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At least 73 records · Page 4

Research project for increasing pool of minority engineers

The Tennessee State University (TSU) Research Project for Increasing the Pool of Minority Engineers is designed to develop engineers who have academic and research experiences in technical areas of interest to NASA. These engineers will also have some degree of familiarity with NASA Lewis Research Center as a result of interaction with Lewis engineers, field trips and internships at Lewis. The Research Project has four components, which are: (1) Minority Introduction to Engineering (MITE), a high school precollege program, (2) engineering and technology previews, (3) the NASA LeRC Scholars program which includes scholarships and summer internships, and (4) undergraduate research experiences on NASA sponsored research. MITE is a two-week summer engineering camp designed to introduce minority high school students to engineering by exposing them to: (1) engineering role models (engineering students and NASA engineer), (2) field trips to engineering firms, (3) in addition to introducing youth to the language of the engineer (i.e., science, mathematics, technical writing, computers, and the engineering laboratory). Three MITE camps are held on the campus of TSU with an average of 40 participants. MITE has grown from 25 participants at its inception in 1990 to 118 participants in 1994 with participants from 17 states, including the District of Columbia, and 51 percent of the participants were female. Over the four-year period, 77 percent of the seniors who participated in MITE have gone to college, while 53 percent of those seniors in college are majoring in science, engineering or mathematics (SEM). This first Engineering and Technology Previews held in 1993 brought 23 youths from Cleveland, Ohio to TSU for a two-day preview of engineering and college life. Two previews are scheduled for 1994-1995. The NASA LeRC Scholars program provides scholarships and summer internships for minority engineering students majoring in electrical or mechanical engineering. Presently six (6) engineering students are in the Scholars program. The average GPA for the scholars is 3.239. Each scholar must maintain a minimum GPA of 3.000/4.000. NASA LeRC Fred Higgs has been awarded a GEM Fellowship. In addition, he will be presenting a paper entitled 'Design of Helical Spring Using Probabilistic Design Methodology' at the Middle Tennessee Section ASME Student Design Presentations in Nashville on March 23rd and at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research to be held at Union College, Schenectady, New York on April 20-22, 1995. Each of the scholars is working on one of the three NASA sponsored research projects in the college.

Rogers, Decatur B.↗

Lessons Learned from Real-Time, Event-Based Internet Science Communications

For the last several years the Science Directorate at Marshall Space Flight Center has carried out a diverse program of Internet-based science communication. The Directorate's Science Roundtable includes active researchers, NASA public relations, educators, and administrators. The Science@NASA award-winning family of Web sites features science, mathematics, and space news. The program includes extended stories about NASA science, a curriculum resource for teachers tied to national education standards, on-line activities for students, and webcasts of real-time events. The focus of sharing science activities in real-time has been to involve and excite students and the public about science. Events have involved meteor showers, solar eclipses, natural very low frequency radio emissions, and amateur balloon flights. In some cases, broadcasts accommodate active feedback and questions from Internet participants. Through these projects a pattern has emerged in the level of interest or popularity with the public. The pattern differentiates projects that include science from those that do not, All real-time, event-based Internet activities have captured public interest at a level not achieved through science stories or educator resource material exclusively. The worst event-based activity attracted more interest than the best written science story. One truly rewarding lesson learned through these projects is that the public recognizes the importance and excitement of being part of scientific discovery. Flying a camera to 100,000 feet altitude isn't as interesting to the public as searching for viable life-forms at these oxygen-poor altitudes. The details of these real-time, event-based projects and lessons learned will be discussed.

Phillips, T.↗

NASA/MSFC/NSSTC Science Communication Roundtable

For the last several years the Science Directorate at Marshall Space Flight Center has carried out a diverse program of Internet-based science communication. The Directorate's Science Roundtable includes active researchers, NASA public relations, educators, and administrators. The Science@NASA award-winning family of Web sites features science, mathematics, and space news. The program includes extended stories about NASA science, a curriculum resource for teachers tied to national education standards, on-line activities for students, and webcasts of real-time events. Science stories cover a variety of space-related subjects and are expressed in simple terms everyone can understand. The sites address such questions as: what is space weather, what's in the heart of a hurricane, can humans live on Mars, and what is it like to live aboard the International Space Station? Along with a new look, the new format now offers articles organized by subject matter, such as astronomy, living in space, earth science or biology. The focus of sharing real-time science related events has been to involve and excite students and the public about science. Events have involved meteor showers, solar eclipses, natural very low frequency radio emissions, and amateur balloon flights. In some cases broadcasts accommodate active feedback and questions from Internet participants. Information will be provided about each member of the Science@NASA web sites.

