Results for “U.S.” — Page 6

NASA NTRS2012

U.S. Spacesuit Knowledge Capture Status and Initiatives

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), other organizations and individuals have been performing United States (U.S.) spacesuit knowledge capture since the beginning of space exploration via publication of reports, conference presentations, specialized seminars, and classes instructed by veterans in the field. Recently, the effort has been more concentrated and formalized whereby a new avenue of spacesuit knowledge capture has been added to the archives through which videotaping occurs, engaging both current and retired specialists in the field presenting technical scope specifically for education and preservation of knowledge or being interviewed to archive their significance to NASA's history. Now with video archiving, all these avenues of learning are brought to life with the real experts presenting their wealth of knowledge on screen for future learners to enjoy. U.S. spacesuit knowledge capture topics have included lessons learned in spacesuit technology, experience from the Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and Shuttle programs, hardware certification, design, development and other program components, spacesuit evolution and experience, failure analysis and resolution, aspects of program management, and personal interviews. These archives of actual spacesuit legacy now reflect its rich history and will provide a wealth of knowledge which will greatly enhance the chances for the success of future and more ambitious spacesuit system programs. In this paper, NASA s formal spacesuit knowledge capture efforts will be reviewed and a status will be provided to reveal initiatives and accomplishments since the inception of the more formal U.S. spacesuit knowledge program. A detail itemization of the actual archives will be addressed along with topics that are now available to the general NASA community and the public. Additionally, the latest developments in the archival relationship with the Smithsonian will be discussed.

Chullen, Cinda↗

NASA NTRS2013

NASA's Commercial Crew Program, the Next Step in U.S. Space Transportation

The Commercial Crew Program (CCP) is leading NASA's efforts to develop the next U.S. capability for crew transportation and rescue services to and from the International Space Station (ISS) by the middecade timeframe. The outcome of this capability is expected to stimulate and expand the U.S. space transportation industry. NASA is relying on its decades of human space flight experience to certify U.S. crewed vehicles to the ISS and is doing so in a two phase certification approach. NASA certification will cover all aspects of a crew transportation system, including: Development, test, evaluation, and verification. Program management and control. Flight readiness certification. Launch, landing, recovery, and mission operations. Sustaining engineering and maintenance/upgrades. To ensure NASA crew safety, NASA certification will validate technical and performance requirements, verify compliance with NASA requirements, validate that the crew transportation system operates in the appropriate environments, and quantify residual risks. The Commercial Crew Program will present progress to date and how it manages safety and reduces risk.

Mango, Edward J., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS2013

U.S. Spacesuit Legacy: Maintaining it for the Future

The history of U.S. spacesuit development and its use are rich with information on lessons learned, and constitutes a valuable legacy to those designing spacesuits for the future, as well as to educators, students, and the general public. The genesis of lessons learned is best understood by studying the evolution of past spacesuit programs - how the challenges and pressures of the times influenced the direction of the various spacesuit programs. This paper shows how the legacy of various spacesuit-related programs evolved in response to these forces. Important aspects of how this U.S. spacesuit legacy is being preserved today is described, including the archiving of spacesuit hardware, important documents, videos, oral history, and the rapidly expanding U.S. Spacesuit Knowledge Capture program.

Chullen, Cinda↗

NASA NTRS2013

NASA's Commercial Crew Program, The Next Step in U.S. Space Transportation

The Commercial Crew Program (CCP) is leading NASA's efforts to develop the next U.S. capability for crew transportation and rescue services to and from the International Space Station (ISS) by the mid-decade timeframe. The outcome of this capability is expected to stimulate and expand the U.S. space transportation industry. NASA is relying on its decades of human space flight experience to certify U.S. crewed vehicles to the ISS and is doing so in a two phase certification approach. NASA Certification will cover all aspects of a crew transportation system, including development, test, evaluation, and verification; program management and control; flight readiness certification; launch, landing, recovery, and mission operations; sustaining engineering and maintenance/upgrades. To ensure NASA crew safety, NASA Certification will validate technical and performance requirements, verify compliance with NASA requirements, validate the crew transportation system operates in appropriate environments, and quantify residual risks.

