Texas Space Grant Consortium

Abstract NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract INSIDE THE NASA/ TEXAS SPACE GRANT CONSORTIUM DESIGN CHALLENGE PROGRAM: Motivating Students Through the Design Process Introduction: A paper entitled The NASA/Texas Space Grant Consortium Design Challenge Program: A Systems Engineering Educational Program 1 was presented at the 2008 ASEE meeting in Pittsburgh, which provided a general overview of Texas Space Grant Consortium’s (TSGC) flagship higher education program. The Program model was developed by the authors in an effort to improve student design team accountability while at the same time encouraging a higher level of motivation among the Design Challenge (TDC) participants. This paper will focus on the methods used by the Program to motivate students through the design process that at the same provide a level of accountability to program administrators. Anecdotal comments provided via program evaluations and surveys have provided the basis for the conclusions presented in this paper. Background: Sponsored as a NASA Workforce Development Initiative since 2002, the Design Challenge Program (TDC) remains a unique academic experience that exposes undergraduate students to space-related problems and careers as they work toward solving a NASA mission-relevant design objective. Participating students work as part of an engineering design team under the guidance of a faculty advisor and alongside a dedicated workplace mentor to solve a “real- world” problem identified and provided by NASA. Over the course of one or two semesters, each team simultaneously secures funding for their individual project and satisfies course credit required for graduation. The opportunity to engage in substantive student research is the hallmark of the program’s effort to encourage and prolong student interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) related academic studies and careers. A measure of success is assured for all participants using TDC methods that guide and motivate student teams through each phase of project development. The program accomplishes this by providing resources that are directly tied to the successful completion of required milestones called “Levels” and optional opportunities called “Option Areas.” Guidelines and awards attached to milestone deliverables provide schedule structure, motivation, instruction, and funding to the team as design projects mature from the preliminary idea-stage to a sound design solution. Graduate student peer reviews complement academic and technical guidance provided by both faculty and project mentors/customers. The semester culminates with a professional-style conference, called the Design Challenge Showcase, which provides each team with a platform for presenting their work to an audience of peers, NASA mentors and members of the academic community. Monetary resources earned by the student teams are minimal by most funding standards, but adequate to allow for project supply procurement and model building. Supplemental grants support off-campus travel and collaboration opportunities within the community-at-large, provide funds to support more advanced second-semester model or prototype construction, and

The Texas Space

Science education has increasingly been an area of concern for educational leaders in the state of Texas. Many educators are looking for interesting ways to reach students by taking advantage of new technologies. The Texas Space Grant Consortium has begun developing a series of K-12 educational programs focused on using remote sensing for Earth science. These programs include a prototype remote sensing design competition (Sky View), an Internet based remote sensing program (STARS) and the TOPEX/Poseidon Adopt-a-buoy. Sky View, in its third year, is a unique and challenging program for secondary students to experience engineering design and to reap the benefits of remote sensing of the environment. The program is centered around a student team designing, building, and operating photography system to meet an objective. Students must present their results to a panel of judges at a competition held at the University of Texas at Austin. Previous projects include monitoring beach erosion, precision farming, monitoring of prairie dog towns, and drainage capabilities of retention ponds. STARS (Students and Teachers Accessing Remote Sensing) is a new Internet based program which is focused on using remote sensing for different Earth science applications. STARS will serve as an Internet resource for satellite data in conjunction with ground truth data and science curriculum. The primary focus is meteorology, but additional modules are planned in oceanography, land use, geology, and water resources. TOPEX/Poseidon Adopt-a-buoy is educational outreach program between University of Texas Center for Space Research (UTCSR) and the Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research (CCAR). Student teams will design shallow water platforms to be used for calibrating the altimeter measurements of TOPEX/Poseidon.

CSR) support the STEM Enhancement in Earth Science (SEES) program which provides selected high school students with exposure