Adams, Mitzi L.↗

NASA/MSFC/NSSTC Science Communication Roundtable

The Science Directorate at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) conducts a diverse program of Internet-based science communication through a Science Roundtable process. The Roundtable includes active researchers, writers, NASA public relations staff, educators, and administrators. The Science@NASA award-winning family of Web sites features science, mathematics, and space news to inform, involve, and inspire students and the public about science. We describe here the process of producing stories, results from research to understand the science communication process, and we highlight each member of our Web family.

Adams, M. L.↗

Mathematics Integrated with Computer Science through Scratch: Curricular Modules for the Middle Grades

A project funded by the National Science Foundation, Computer Science Integrated with Mathematics in Middle Schools (CSIMMS) (DRL-1640039), brought middle-school mathematics teachers together with university computer science (CS) faculty and STEM education faculty to design, develop, and test curriculum modules in which CS is integrated into instruction for middle-school general-mathematics courses. The project developed integrated math/CS curriculum modules (for grades 6, 7, and 8), complete with student tasks and teacher materials to guide classroom implementation. Across the project, sixteen teachers from four middle schools representing different school contexts (both urban and suburban, serving students from a range of demographic and socioeconomic backgrounds) participated as members of the design team and trial testers of the math/CS modules. All modules underwent multiple years of testing and refinement, with extensive input from the teachers who co-designed and implemented them. Approximately 50-100 middle-school students participated in the classes of those who taught each year. The modules in this volume feature a range of models for integrating mathematics and computer science at the 6th and 7th grade levels. All modules foreground the teaching of grade-level mathematics content, with computer science functioning to motivate and/or reinforce these ideas.

Andrews larson, Christine↗

NASA-HBCU Space Science and Engineering Research Forum Proceedings

The proceedings of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) forum are presented. A wide range of research topics from plant science to space science and related academic areas was covered. The sessions were divided into the following subject areas: Life science; Mathematical modeling, image processing, pattern recognition, and algorithms; Microgravity processing, space utilization and application; Physical science and chemistry; Research and training programs; Space science (astronomy, planetary science, asteroids, moon); Space technology (engineering, structures and systems for application in space); Space technology (physics of materials and systems for space applications); and Technology (materials, techniques, measurements).

Sanders, Yvonne D.↗

Trenholm State (AL) Technical College High School Science Enrichment Program 1996-1997 Evaluation Report

This document presents findings based on a third-year evaluation of Trenholm State (AL) Technical College's National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) - supported High School Science Enrichment Program (HSSEP). HSSEP is an external (to school) program for area students from groups that are underrepresented in the mathematics, science, engineering and technology (MSET) professions. In addition to gaining insight into scientific careers, HSSEP participants learn about and deliver presentations that focus on mathematics applications, scientific problem-solving and computer programming during a seven-week summer or 10-week Academic-Year Saturday session.

Ross, Elizabeth G.↗

Developing Capabilities in Physical and Computational Sciences

The Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate (PCSD) performs fundamental research in support of the science missions of Offices of Basic Energy Sciences (BES), Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR), High Energy Physics (HEP), Nuclear Physics (NP), and Fusion Energy Sciences (FES), and others within the domains of the chemical, materials, computational sciences, mathematics, and physics. This LDRD project aims to provide funding to develop/demonstrate research capabilities for proposals and publications to support these science missions. Staff will propose small research tasks/projects to be performed under this overall project.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Research Institute for Technical Careers

