Ask yourself the following questions:
· Are you looking for a real world design problem?
· Do you want to participate on an interdisciplinary team?
· Do you want experience with mechanical components, optics, electronics and software?
· Are you looking for an independent study or a capstone project?
· Do you want to travel to the 'Big Sky' state?
· Do you want a chance to win scholarship and travel prizes?
If
you answered yes to these questions then this competition is for you!
Get your team of 3 to 6 students together and register today.
The
yearly National Student Solar Spectrograph Competition (NSSSC) is
Montana Space Grant Consortium's Education and Public Outreach (EP/O)
Program for NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) mission.
A Spectrograph is an instrument used to measure properties of light
over a specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum by separating
the incoming light into its characteristic frequencies of wavelengths
(spectrum). Spectrographs have a wide range of complexity from simple
grating or prisms to the cutting edge IRIS spectrograph.
The
NSSSC provides students from across the country the opportunity to work
as part of an undergraduate interdisciplinary team to design, build and
test a ground based solar spectrograph. Over the course of nine months,
teams come up with their own science goals and then build an instrument
to collect data in support of their goals. Teams then travel to
Bozeman, MT to demonstrate their instruments and present their results
in a competitive science fair environment. There are four judged categories: best build, best design, best science and best presentation. Each student on the winning teams receives a scholarship award of $3,000 and a travel award to a NASA launch.
College students interested in designing a spectrograph can now register for the 2012-2013 competition. Build awards of $2,000 per team are available for teams that register by Sept. 30.
Comments about the NSSSC:
"NASA is in a unique position to use scientific space missions like IRIS to foster student interest in science and engineering," said Diane DeTroye, of NASA's education office in Washington, D.C. "Giving
students a chance to get hands-on experience often encourages them to
pursue and continue STEM studies. This helps build an important pipeline
of talent for future NASA missions."
“The
concept of having undergraduates design, build and test a scientific
instrument is certainly unique as far as I know. This is a marvelous
opportunity for young people to develop high level skills in instrument
building. Using the instrument to answer science questions makes it
even better. I commend and thank you for this wonderful experience.
All of us will learn so much as we successfully complete this project.
NSSSC provides participating students a better chance for admission to
the graduate school of their choice. Also, they will receive better
fellowships when they are accepted to graduate school. It will give
some of them a direction for their career. I know of no other
opportunity to engage in instrument design and application.” – Edmond Wilson, Faculty Advisor Harding University
“The
opportunity to work on a real project has been a true motivation for
our students who can feel isolated at a small school with no significant
research going on.” – Jim Boger, Faculty Advisor Flat Head Valley Community College
The 2012-2013 Final Competition Dates are May 15-18, 2013 in Bozeman, MT. Any questions please contact Randy Larimer at rlarimer@ece.montana.edu or 406-994-6085
Registration and more information is available at http://www.spacegrant.montana.edu/iris/
Social Media Link: http://www.facebook.com/NASANS3
