped to improve efficiency and lessen the negative environmental impacts of various types of energy systems currently adopted in the U.S. (Photo courtesy of NETL).

Mathematics student, future engineer, assesses economic viability of the Marcellus Shale gas wells as an energy source

The Marcellus Shale is the largest gas reserve in the United States, stretching across 104,000 square miles and extending from Marcellus, N. Y., into Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio and West Virginia. As one of the most valuable natural resources in the U.S., Allante Harrison, a Mickey Leland Energy Fellowship (MLEF) participant, was given the task of creating a model for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to determine whether removing gas from the Marcellus Shale was an economically responsible decision. (Photo courtesy of Charli Williams, DOE).

Rethinking Volcanology: Florian Max Schwandner, JPL Senior Fellow

Published in the NASA Postdoctoral Program Newsletter
Thinking outside of the box, while crucial to the progress of science, is not always done by scientists locked tightly into their own research concentration. While many others are delving deeper and deeper into one single aspect of their fields of research, Florian Max Schwandner, an NPP Senior Fellow at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), studies volcanology from many different perspectives. (Photo courtesy of A. Korde, JPL).

The Gamma-Ray Man: Adam Goldstein

Published in the NASA Postdoctoral Program Newsletter
If you happen to be driving in Huntsville, Ala., and get stuck behind a car with "GAMRAY" on the license plate, you've found Adam Goldstein. Also known as the "Gamma-ray Man" around his small hometown in Anderson, Mo., Goldstein has a reputation for being passionate about his research subject - Gamma-Ray Bursts or GRBs. (Photo courtesy of Adam Goldstein).

Ralph P. Harvey - First Impressions

Published in the NASA Postdoctoral Program Newsletter
Ralph P. Harvey is a pretty big deal in the meteorite world. Since the early nineties, he has been the field team leader and principal investigator of The Antarctic Search for Meteorites program, or ANSMET. Continuously supported from 1976 through partnerships with NASA, the Smithsonian Institution and Case Western Reserve University, ANSMET has been instrumental in recovering over 20,000 meteorites and materials from other planets in the Antarctic.