Mango, Edward J.↗

NASA NTRS2013

Potential Impact of Land Use Change on Future Regional Climate in the Southeastern U.S.: Reforestation and Crop Land Conversion

The impact of future land use and land cover changes (LULCC) on regional and global climate is one of the most challenging aspects of understanding anthropogenic climate change. We study the impacts of LULCC on regional climate in the southeastern U.S. by downscaling the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies global climate model E to the regional scale using a spectral nudging technique with the Weather Research and Forecasting Model. Climate-relevant meteorological fields are compared for two southeastern U.S. LULCC scenarios to the current land use/cover for four seasons of the year 2050. In this work it is shown that reforestation of cropland in the southeastern U.S. tends to warm surface air by up to 0.5 K, while replacing forested land with cropland tends to cool the surface air by 0.5 K. Processes leading to this response are investigated and sensitivity analyses conducted. The sensitivity analysis shows that results are most sensitive to changes in albedo and the stomatal resistance. Evaporative cooling of croplands also plays an important role in regional climate. Implications of LULCC on air quality are discussed. Summertime warming associated with reforestation of croplands could increase the production of some secondary pollutants, while a higher boundary layer will decrease pollutant concentrations; wintertime warming may decrease emissions from biomass burning from wood stoves

Regional climate change↗

NASA NTRS2016

Green Propellant Landing Demonstration at U.S. Range

The Green Propellant Loading Demonstration (GPLD) was conducted December 2015 at Wallops Flight Facility (WFF), leveraging work performed over recent years to bring lower toxicity hydrazine replacement green propellants to flight missions. The objective of this collaboration between NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), WFF, the Swedish National Space Board (SNSB), and Ecological Advanced Propulsion Systems (ECAPS) was to successfully accept LMP-103S propellant at a U.S. Range, store the propellant, and perform a simulated flight vehicle propellant loading. NASA GSFC Propulsion (Code 597) managed all aspects of the operation, handling logistics, preparing the procedures, and implementing the demonstration. In addition to the partnership described above, Moog Inc. developed an LMP-103S propellant-compatible titanium rolling diaphragm flight development tank and loaned it to GSFC to act as the GPLD flight vessel. The flight development tank offered the GPLD an additional level of flight-like propellant handling process and procedures. Moog Inc. also provided a compatible latching isolation valve for remote propellant expulsion. The GPLD operation, in concert with Moog Inc. executed a flight development tank expulsion efficiency performance test using LMP-103S propellant. As part of the demonstration work, GSFC and WFF documented Range safety analyses and practices including all elements of shipping, storage, handling, operations, decontamination, and disposal. LMP-103S has not been previously handled at a U.S. Launch Range. Requisite for this activity was an LMP-103S Risk Analysis Report and Ground Safety Plan. GSFC and WFF safety offices jointly developed safety documentation for application into the GPLD operation. The GPLD along with the GSFC Propulsion historical hydrazine loading experiences offer direct comparison between handling green propellant versus safety intensive, highly toxic hydrazine propellant. These described motives initiated the GPLD operation in order to investigate the handling and process safety variances in project resources between LMP-103S and typical in-space propellants. The GPLD risk reduction operation proved successful for many reasons including handling the green propellant at a U.S. Range, loading and pressurizing a flight-like tank, expelling the propellant, measuring the tank expulsion efficiency, and most significantly, GSFC propulsion personnel's new insight into the LMP-103S propellant handling details.

Propellant↗

NASA NTRS2016

Green Propellant Loading Demonstration at U.S. Range

The Green Propellant Loading Demonstration (GPLD) was conducted December 2015 at Wallops Flight Facility (WFF), leveraging work performed over recent years to bring lower toxicity hydrazine replacement green propellants to flight missions. The objective of this collaboration between NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), WFF, the Swedish National Space Board (SNSB), and Ecological Advanced Propulsion Systems (ECAPS) was to successfully accept LMP-103S propellant at a U.S. Range, store the propellant, and perform a simulated flight vehicle propellant loading. NASA GSFC Propulsion (Code 597) managed all aspects of the operation, handling logistics, preparing the procedures, and implementing the demonstration. In addition to the partnership described above, Moog Inc. developed an LMP-103S propellant-compatible titanium rolling diaphragm flight development tank and loaned it to GSFC to act as the GPLD flight vessel. The flight development tank offered the GPLD an additional level of flight-like propellant handling process and procedures. Moog Inc. also provided a compatible latching isolation valve for remote propellant expulsion. The GPLD operation, in concert with Moog Inc. executed a flight development tank expulsion efficiency performance test using LMP-103S propellant. As part of the demonstration work, GSFC and WFF documented Range safety analyses and practices including all elements of shipping, storage, handling, operations, decontamination, and disposal. LMP-103S has not been previously handled at a U.S. Launch Range. Requisite for this activity was an LMP-103S Risk Analysis Report and Ground Safety Plan. GSFC and WFF safety offices jointly developed safety documentation for application into the GPLD operation. The GPLD along with the GSFC Propulsion historical hydrazine loading experiences offer direct comparison between handling green propellant versus safety intensive, highly toxic hydrazine propellant. These described motives initiated the GPLD operation in order to investigate the handling and process safety variances in project resources between LMP-103S and typical in-space propellants. The GPLD risk reduction operation proved successful for many reasons including handling the green propellant at a U.S. Range, loading and pressurizing a flight-like tank, expelling the propellant, measuring the tank expulsion efficiency, and most significantly, GSFC propulsion personnel's new insight into the LMP-103S propellant handling details.

