Washington, U.S.A.  – NASA has announced the selection of 10 research efforts from the agency’s inaugural Space Technology Research Opportunities for Early Career Faculty solicitation. NASA will provide grants of as much as $200,000 per year for as long as three years in support of these faculties and their research in specific, high-priority technology areas.

The selected faculty will conduct research in areas closely aligned with NASA’s Space Technology Roadmaps and priorities identified by the National Research Council. These priorities include extending and sustaining human activities beyond low Earth orbit, exploring the evolution of the solar system and potential for life elsewhere, and expanding our understanding of Earth and the universe.

“It’s an honor to announce this outstanding group of early career faculty researchers, representing some of the most talented new faculty from the best institutions of higher learning in America,” said Michael Gazarik, director of NASA’s Space Technology Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “NASA will benefit from the work these researchers conduct in unique, disruptive or transformational space technologies or concepts, while strengthening America’s continued global leadership in the new technology economy.”

The selected Early Career Faculty researchers are:

• Chih-Hao Chang, North Carolina State University, Raleigh
• Nicolaus Correll, University of Colorado at Boulder
• Julia Greer, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
• Mary Lind, Arizona State University, Tempe
• Michele Manuel, University of Florida, Gainesville
• Jeremy Munday, University of Maryland, College Park
• Marco Pavone, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.
• Mina Raies-Zadeh, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• Debbie Senesky, Stanford University
• Wei-Chuan Shih, University of Houston

Newly-selected early career efforts will develop technologies to automate the production of food in space and investigate and test advanced wastewater recovery technologies. These efforts also will look to develop robust timekeeping technologies that enable more precise landing and autonomous rendezvous in space, and formulate new ultra-lightweight materials with properties that can be tailored.

NASA’s Early Career Faculty efforts are an element of the agency’s Space Technology Research Grants Program. It is designed to accelerate the development of technologies originating from academia that support the future science and exploration needs of NASA, other government agencies and the commercial space sector.

Image Courtesy of  Christopher Halloran / Shutterstock.com

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