NDSGC Newsletter: 2-3-2025
NDSGC Announcements & Updates
UPDATED: Congratulations to Spring 2025 NDSGC Awardees:
- 9 ND K-12 Educators were competitively awarded support to attend the February 2025 Space Exploration Educators Conference (SEEC)
- Minot State University received an ASCEND award for 2025
- 2 Student Fellowships were awarded at the University of North Dakota and 1 at North Dakota State University
- 2 NASA interns from the University of North Dakota and 1 from North Dakota State University will be funded for Spring 2025
- 5 K-12 schools received a total of 21 Plant the Moon/Mars kits
- 12 K-12 teams received competition team funding
- 10 collegiate teams received competition team funding
SAVE THE DATE: Annual North Dakota Space Grant Consortium Meeting
- The NDSGC will host their annual Affiliates Meeting in Bismarck, ND on Friday, March 21st, 2025. Staff, faculty, and prospective students at NDSGC Affiliate Schools are highly encouraged to attend.
- Registration is required and will open soon
- Save the Date Flyer
- Previous annual meetings
NDSGC Opportunities
Opportunities facilitated by the NDSGC
UPDATED: NDSGC Sponsored NASA Internships- Summer 2025:
- NDSGC-sponsored NASA internships are for students at an NDSGC Affiliate institution. The Summer 2025 NDSGC-sponsored NASA internship application portal closes 2/15/25 (formerly 2/2/25) Students may receive NASA internships independently, but the NDSGC is also willing to advocate for ND students. This is a two-step process.
- NASA Glenn Research Center has contacted the NDSGC to inquire about students interested in the Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) internships listed below.
- If selected, students will perform hands-on training with real mission scenarios, analyze powerful space communications systems, utilize network software tools, and effectively communicate their findings in a final presentation to NASA leadership. Each student is paired with an experienced, multi-disciplinary mentor, who provides technical guidance throughout the internship and assists with future career planning. Both STEM and non-STEM positions are available. Some internship positions are live, and additional postings will be uploaded on a rolling basis.
- NEW: SCaN – Lunar Surface Communication System Testing and Data Analysis – SIP
- SCaN – Lunar Surface Propagation (LSP)
- SCaN – Solar System Internet Software Development and Testing
- SCaN – CSP Communications Testbed Software Development
- SCaN/GAVRT Social Media Support & GRC SCaN Digital Media Support
- SCaN – NASA HQ Radio Frequency Spectrum Management Analyst
- If interested in the SCaN internships above, please apply through NASA, submit an NDSGC-sponsored NASA internship form, and contact NDSGC Associate Director Tori McIntosh (tori.mcintosh@und.edu)
- If selected, students will perform hands-on training with real mission scenarios, analyze powerful space communications systems, utilize network software tools, and effectively communicate their findings in a final presentation to NASA leadership. Each student is paired with an experienced, multi-disciplinary mentor, who provides technical guidance throughout the internship and assists with future career planning. Both STEM and non-STEM positions are available. Some internship positions are live, and additional postings will be uploaded on a rolling basis.
NDSGC Sponsored Scholarships:
- NDSGC scholarships are now open! Applicants must be in good academic standing and pursuing a STEM or STEM Education degree. Please visit the scholarship landing pages for more details.
- Applications close 2/15/25:
- Lillian Goettler Scholarship (NDSU students)
- Pearl I. Young Scholarship (UND students)
- NDSGC Transfer Scholarship (Students at any NDSGC affiliate school that is advancing degree programs)
- NDGSC’s ND Vision Services/School for the Blind Scholarship (Students at any NDSGC affiliate school that receives services from NDVS/SB)
- NDSGC Undergraduate Scholarship at Bismarck State College (BSC students)
- Applications close 2/15/25:
NEW: NDSGC Summer Mini-Grants for Students:
- Mini-grants up to $2,500 are available for undergraduate and graduate students who are completing STEM- or NASA-relevant research that directly affects their thesis, dissertation, or a similar culminating project that enables them to graduate. These grants cannot be used for travel. Please visit the link below to learn more. Applications open February 1st and are due March 1st, 2025.
- Link: Student Mini-Grants
NEW: NDSGC Summer Fellowship for Students:
- NDSGC provides funding for North Dakota students to complete research fellowships at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Research fellowships are available to students completing STEM- or NASA-relevant research under the guidance of a faculty mentor. Students are expected to spend around 15 hours per week on their research projects. Please visit the link below to learn more. Applications open February 1st and are due March 1st, 2025.