Green Propellant↗

NASA NTRS2018

Attribution of Flux Partitioning Variations Between Land Surface Models over the Continental U.S.

Accurate quantification of the terrestrial evapotranspiration (ET) components of plant transpiration (T), soil evaporation (E) and evaporation of the intercepted water (I) is necessary for improving our understanding of the links between the carbon and water cycles. Recent studies have noted that, among the modeled estimates, large disagreements exist in the relative contributions of T, E and I to the total ET. As these models are often used in data assimilation environments for incorporating and extending ET relevant remote sensing measurements, understanding the sources of inter-model differences in ET components is also necessary for improving the utilization of such remote sensing measurements. This study quantifies the contributions of two key factors explaining inter-model disagreements to the uncertainty in total ET: (1) contribution of the local partitioning and (2) regional distribution of ET. The analysis is conducted by using outputs from a suite of land surface models in the North American Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS) configuration. For most of these models, transpiration is the dominant component of the ET partition. The results indicate that the uncertainty in local partitioning dominates the inter-model spread in modeled soil evaporation E. The inter-model differences in T are dominated by the uncertainty in the distribution of ET over the Eastern U.S. and the local partitioning uncertainty in the Western U.S. The results also indicate that uncertainty in the T estimates is the primary driver of total ET errors. Over the majority of the U.S., the contribution of the two factors of uncertainty to the overall uncertainty is non-trivial.

uncertainty↗

NASA NTRS2018

Attribution of Flux Partitioning Variations Between Land Surface Models Over the Continental U.S.

Accurate quantification of the terrestrial evapotranspiration (ET) components of plant transpiration (T), soil evaporation (E) and evaporation of the intercepted water (I) is necessary for improving our understanding of the links between the carbon and water cycles. Recent studies have noted that, among the modeled estimates, large disagreements exist in the relative contributions of T, E and I to the total ET. As these models are often used in data assimilation environments for incorporating and extending ET relevant remote sensing measurements, understanding the sources of inter-model differences in ET components is also necessary for improving the utilization of such remote sensing measurements. This study quantifies the contributions of two key factors explaining inter-model disagreements to the uncertainty in total ET: (1) contribution of the local partitioning and (2) regional distribution of ET. The analysis is conducted by using outputs from a suite of land surface models in the North American Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS) configuration. For most of these models, transpiration is the dominant component of the ET partition. The results indicate that the uncertainty in local partitioning dominates the inter-model spread in modeled soil evaporation E. The inter-model differences in T are dominated by the uncertainty in the distribution of ET over the Eastern U.S. and the local partitioning uncertainty in the Western U.S. The results also indicate that uncertainty in the T estimates is the primary driver of total ET errors. Over the majority of the U.S., the contribution of the two factors of uncertainty to the overall uncertainty is non-trivial.

evapotranspiration partitioning; transpiration; so↗

NASA NTRS2020

U.S. Coast Guard Boat Recovery Simulation at NASA Ames Vertical Motion Simulator

The Boat Recovery Simulation was a collaboration between the U.S. Coast Guard and NASA. The experiment was conducted at the NASA Ames Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS). The goals were to (1) design a VMS experiment that can accurately simulate the motion of high sea conditions and to (2) collect data for the U.S. Coast Guard on human performance related to small boat recovery operations. The experiment setup included a software operation model designed around empirical boat position data; a replica boat section manufactured to incorporate real-world task elements; and the means to collect objective and subjective data from human participants. The VMS provided a viable testbed to assess certified U.S. Coast Guard crewmember’s task performance while in motion.