The NASA research grant to Wilberforce University enabled us to establish the Research Institute for Technical Careers (RITC) in order to improve the teaching of science and engineering at Wilberforce. The major components of the research grant are infrastructure development, establishment of the Wilberforce Intensive Summer Experience (WISE), and Joint Research Collaborations with NASA Scientists. (A) Infrastructure Development. The NASA grant has enabled us to improve the standard of our chemistry laboratory and establish the electronics, design, and robotics laboratories. These laboratories have significantly improved the level of instruction at Wilberforce University. (B) Wilberforce Intensive Summer Experience (WISE). The WISE program is a science and engineering bridge program for prefreshman students. It is an intensive academic experience designed to strengthen students' knowledge in mathematics, science, engineering, computing skills, and writing. (C) Joint Collaboration. Another feature of the grant is research collaborations between NASA Scientists and Wilberforce University Scientists. These collaborations have enabled our faculty and students to conduct research at NASA Lewis during the summer and publish research findings in various journals and scientific proceedings.

Glenn, Ronald L.↗

Deep learning of free boundary and Stefan problems

Free boundary problems appear naturally in numerous areas of mathematics, science and engineering. These problems present a great computational challenge because they necessitate numerical methods that can yield an accurate approximation of free boundaries and complex dynamic interfaces. In this work, we propose a multi-network model based on physics-informed neural networks to tackle a general class of forward and inverse free boundary problems called Stefan problems. Specifically, we approximate the unknown solution as well as any moving boundaries by two deep neural networks. Besides, we formulate a new type of inverse Stefan problems that aim to reconstruct the solution and free boundaries directly from sparse and noisy measurements. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach in a series of benchmarks spanning different types of Stefan problems, and illustrate how the proposed framework can accurately recover solutions of partial differential equations with moving boundaries and dynamic interfaces. All code and data accompanying this manuscript are publicly available at https://github.com/PredictiveIntelligenceLab/DeepStefan.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Integration of NASA Research into Undergraduate Education in Math, Science, Engineering and Technology at North Carolina A&T State University

The NASA PAIR program incorporated the NASA-Sponsored research into the undergraduate environment at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. This program is designed to significantly improve undergraduate education in the areas of mathematics, science, engineering, and technology (MSET) by directly benefiting from the experiences of NASA field centers, affiliated industrial partners and academic institutions. The three basic goals of the program were enhancing core courses in MSET curriculum, upgrading core-engineering laboratories to compliment upgraded MSET curriculum, and conduct research training for undergraduates in MSET disciplines through a sophomore shadow program and through Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) programs. Since the inception of the program nine courses have been modified to include NASA related topics and research. These courses have impacted over 900 students in the first three years of the program. The Electrical Engineering circuit's lab is completely re-equipped to include Computer controlled and data acquisition equipment. The Physics lab is upgraded to implement better sensory data acquisition to enhance students understanding of course concepts. In addition a new instrumentation laboratory in the department of Mechanical Engineering is developed. Research training for A&T students was conducted through four different programs: Apprentice program, Developers program, Sophomore Shadow program and Independent Research program. These programs provided opportunities for an average of forty students per semester.

Monroe, Joseph↗

The Microgravity Demonstrator

The Demonstrator is a tool to create microgravity conditions in your classroom. A series of demonstrations is used to provide a dramatically visual, physical connection between free-fall and microgravity conditions and to understand why various types of experiments are performed under microgravity conditions. A wealth of back-round material on free-fall, microgravity, and micro-gravity sciences is available in two educational documents available through the NASA Teacher Resource Centers: Microgravity-Activity Guide for Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education, and The Mathematics of Microgravity. The remainder of this manual is divided into five sections. The first explains how to put the Microgravity Demonstrator together. The next section introduces the individual demonstrations and discusses the underlying physical science concepts. Following that are detailed steps for conducting each demonstration to make your use of the Demonstrator most effective. Next are some ideas on how to make your own Microgravity Demonstrator. The last section is a tips and troubleshooting guide for video connections and operations. If you have one of the NASA Microgravity Demonstrators, this entire manual should be useful. If you have a copy of the Microgravity Demonstrator Videotape and would like to use that as a teaching tool, the Demonstrations and Scientific Background section of this manual will give you insight into the science areas studied in microgravity.