- Link: Student Fellowships
NEW: NDSGC Summer Mini-Grants for Affiliates:
- Affiliate mini-grants up to $2,500 are available to NDSGC affiliate representatives who are hosting, or participating in research or education events related to STEM and/or NASA. Please visit the link below to learn more. Applications open February 1st and are due March 1st, 2025.
- Link: Affiliate Mini-Grants
NEW: NDSGC Summer Faculty Fellowship:
- Summer faculty fellowships are designed to assist faculty in creating or revising a college-level course in a Science, Technology, Education, or Mathematics (STEM) field with NASA relevance. The overall goal of this program is to increase exposure to NASA and NASA research. Please visit the link below to learn more. Applications open February 1st and are due March 1st, 2025.
- Link: Faculty Fellowships
NEW: NDSGC Summer Mini-Grants for Educators:
- Educator Mini-grants are open to North Dakota formal and informal educators who are teaching, hosting, or participating in research or education initiatives related to STEM and/or NASA. Please visit the link below to learn more. Applications open February 1st and are due March 1st, 2025.
- Link: Educator Mini-Grants
Opportunities Outside the NDSGC
Opportunities NOT facilitated by the NDSGC but relevant to the NDSGC audience
NEW: NASA STEM Sally Ride EarthKam:
- The Sally Ride EarthKam (Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle school students) is a NASA educational outreach program that enables students, teachers, and the public to learn about Earth from the unique perspective of space. Middle school students are able to request images of specific locations on Earth. To participate, you must create an account and join the mission. Mission dates are 2/5/25 through 2/10/25.
- Site: Sally Ride EarthKam
Mission Concept 2025:
- The Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL), in support of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Air Force Research Laboratory, Space Vehicles Directorate (AFRL/RV), announces the Mission Concept 2025 competition for US universities to participate in a summer program to design missions. Solicitations are due at 4pm ET, February 3rd.
- Site: Mission Concept 2025
Listen to the Universe:
- Have you ever listened to the universe? NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory is a telescope designed to detect X-ray emissions—data that some scientists then process and interpret using sonification, which turns large data sets into sound. On Wednesday, February 5, the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS)—in collaboration with NASA and the Smithsonian Institution—will host a virtual panel of scientists who will discuss the Chandra X-ray Observatory project and how astronomers with visual impairments pursue their careers.
- Join 7 p.m. Eastern Time, February 5th, on Zoom at https://loc.zoomgov.com/j/1619542004?pwd=LgN8J45UGeYbkiwz4fuba5jaKmpegI.1
NEW: NASA TechLeap Prize:
- To support future missions, NASA seeks to advance transformative solutions that address one or more of NASA’s technology shortfalls. Up to nine winners will receive up to $500,000 each to build their payloads plus the opportunity to test them on suborbital, hosted orbital, or parabolic flights. An online Q&A session will be held on Wednesday, February 12th, 2025, at 2:30 pm ET. This is open to qualified commercial businesses, academic institutions, entrepreneurs, and other innovators. Register by March 4th, 2025, and apply by March 20th, 2025.
NASA Wallops RockOn 2025:
- RockOn! is a hands-on team workshop teaching participants how to create a sounding rocket experiment from scratch. This workshop is designed for college students and faculty. There are no prerequisites for participants. Anything needed to be successful at the workshop will be taught at the workshop. The workshop is expected to take place from June 20– 25, 2025 with a launch expected on June 26, 2025. Team size is 3 people (2 students and 1 faculty member). Each team builds one RockOn experiment. You must sign up as a community college or university team. The workshop takes place at NASA Wallops. Applications close February 14th, 2025.
- Site: RockOn! 2025
NASA Astrophysics Small Explorers Program:
- Astrophysics Small Explorers Program conducts Principal Investigator (PI)-led space science investigations relevant to SMD’s astrophysics programs. Explorer investigations must address NASA’s goals to discover the origin, structure, evolution, and destiny of the Universe and search for Earth-like planets. Comment period ends on February 21st, 2025.
Business of Space Conference:
- The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) College of Business will host the second annual Business of Space Conference. This conference will bring together academics, business leaders, innovators and policy influencers for two days of curated sessions, keynote presentations and interactive discussions. Participants will explore the latest insights in the new space economy and help shape the course of future academic and policy research. Conference dates: 2/23/2025 to 2/25/2025.
NASA Space Biology and Physical Sciences Research Studies:
- The Space Biology and Physical Sciences programs within NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences (BPS) Division hosted a webinar to discuss the E.9 Space Biology: Research Studies and E.12 Physical Sciences Research Studies program elements recently released under Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Sciences (ROSES) 2024. For E.9 and E.12, Step-1 proposals must be submitted by February 4th, 2025. Step-2 proposals are due on May 6th, 2025.