Riccobono, Nicholas S.↗

NASA NTRS2020

U.S. Coast Guard Boat Recovery Simulation at the NASA Ames Vertical Motion Simulator

The U.S. Coast Guard routinely uses the Over-The-Horizon (OTH-IV), a cutter deployed, rigid-hulled inflatable boat for rescue and law enforcement operations. The term "cutter" refers to a Coast Guard vessel 65 feet in length or greater with accommodations for crew to live aboard and the ability to deploy smaller boats including the OTH-IV. A deployment method employed by some cutter class vessels is a davit crane system and specialized hook mechanism to connect the smaller boat. The launch and recovery operation requires several crewmembers, where one is tasked with releasing and connecting the hook to the small boat. Manipulating the hook can pose a risk to the crewmember depending on sea conditions combined with fatigue level or task expertise. Equipment and crewmembers are tested extensively due to the inherent risk of the task, but the sea conditions cannot be controlled. To address the sea condition variable, the U.S. Coast Guard and NASA leveraged the Vertical Motion Simulator (VMS) as a platform to test new equipment or train crewmembers in varying sea conditions. With 6 degrees of freedom and a vertical displacement of +/- 22ft, the VMS is capable of simulating conditions up to sea-state 5. The proof of concept experiment took place in September 2018 and demonstrated that the VMS can accurately simulate varying sea-states, collect performance data, and design a reliable and safe system for participants. The U.S. Coast Guard provided boat displacement data from the Large Amplitude Motion Program (LAMP). The program generates multi-directional waves with a cosine squared spreading function which produced a time history response of displacement data (surge, sway, heave, roll, pitch, yaw) of the OTH-IV's center of gravity (C.G). The displacement data was differentiated into acceleration evaluated at the crewmember's position at the front (bow) of the boat. Those accelerations were transformed to the VMS coordinate system and used as command inputs to the motion system's washout filters. The VMS uses Interchangeable Cabs (ICab) to perform flight simulations on a variety of aircraft or spacecraft configurations. An ICab typically contains seats, restraints, pilot controls, instrument panel, and out-the-window projectors all enclosed in a familiar cockpit configuration. To replicate the launch and recovery of a small boat, all the conventional features of a flight simulator and canopy were removed to be replaced with a to-scale OTH-IV bow mockup. The bow section was constructed from aluminum, and a connection point known as the davit ring. Additionally, a hook replica was suspended by a cable from the ceiling as if it were hanging from a davit crane aboard a cutter vessel. The last step was providing an auxiliary control to close the distance between suspended hook and the davit ring on the bow mockup. Without control the boat would simulate the wave motion, but with no guarantee that the crewmember will be in reach of the hook. Since the wave motion was repeatable, an additional acceleration command sent to the washout filters to move the simulator in the surge, sway, and heave directions, independently. The commands were rate limited such that the additional movement was not detectable with respect to the wave motion. The results showed that for each wave profile, a unique set of acceleration commands provided opportunities for crewmembers to gain control of the hook and connect it to the davit ring.

Riccobono, Nicholas S.↗

NASA NTRS2020

Synergistic Use of SMAP and OCO-2 Data in Assessing the Responses of Ecosystem Productivity to the 2018 U.S. Drought

Soil moisture and gross primary productivity (GPP) estimates from the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) and solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) from the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) provide new opportunities for understanding the relationship between soil moisture and terrestrial photosynthesis over large regions. Here we explored the potential of the synergistic use of SMAP and OCO-2 based data for monitoring the responses of ecosystem productivity to drought. We used complementary observational information on root-zone soil moisture and GPP (9 km) from SMAP and fine-resolution SIF (0.05°; GOSIF) derived from OCO-2 SIF soundings. We compared the spatial pattern and temporal evolution of anomalies of these variables over the conterminous U.S. during the 2018 drought, and examined to what extent they could characterize the drought-induced variations of flux tower GPP and crop yield data. Our results showed that SMAP GPP and GOSIF could well capture the spatial extent and dynamics of drought indicated by the U.S. Drought Monitor maps and the SMAP root-zone soil moisture deficit. Over the U.S. Southwest, monthly anomalies of soil moisture showed significant positive correlations with those of SMAP GPP (R2=0.44, p<0.001) and GOSIF (R2=0.76, p<0.001), demonstrating strong water availability constraints on plant productivity across dryland ecosystems. We further found that SMAP GPP and GOSIF captured the impact of drought on tower GPP and crop yield. Our results suggest that synergistic use of SMAP and OCO-2 data products can reveal the drought evolution and its impact on ecosystem productivity and carbon uptake at multiple spatial and temporal scales, and demonstrate the value of SMAP and OCO-2 for studying ecosystem function, carbon cycling, and climate change.