Rogers, Melissa J. B.↗

A Summary of NASA Summer Faculty Fellowship Work in the E.O. Office and in the Educator Resources Center

The Office of Equal Opportunity supports a number of summer programs which are designed to: 1.) Increase the number of elementary and secondary students and teachers who are involved in NASA-related education opportunities; and 2.) Support higher education research capability and opportunities that attract and prepare increasing numbers of students and faculty for NASA-related careers. A part of my work in the E.O. office involved the evaluation of several of the programs in order to determine their level of success and to make recommendations for the improvement of those programs where necessary. As a part of the involvement with one of the programs, the PSTI, I had the great opportunity to interact with the students in a number of their sessions which involved problem-based learning in science, mathematics and technology. A summary of the evaluation of those programs is included in this report. The second part of my work involved assisting the coordinator of the Educator Resource Center at the Space and Rocket Center. I participated in space science workshops for in-service and pre-service teachers. There educational resources were made available to the participants including many hands-on activities that hey could take back to their classes. I participated in the three hour workshops that were offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays of each week, although there were workshops on other days. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I worked in the E.O. office. As a result of my work in the ERC, I developed a Directed Reading PowerPoint Lesson Plan Guide involving remote sensing entitled, Echo the Bat. This was based on a NASA published children's book entitled Echo The Bat, written by Ginger Butcher. I have included a description of the lesson in this report. A summary of the evaluations of several of the summer programs supported by the Equal Opportunity office are included in this report.

Thompson, H. Wendell, Sr.↗

Family Science Night: Changing Perceptions One Family at a Time

If students are not encouraged to succeed in science, mathematics, and technology classes at school, efforts to improve the quality of content and teaching in these subjects may be futile. Parents and families are in a unique position to encourage children to enroll and achieve in these classes. The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Family Science Night program invites middle school students and their families to explore the importance of science and technology in our daily lives by providing a venue for families to comfortably engage in learning activities that change their perception and understanding of science - making it more practical and approachable for participants of all ages. Family Science Night strives to change the way that students and their families participate in science, within the program and beyond.

Pesnell, W. D.↗

A Systems Analysis Approach to Understanding the Physiological Adaptation to Spaceflight

This book is a summary of interdisciplinary research (physiology, space medicine, engineering, computer science, mathematics) that spans two decades (1972-1992). The research was an attempt to use systems analysis, mathematical modeling, computer simulations, and database systems to integrate the biomedical spaceflight data that was being collected during this period. The goal of the effort was to achieve a better understanding of the human physiological response to short-term and long-term space travel. The activity was primarily devoted to analyzing the biomedical results of Skylab (1973-74), a series of three space missions which is still ranked as the most comprehensive of all long-term biomedical space studies to date. This work was begun as a coordinated effort between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Johnson Space Center) and the General Electric Company’s Space Division (Houston, TX). It was the intent that this multidisciplined, integrative approach could reveal aspects of the then-new science of microgravity adaptation that were not obvious by adhering to the traditional methodology of examining each organ system in isolation. Some joint work with the Russians, including the Apollo-Soyez test project and a joint bedrest study was also supported during this period. In the 1980’s the systems analysis group’s effort was redirected to support the science management of human and animal experiments on the Space Shuttle. A few examples from this era are also included in the book. Parts of this work have been published elsewhere, presented at technical meetings, and documented in reports with limited distribution. These publications will be referenced throughout the text and the interested reader is advised to use these as resource material where additional details are desired. The intent of this book is not to reproduce these documents but rather to present a coherent view of the integrative analysis under one cover. This volume contains the first detailed publication (other than in internal reports) of an extensive metabolic balance analysis of Skylab data, the development and validation of the “Whole-Body Algorithm,” and simulation studies of diverse hypogravic environments. An analysis of cardiovascular deconditioning and a description of the calcium regulatory model are also new. A long period has passed between the completion of the main body of work represented in this book and its publication in this form. It was inevitable that new research efforts would lead to developments related to the spaceflight problems addressed and thereby make some of our biomedical conclusions obsolete. Although in some cases reference to more recent work have been included, for the most part this book should be considered an historical summary demonstrating the approach and utility of systems analysis and computer modeling in the NASA Life Sciences program at the time the studies were conducted.

