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UNC Physics Major Selected to Attend NASA Academy
July 2, 2008
Physics major Sarah Nowak holds a weather balloon payload - designed and built by a team of UNC students - prior to a successful launch, re-entry and deployment that was part of a recent NASA-funded learning exercise.
Photo courtesy of Bob Walch.
To University of Northern Colorado Physics major Sarah Nowak, being one of just 60 college students in the nation selected to attend a NASA Academy for Space Exploration this summer is more than a prestigious honor; it’s the next step in achieving her dream of becoming an astronaut.
Nowak is the only Colorado student attending a NASA academy this year. More than 1,000 applicants annually vie for a spot in the program, which provides 10 weeks of intensive training to help students prepare for leadership positions in future aerospace programs. Selection is based on academic excellence, leadership qualities, an essay, interest in the space program and recommendations from faculty.
"Sarah is one of several outstanding UNC Physics students, and she was the perfect candidate for a NASA Academy position," said Physics professor Bob Walch, whose own involvement with NASA projects over the years includes analyzing moon dust from the Apollo 17 mission.
Nowak will join 12 students from schools like Princeton, MIT and Dartmouth at the space agency’s academy at its Ames Research Center on Moffet Air Force Base near San Francisco. Academies are also located at three other NASA research centers.
The NASA Academy includes three major components: individual research where each student is paired with a principal NASA researcher, a student-team research project and extensive leadership training and familiarization with NASA through lectures and visits to a variety of NASA sites including Johnson Space Center in Houston, Edwards Air Force Base in California and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology.
"I’m so incredibly excited about this opportunity that it’s hard to describe," said Nowak, who will pursue an advanced degree in aerospace engineering after she graduates from UNC in December 2009. "I’m pretty geeky, so this is by far the highlight of my life so far."
Other NASA Ties
- Nowak is grateful for the presence and experience of Walch, who’s also influenced other UNC students in their NASA pursuits. Last semester, Casey Kuhns participated in astronaut training and tested a research project in zero gravity during a 10-day session for college students at NASA’s Microgravity University at Johnson Space Center. Three of Walch’s other students will attend a five-day NASA-sponsored workshop later this month at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, where they’ll build and test a payload by launching a rocket 37 miles into the atmosphere.
- Mathematics and Science Teaching Institute Director Steve Anderson is leading a $60,000 NASA grant based at UNC designed to help the space agency select potential landing sites for future expeditions to Mars. Anderson and his colleagues travel around the world to analyze active volcanoes and gather information to help them extrapolate how lava flows in the atmosphere of Mars, which is home to several large volcanoes, including one that’s the size of Arizona and an estimated 80,000 feet high.
- Gary Dutmers
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