Soil Moisture Active Passive↗

NASA NTRS2021

Forest Cover Correlation with Population Trends of the Eastern Towhee in the Mid-Eastern U.S.

The Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus) is a large, ground-nesting sparrow-like bird in the Eastern United States that has shown dramatic population declines over the last 50 years. This species lives year-round in the southeastern U.S., but individuals from the northeastern U.S. migrate south in the winter and overlap with southeastern residents. The Eastern Towhee is one of the fastest-declining bird species in the eastern U.S. In this study, we compare Eastern Towhee population trends during the breeding season with winter population trends over the last three decades. Paradoxically, this species is significantly increasing in Maryland, West Virginia, New Jersey, Virginia, and Delaware during the winter, but decreasing during the summer. Using the national Breeding Bird Survey dataset, we show that the Eastern Towhee populations have been declining roughly at a rate of -11.58% in Maryland, -9.51% in West Virginia, -37.95% in New Jersey, -11.22% in Virginia, and -16.96% in Delaware per year from 1984-2015. But the populations have been increasing during winter roughly at a rate of 0.62% in Maryland, 0.05% in West Virginia, 0.33% in New Jersey, 0.08% in Virginia, and 0.51% in Delaware per year from 1984-2019, using the Christmas Bird Count. We explore a variety of hypotheses to explain this paradox, including a northward range shift in association with climate change, as well as changes in habitat availability. Our study documents how the natural world is changing in complex ways due to many stressors and will help understand how to conserve the Eastern Towhee.

Meklit Mesfin↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

A Survey of Earth Observation Data Needed by U.S. Federal Agencies

The Satellite Needs Working Group (SNWG), part of the U.S. Group on Earth Observations (USGEO), surveys U.S. Federal civil agencies every two years regarding the Earth observation data they need in order to accomplish their high-priority agency objectives. The 2020 SNWG survey marked the third assessment cycle (after 2016 and 2018). Information solicited by the survey includes the nature of the need, features and phenomena being observed, data measurement characteristics, satellites and data products the agency uses or plans to use, agency satisfaction with currently available data, and limitations to agency use of satellite data. For analysis purposes, agency needs are assigned to science Focus Areas such as atmospheric composition, carbon/ecosystems, solid Earth, water, etc. Analysis of the survey responses yields insights on the current landscape of Earth observation needs across the U.S. Government agencies. The evolution over multiple survey cycles has been analyzed by the SNWG Assessment team at the Interagency Implementation and Advanced Concepts Team (IMPACT) at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). Key trends emerged in the agency-agnostic analysis that can be helpful to NASA decision-makers evaluating the ongoing, evolving, and emerging needs for NASA missions and instrument datasets expressed by participating agencies in the SNWG.

Katrina Virts↗

NASA NTRS2023

ENSO and MJO Modulation of U.S. Cloud-to-Ground Lightning Activity

Cloud-to-ground (CG) lightning substantially impacts human health and property. However, the relations between U.S. lightning activity and the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) and El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), two predictable drivers of global climate variability, remain uncertain, in part because most lightning datasets have short records that cannot robustly reveal MJO- and ENSO-related patterns. To overcome this limitation, we developed an empirical model of 6-hourly lightning flash count over the contiguous U.S. (CONUS) using environmental variables (convective available potential energy and precipitation) andNational Lightning Detection Network data for 2003–2016. This model is shown to reproduce the observed daily and seasonal variability of lightning over most of CONUS. Then, the empirical model was applied to construct a proxy lightning dataset for the period 1979–2021, which was used to investigate the summer MJO-lightning relationship at daily resolution and the winter-spring ENSO-lightning relationship at seasonal resolution. Overall, no robust relationship between MJO phase and lightning patterns was found when seasonality was taken into consideration. El Niño is associated with increased lightning activity over the Coastal Southeast U.S. during early winter, the Southwest during winter through spring, and the Northwest during late spring, whereas La Niña is associated with increased lightning activity over the Tennessee River Valley during winter.