Leonard, Joel I.↗

College Bound with the Office of Educational Programs

The Educational Programs Office at NASA Glenn Research Center hosts a variety of programs that takes on the hard task of getting students of all ages interested in pursuing careers in science, mathematics, and engineering. To help assist students along the way there are many programs to participate in such as: the explorers, shadowing opportunities, and paid internships. The Educational Programs Office not only creates learning opportunities for students, they also host workshops to help educators enhance their knowledge these fields. This summer I assisted Marie Borowski in the Educational Programs Office with the Tennessee State University College Bound Program. The Tennessee state University College Bound Program is an intensive two-week summer academic workshop designed to introduce minority students to the profession of engineering. NASA Glenn Research Center sent forty dedicated students on a bus to Nashville, Tennessee to experience college life as a whole. At the college the students day consisted of a math class, aeronautics, ACT/SAT preparation, writing and research, African American Culture, computer science, and study sessions. The students also went on educational field trips to the Fisk Museum, the Space and Rocket Center, and the Parthenon Museum. On the last day of the program the students competed in an oratorical contest where the students made a Powerpoint presentation on the class that they enjoyed the most. There were many processes that had to be put into action for the college bound program to run smoothly. The process started in early January with the preparation of applications. Once prepared, the applications were then sent to schools and past participants in hopes of receiving a well-qualified pool of applicants. Once the applications were received, a prescreening is done which ensures all of the information is complete. Then, they are reviewed by a panel, using a rubric to evaluate them, and the semifinalists are then selected. Interviews are held with the students and their parents had to be interviewed by a panel of judges and graded on a rubric. The scores were added up and the forty students were selected. My job this summer was getting the students ready to leave for Tennessee. My job consisted of working very closely with my mentor, Marie Borowski, compile the student data to provide it to the chaperones, TSU records, and NASA records. I learned about the vital communication between the NASA and the TSU program managers. After all the planning was done and the program had begun I had a chance to fly to Tennessee for six days to observe the students daily activities. The students had adjusted very well to the intense schedule, and seemed very enthusiastic about the activities to follow. The whole group was very attentive and enthusiastic program be longer. My goals for the summer were all met. I wanted to learn and retain all the information I possibly could on the job I was given. I was very happy with the end result.

Neal, Brittany D.↗

Qualitative and quantitative enhancement of parameter estimation for model-based diagnostics using automatic differentiation with an application to inertial fusion

Parameter estimation using observables is a fundamental concept in the experimental sciences. Mathematical models that represent the physical processes can enable reconstructions of the experimental observables and greatly assist in parameter estimation by turning it into an optimization problem which can be solved by gradient-free or gradient-based methods. In this work, the recent rise in flexible frameworks for developing differentiable scientific computing programs is leveraged in order to dramatically accelerate data analysis of a common experimental diagnostic relevant to laser–plasma and inertial fusion experiments, Thomson scattering. A differentiable Thomson-scattering data analysis tool is developed that uses reverse-mode automatic differentiation (AD) to calculate gradients. By switching from finite differencing to reverse-mode AD, three distinct outcomes are achieved. First, gradient descent is accelerated dramatically to the extent that it enables near real-time usage in laser–plasma experiments. Second, qualitatively novel quantities which require $\mathcal{O}(10^3)$ parameters can now be included in the analysis of data which enables unprecedented measurements of small-scale laser–plasma phenomena. Third, uncertainty estimation approaches that leverage the value of the Hessian become accurate and efficient because reverse-mode AD can be used for calculating the Hessian.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

The extended auxiliary equation mapping method to determine novel exact solitary wave solutions of the nonlinear fractional PDEs

Abstract In this paper, some new nonlinear fractional partial differential equations (PDEs) have been considered.Three models are including the space-time fractional-order Boussinesq equation, space-time (2 + 1)-dimensional breaking soliton equations, and space-time fractional-order SRLW equation describe the behavior of these equations in the diverse applications. Meanwhile, the fractional derivatives in the sense of β -derivative are defined. Some fractional PDEs will convert to the considered ordinary differential equations by the help of transformation of β -derivative. These equations are analyzed utilizing an integration scheme, namely, the extended auxiliary equation mapping method. The different kinds of traveling wave solutions, solitary, topological, dark soliton, periodic, kink, and rational, fall out as a by-product of this scheme. Finally, the existence of the solutions for the constraint conditions is also shown. The outcome indicates that some fractional PDEs are used as a growing finding in the engineering sciences, mathematical physics, and so forth.

Engineering↗