RALEIGH, NC -- The excitement of aeronautics and space now comes with funding for dozens of North Carolina students and faculty, thanks to the North Carolina Space Grant. The statewide consortium of eleven universities competitively awarded 60 student fellowships and 26 faculty grants at its member institutions.

NC Space Grant awarded 37 graduate and undergraduate student research fellowships and scholarships to students attending its member institutions who are pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. These competitively selected awards engage the future STEM workforce in hands-on, aero/space-related research projects and facilitate the development of mentor relationships between students, faculty and the NASA community. In addition to the student work on university campuses, seven of these students will be engaged in research internships at 4 NASA centers including Goddard Space Flight Center, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Kennedy Space Flight Center and Langley Research Center. These awards totaled over $165,000.

NC Space Grant also awarded 23 undergraduate scholarships to students who are beginning their university education and are exploring careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. These students will be exposed to aero/space-related projects that are being conducted on their campus though exploratory research, interviews with scientists, and other interactions. These awards totaled $25,000.

NC Space Grant awarded 26 faculty grants in four major categories: research, higher education course development, K-12 teacher training and public outreach. These awards totaled over $349,000. While all of the funded projects have relevance to NASA, they were varied in scope. For example, funding is provided for:

• Research projects ranging from Gamma Ray Burst Detection to Red Wolf Tracking;
• Higher education projects ranging the development of a senior course in Intelligent Spacecraft to support for the statewide Undergraduate Research Symposium;
• K-12 teacher training workshops at the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, UNC-Pembroke and the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute; and
• Public outreach projects ranging from involving elementary students in aero/space activities to promoting aero/space economic development across the state.

For a complete list of funded students and faculty visit the NC Space Grant web site at http://www.ncspacegrant.org/

Contact – Dr. Chris Brown
(919) 513-2457
cbrown@ncsu.edu