Lightning↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Comparison of Anthropomorphic Test Device and human Volunteer Responses in Landing Impact Tests of U.S. Space Vehicles

United States (U.S.) crewed vehicles are being designed to support the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) human spaceflight programs. Vehicles must be designed to meet NASA’s occupant protection requirements including landing injury assessment with anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs) and analytical models. However, these tools are limited in capturing all injuries that might occur during spacecraft landings. A NASA study of injuries during Soyuz vehicle landings has shown that analytical models are underpredicting occupant injury. Because of the inherent limitations with our analytical tools, human volunteer impact testing was employed to validate the safety of U.S. crewed vehicles. A total of 84 human volunteer tests in 11 different test orientations and g-levels were completed as part of this effort in collaboration with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and the vehicle development companies. Human subjects were tested at various realistic landing loads and in the highest fidelity seat and suit components that were available at the time of testing for two U.S. vehicles. Matched-pair ATD tests in the same test conditions were also conducted with small female and midsized male Hybrid III ATDs. ATDs were fully instrumented. Head accelerations and subjective responses were recorded in human subjects. In some cases, chest accelerations were captured. Responses of the ATDs and humans in matched-pair tests were compared. No ATD tests showed evidence for risk of injury based on NASA occupant protection requirements. Human subjects reported 17 cases of discomfort or pain, 1 human subject was diagnosed with a minor injury that was not evident in the ATD tests. These results provide evidence that ATDs do not capture all potential injury risks, namely lower severity injuries, discomfort, pain, and fit issues. Overall, human testing is beneficial to understanding the true risk of injury to crewmembers during Earth landings.

Teresa Reiber↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

U.S. GPM Status

The joint U.S.-Japan Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, now in its tenth year of operations, continues to pursue research on scientific and operational shortcomings in algorithms for retrieving global precipitation from satellite observations. A summary of operations, including the orbit boost, processing, science, and applications is provided. This includes key improvements to the GPM products for which NASA has lead responsibility. This includes refinements to ensure continuity for each product across the boundary in 2014 between the predecessor Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and the GPM Core Observatory. Early evaluations of the U.S. Science Team’s Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) in V07 show interesting behavior across the TRMM orbit boost that is highly relevant to the planned orbit boost for the GPM Core observatory. We will present summary statistics that illustrate the tremendous demand that exists in the user community for GPM precipitation products, which on the U.S. side is primarily focused on IMERG, and end by considering major issues that might be addressed in up-coming versions. These include the use of machine learning algorithms, the operational challenge of swarms of “small”, perhaps short-lived satellites, and continuation of precessing calibration satellites after GPM.

GPM↗

DOE OSTI2024

Energy Technology Commercialization and Entrepreneurship: Insights From the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Technology Transitions 2024 Energy Technology University Prize Faculty Track

The Energy Technology University Prize (EnergyTech UP) was established in 2022 with the goal of challenging student teams to develop impactful business plans for energy technologies of their choosing. EnergyTech UP is part of the The American Made Challenges program portfolio, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. EnergyTech UP is specifically funded by the Department of Energy's Office of Technology Transfer (OTT) and is administrated by staff at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Since its inception, the annual prize has attracted applications from approximately 1,948 students across nearly every U.S. state and territory, awarding over $1 million in funds to student teams. In 2024, the prize expanded to include a Faculty Track, which invited faculty members from degree-granting institutions across the U.S. to design entrepreneurship-based curricula or educational activities. This new track aims to foster innovation in energy entrepreneurship education by leveraging the expertise of faculty to create robust, practical, and inclusive learning experiences. This report summarizes the themes, strategies and impacts identified in proposals from EnergyTech UP's inaugural Faculty Track. Our primary data for organizing insights are the Faculty Track applications themselves. This evaluation of 2024 EnergyTech UP Faculty Track applications aims to support future EnergyTech UP Faculty Track applicants as well as others who are interested in promoting, developing, and/or implementing educational activities that focus on energy commercialization and entrepreneurship at their institutions. By presenting insights from 2024 entries to the Faculty Track, we hope to contribute to a growing inventory of open-source curriculum development resources and provide materials to facilitate the growth of similar programs at a variety of collegiate institutions.

adoption readiness level↗