NDSGC Newsletter: 3-17-25
NDSGC Announcements & Updates
Annual North Dakota Space Grant Consortium Meeting
- The NDSGC will host their annual Affiliates Meeting in Bismarck, ND on Friday, March 21st, 2025, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Staff, faculty, and prospective students at NDSGC Affiliate Schools are highly encouraged to attend! The day will include panels of students speaking about their experiences with NASA internships, research fellowships, STEM competition teams, and STEM Ambassador positions. There will also be a luncheon, NDSGC business meeting, and student poster session.
- Extra information:
New and Closing Opportunities in this Newsletter:
- JPL Planetary Science Summer School
- Applications due by March 18th, 2025.
- NASA TechLeap Prize:
- Applications due by March 20th, 2025.
- 2025 Incoherent Scatter Radar (ISR) Summer School
- Applications due by March 20th, 2025.
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NDSGC Opportunities
Opportunities facilitated by the NDSGC
NDSGC STEM Ambassador Program:
- STEM Ambassadorships are open to students who are self-motivated, enjoy interacting with K-12 students, educators, and the general public, and have strong communication skills. Students are paid hourly to conduct STEM and NASA engagement activities (hands-on activities, demonstrations, presentations, and recruitment) throughout the year. The pay is $18.00 an hour for up to 20 hours of work a week. Please visit the link below to learn more. Applications open April 1st and are due May 1st, 2025.
- Link: STEM Ambassador Program
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 April 1st and are due May 1st, 2025.
- Link: Faculty Fellowships
NDSGC Fall 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 April 1st and are due May 1st, 2025.
- Link: Student Mini-Grants
NDSGC Fall 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 April 1st and are due May 1st, 2025.
- Link: Student Fellowships
NDSGC Fall 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 April 1st and are due May 1st, 2025.
- Link: Affiliate Mini-Grants
NDSGC Fall 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 April 1st and are due May 1st, 2025.
- Link: Educator Mini-Grants
NDSGC Sponsored NASA Internships:
- NDSGC-sponsored NASA internships are for students at an NDSGC Affiliate institution. The Summer 2025 NDSGC-sponsored NASA internship is closed. The NDSGC does not advocate for students applying for the fall and spring NASA internships, though they are encouraged to still apply for the NASA internships.
NDSGC Sponsored Scholarships:
- NDSGC scholarships for 2025 are now closed. 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 for these scholarships open again in March 2026:
- 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 for these scholarships open again in March 2026:
Opportunities Outside the NDSGC
Opportunities NOT facilitated by the NDSGC but relevant to the NDSGC audience
NEW: 2025 NASA Planetary Science Summer School:
- Offered by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, PSSS is a 3-month long early career development experience to help prepare the next generation of planetary science and engineering mission leaders. Participants learn the process of developing a science hypothesis-driven robotic space mission in a concurrent engineering environment while getting an in-depth, first-hand look at mission design, mission life cycle, costs, schedule and the trade-offs inherent in each. There are two sessions for this school:
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- Session 1: Preparatory Sessions May 8 – July 24. Culminating Week with JPL’s Team X July 28 – August 1.
- Session 2: Preparatory Sessions May 22 – August 7. Culminating Week with JPL’s Team X August 11 – 15.
Please visit the links below to learn more. Applications are due March 18th, 2025.
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- Link: Planetary Science Summer School Flyer
- Link: PSSS Webpage
- STEM Ambassadorships are open to students who are self-motivated, enjoy interacting with K-12 students, educators, and the general public, and have strong communication skills. Students are paid hourly to conduct STEM and NASA engagement activities (hands-on activities, demonstrations, presentations, and recruitment) throughout the year. The pay is $18.00 an hour for up to 20 hours of work a week. Please visit the link below to learn more. Applications open April 1st and are due May 1st, 2025.
2025 Summer Field Technician
- This unique job will give students the opportunity to survey insects and plant communities across North Dakota. This position is active from end of May to the end of August, with pay at $15.50 an hour for 40 hours a week. Traveling is required for the position, with housing during travel provided. This position is open to all undergraduate or graduate students based out of the Grand Forks Area. Please look at attached link for more information on this opportunity and how to apply.
- Link: Plant Pollinators
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. Apply by March 20th, 2025.
2025 Incoherent Scatter Radar (ISR) Summer School:
- The school’s goal is to train students in the theory and concepts of incoherent scatter radar and allows for hands-on opportunities to design and run experiments at ISR facilities. This year’s school will focus on high-latitude/auroral observations using the Poker Flat ISR (PFISR). The 2025 ISR summer school will include a mandatory virtual session (via Zoom) on July 14, 2025, followed by the in-person school at University of Alaska (Fairbanks) July 20-26, 2025. Apply by March 20th, 2025. Notice of acceptance will be sent to participants by March 28, 2025.
- Site: ISR Summer School
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-2 proposals are due on May 6th, 2025.
