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News archiveAn archive of Space Grant news and announcements
 Change in Washington Space Grant leadershipDue to her increased responsibilities as associate dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs for the University of Washington, Dr. Janice DeCosmo has officially resigned as director of Washington NASA Space Grant. Dr. Julie Lutz, a Space Grant associate director since 1996, will serve as the Consortium's interim director while we conduct a search for a new director. Click here to see a copy of Dr. DeCosmo's farewell letter to students and alumnni. March 7, 2007
"I'm absolutely thrilled," says Eliana, who entered the University of Washington at age 14. "I'm stunned to tell you the truth." Eliana, a recipient of the national 2004 Goldwater Scholarship, declined a Marshall scholarship to attend Oxford where she plans to complete her doctorate in mathematics. A multi-talented student, Eliana has made the most of her undergraduate experience. She traveled to Rome to study creative writing and danced with the UW dance program while still finding time to play ultimate Frisbee. As an undergraduate researcher, she apprenticed at Friday Harbor Laboratories, studying gene network dynamics and cellular behavior from the angles of mathematics, modeling, and developmental biology. She also taught a math enrichment class at TOPS, a Seattle K-8 alternative school. Rhodes Scholarships were created in 1902. Winners are selected on the basis of high academic achievement, personal integrity, leadership potential and physical vigor, among other attributes. November 19, 2005
UW President Mark A. Emmert commended Space Grant's scholarship program for its ability to attract talented students to the university and the program's exceptional support and community-building after the students arrive. He also praised the program for providing money for faculty to develop new innovative courses. At the same award ceremony in June, Space Grant scholars and graduating seniors Elizabeth Gray and Imai Jen-LaPlante received the 2005 President's Medals.
For these stories and more, see the new edition of our newsletter, Expanding Frontiers. July 1, 2005
NASA headquarters has extended funding for the Washington NASA Space Grant Consortium for an additional five years, citing the statewide program's overall excellence and significant achievements especially its undergraduate research programs. Reviewers singled out the Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) at the University of Washington for special praise ranking it as being "among the best such programs in the world." The Consortium provides more than 125 scholarships and fellowships a year, underwrites dozens of undergraduate research opportunities at UW, Consortium member institutions and at NASA Centers annually, and serves as a year-round resource for math and science teachers and informal educators through workshops, newsletters and classroom materials. Space Grant also sponsors public outreach programs and events to encourage interest in space-related science among learners of all ages. "Washington Space Grant has been a wonderful asset for our students," says Dean Ron Irving of the College of Arts and Sciences. "Their scholarships attract many of the state's strongest science-oriented students. Once here, the students have the opportunity to engage in research with UW faculty members, and they make the most of this opportunity, as I get to see each year at the annual program at which the students exhibit their research results. "Janice DeCosmo deserves great credit for her fostering of this community and for her dedication to the goals of the program, thanks to which Space Grant has achieved national prominence." A complete copy of the press announcement is available online. August 2, 2004
NASA Academy alumna Natacha Chough is part of the Mars Exploration Rover team featured on the May 26 cover of Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine. "We are very proud of our little twin robotic Rovers," she writes. The first Rover launch (MER-A) is scheduled for Sunday, June 8. A second one will take place June 25. The team, which is based at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, has been working at the Kennedy Space Center. While it will be hard watch the team's "babies" leave Earth, Natasha says she now has the satisfaction of knowing that she helped to send two biologically clean spacecraft to Mars. June 6, 2003
In its September issue, “Science” magazine used the NASA Reduced-Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program to focus on ways that NASA, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), and other science funding agencies are expanding adventurous research opportunities in an effort to encourage undergraduates to choose careers in science and engineering. UW undergraduates Graylan Vincent and Karen Kennell are among the students featured in the article. The Washington NASA Space Grant Consortium anually sponsors microgravity teams to travel to Houston to perform experiments aboard NASA 9312, the Johnson Space Center's flying reduced-gravity laboratory. Each team has two days of flights aboard a specially-modified NASA KC-135 aircraft, the same plane used to simulate weightless in space in the film “Apollo 13.” For the whole story, see New Lure for Young Talent: Extreme Research. Sept. 9, 2002
On Feb. 19, Cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov and Dr. Alexander Martynov, former director of ballistics for the Russian Mission Control Centre, will speak on their experiences "From Mir to Mars." The lecture will take place at 7 p.m. in the University of Washington Electrical Engineering Building, Room 105. Admission is free and open to the public. Vinogradov, a flight engineer, led the efforts to restore lost power to the Mir space station in 1997 after it was damaged in a collision with a docking cargo ship. Over his six months aboard the vessel, he undertook five spacewalks to repair the crippled space station. Martynov was responsible for landing space vehicles on the Moon, Mars and Venus. He is the author of 120 scientific articles and six books dedicated to spacecraft motion control in planetary atmosphere. He is currently the head of foreign relations for the administration of the city of Korolev in Russia. The lecture is sponsored by Washington NASA Space Grant Consortium. Both men will be available to sign autographs after the lecture. February 6, 2002
Recognize that voice on the radio? Chances are it belongs to a Space Grant scholar. “Learning@the Leading Edge” — a series of radio ads linked to a new UW Web site — features "bright students, pioneering discoveries and the real life connections the UW makes in communities around the state of Washington," said Harry Hayward, the university's director of strategic communications. The revolving showcase currently highlights Space Grant seniors Misty Bentz, an astronomy and physics major, and Christine Palermo, a biochemistry major whose undergraduate research has implications for future HIV treatments. June 6, 2001
Incoming UW freshman Mark Steedman took the spotlight in a Seattle Post-Intelligencer article on Space Grant's Summer Undergraduate Research Program. This year, more than 60 students have been matched with professors who are conducting research in the students' areas of interest. For the whole story, see Incoming UW freshman studies the effect of icy wings on airplane flight . Aug. 21, 2000
The launch of this groundbreaking mission, with University of Washington Astronomy's own Professor Donald Brownlee as principal investigator, was a success! Get the latest on Stardust's journey to comet Wild 2 here.
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