NASA Connecticut Space Grant Consortium (CTSGC) is delighted to announce recipients of its first round of Spring 2017 call for proposals. The funding programs that were part of this award cycle included: Faculty Research, Faculty STEM Education Programming, Undergraduate Scholarship, Community College Transfer Scholarship, Community College Scholarship, and Summer Internships. Award recipients span nine NASA CTSGC academic affiliate member institutions. Below are the names of recipients and description of the faculty research grants. Congratulations to all the awardees! A member of the NASA CTSGC leadership team will be in touch in the near future with award information.

 

Faculty Research Grant

Abdelshakour Abuzneid
University of Bridgeport
“Computer-Aided Simulator and Benchmark Testbed for the Internet of WSNs Using Satellite Link Communications”
The Internet of Wireless Sensor Networks (IoWSN) consists of many sensors and collects data from remote areas, which are used to help science labs located in space. However, due to the limited computational capabilities and battery lifetime of sensors, applications need to be judicious in using of the resource. The contributions of this research will include the implementation of an application to integrate space station and satellites to control IoWSN efficiently. The IoWSN will be investigated and built using satellite link communications. This project aims to alleviate unnecessary communications and to improve the performance, security and lifetime.  Such networks will be used to improve the life of earth by applying this technology in many applications.

Paul Slaboch
University of Hartford
“Effect of Aft Rotor on Forward Blade Wake in Counter Rotating Open Rotors”
Counter rotating open rotor (CROR) propulsion systems produce a large operating efficiency increase over conventional aircraft engines. The noise radiated by the CROR limits the functionality of the system. A significant portion of the noise is generated by the ingestion of forward rotor blade wakes by the aft rotor. This project will describe the effects of the aft rotor on the forward blade wakes through detailed analysis of an experimental dataset acquired by NASA Glenn Research Center. These effects can be directly correlated to the far field acoustics that prohibit this technology from being utilized in commercial aviation.

Xingguo Xiong
University of Bridgeport
“Balloon/Drone-based Aerial Platforms for Remote Particulate Matter Pollutant Monitoring”
Detailed data about distribution of Particulate Matter (PM) pollutants and their diffusion are essential to evaluate their effects on human health and environment. This research aims at developing balloon and drone based aerial platforms for remote PM pollutant monitoring. Compared to ground-mounted PM sensors, balloon/drone based aerial platforms cover much wider areas with better flexibility.  They can monitor remote, dangerous or difficult-to-access locations. Such platforms can be used not only for PM monitoring but also for studying climate change, ecological rehabilitation, among others.

 

Faculty STEM Education Programming

Seth Redfield
Wesleyan University
“A Public Lecture on Astronomy at Wesleyan University”

Ryan McCulloch
University of Bridgeport
“Next Generation Science Standards Workshop for Teachers K-12”

 

Undergraduate Scholarship

Ervin Lara
University of Bridgeport

Hetal Patel
University of Connecticut

Kyle Vaccaro
University of Hartford

Kim-Vui Duong
Central Connecticut State University

Ian Waters
Central Connecticut State University

 

Community College Scholarship

Donna Crane
Naugatuck Valley Community College

Lydia Gjuraj
Norwalk Community College

Michael Koutoumbas
Norwalk Community College

Tahje McClain
Naugatuck Valley Community College

Hector Navarro
Naugatuck Valley Community College

Roger Pappineau
Naugatuck Valley Community College

Donato Piroscafo
Gateway Community College

John Rivera
Naugatuck Valley Community College

Matthew Stromberg
Norwalk Community College

 

Community College Transfer Scholarship

Giuliano Stabile
University of Connecticut

 

Summer Internship

Cassidy Atkinson
University of Connecticut

Thomas D’Auria
University of Connecticut

Stephen DeRosa
University of Hartford

Justin Longton
Three Rivers Community College

Jacob Mikullitz
University of Connecticut

Thienly Nguyen
University of Hartford

Levi Reynolds
Naugatuck Valley Community College