Queensborough College awarded second NASA Grant
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | NOV. 13-NOV. 19, 2020 23
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
Queensborough Community
College in Bayside is one
of two community colleges
across the nation to receive a
NASA award to contribute to
the preparation, training, and
development of NASA’s future
workforce.
The college is the recipient
of a NASA MUREP MISTC-2
(Minority University Research
and Education Project — Innovations
in Space Technology
Curriculum-Group 2). The
grant entitled, “Using Technology
to Engage and Inspire
Students to Explore (SpaceTechEngine),”
was funded in
the amount of $410,574 for two
years.
Queensborough is partnering
on the grant with the NASA
Goddard Space Flight Center
(GSFC) Mission Engineering
and Systems Analysis (MESA)
Division, the Atmospheric &
Space Technology Research
Associates (ASTRA), and City
College of New York (CUNY) to
capitalize on NASA’s ability to
inspire both students and the
public.
“This grant presents a wonderful
opportunity to further
establish our relationship with
NASA, and to inspire our excellent
students, despite these
unprecedented times, to still
see their dreams as reachable
goals,” said Dr. M. Chantale
Damas, associate professor in
the Department of Physics at
Queensborough, and principal
investigator of the grant.
According to Damas, a goal
of the grant is to increase the
participation of groups historically
underrepresented
in STEM fields so they too
may imagine themselves as
a new generation of scholars,
researchers, engineers and
astronauts.
Queensborough President
Dr. Christine Mangino offered
her congratulations to Damas
on the NASA MUREP MISTC
2 grant.
“Dr. Damas is clearly a
champion of her students and
instills in them the technologically
sophisticated knowledge
and skills that are essential
for continuing their education
and to qualify for any number
of promising research and
career opportunities in the
STEM fields,” Mangino said.
Students will work on the
Plasma Enhancements in The
Ionosphere-Thermosphere
Satellite (petitSat), a NASA
funded CubeSat mission to be
deployed from the International
Space Station (ISS) in 2021.
The petitSat Principal Investigator
(PI) is NASA scientist
Jeffrey Klenzing. Students
will investigate both
space weather effects on the
ionosphere, which reflects and
modifies radio waves used for
communication and navigation;
and simulate interacting
with a CubeSat for preliminary
assembly, integration
and testing (AI&T).
CubeSats are small satellites
which measure 10cm x
10cm x 10cm, and often ride on
a rocket to the ISS. These small
satellites play a valuable role
in NASA’s exploration, technology,
educational, and science
investigations, including
planetary exploration, Earth
observation, and fundamental
Earth and space science.
They are a cornerstone in
the development of cuttingedge
NASA technologies, as
shown by the Mars Cube One
(MARCO) CubeSats, which
were part of NASA’s recent Insight
Mission to Mars.
The project is particularly
relevant to the following two
NASA’s Strategic objectives:
Understand the Sun, Earth,
Solar System, and Universe;
and Inspire, engage, educate,
and employ the next generation
of explorers through
NASA-unique STEM learning
opportunities.
This past summer, Damas
ran an eight-week research
program with Dr. Sean Semper,
a lead engineer at NASA
Goddard Space Flight Center
in MESA’s Components and
Hardware Systems branch.
“Unfortunately, because of
COVID-related issues, the program
scaled back the number
from eight to four students:
three CUNY students and one
student from Rutgers University
New Brunswick,” Damas
said.
Materials were shipped to
students to build prototypes of
their 1U (unit) CubeSats using
only commercial-off-the-shelf
(COTS) components. Students
worked in teams to solve
CubeSat engineering-related
challenges and were successful
at building their CubeSat
prototypes.
Queensborough is currently
running a course focused
on space science and technology
in which students apply
the same methods used during
the summer to build their own
COTS CubeSats.
Queensborough graduate
Yang He was among the students
who participated in the
summer program.
“It was very exciting to
learn so much about designing,
building and testing
CubeSats,” He said. “I have
been privileged to work with
Dr. Damas over the past several
years. She gave all of her
students the freedom we needed
in order to discover things
for ourselves.”
He plans to graduate from
City College in the spring of
2021 and apply for a paid internship
at NASA Pathways
Program. His future aspirations
are to pursue his doctorate
in a related field and one
day own his own laboratory.
This grant follows Damas’s
2015 NASA MUREP Community
College Curriculum
Improvement (MC3I) grant in
the amount of $750,000 entitled
CUNY-NASA Solar and Atmospheric
Research Program
and Education Partnership
(CUNY-NASA SOLARPREP).
Queensborough was one
of four community colleges
across the nation to receive
the award, which is designed
to provide student training
and expand course offerings
to students in the Science,
Technology, Engineering
and Mathematics (STEM)
disciplines.
The curriculum (MC3I)
was successful at helping community
college students persist,
graduate and find their
career path, and the program
was featured in an article in
the Space Weather Journal.
Queensborough 2016 graduate
Christopher Tandoi, was
a student funded from this
program.
Tandoi continued his studies
and research at York College
and is now pursuing his
doctorate in instrumentationdesigning
lenses for telescopes
at the University of Illinois-
Urbana Champaign.
“Meeting Dr. Damas was
a turning point in my life,”
Tandoi said. “One day she visited
my physics II class and
handed out flyers offering
undergraduate research opportunities
in Space Weather.
I spoke with her, applied and
that was it. My days as a belowaverage
student were over.”
Danny Munoz, another 2016
graduate participated in this
program and was funded by a
grant from the National Science
Foundation (NSF) Geosciences
Directorate.
He is now an electronic
chemical engineer at Northrop
Grumman, an aerospace and
defense company, located in
Redondo Beach, Calif. Upon
graduating from Queensborough,
he moved on to City
College, where he continued
research in the college’s
electrical engineering
department.
“I am a first-generation
student who didn’t know the
language when I first came to
Queensborough. Dr. Damas
was compassionate and told
me that if I apply myself and
take on new challenges so I
can achieve anything,” Munoz
said.
Both Tandoi and Munoz
worked as research interns at
NASA, and throughout their
academic careers at Queensborough
under the mentorship
of Damas and Dr. Chigomezyo
Ngwira, formerly a research
associate resident at the NASA
Goddard Space Flight Center.
Damas expressed her deep
gratitude to Ngwira at ASTRA,
Dr. Masha Kuznetsova
and staff at the Community
Coordinated Modeling Center
(CCMC) — which first welcomed
community college students
at NASA Goddard Space
Flight Center — Queensborough
Physics Department colleagues
Dr. Tak D. Cheung and
Dr. Paul J. Marchese, and City
College Grove School of Engineering
colleague Dr. Roger
Dorsinville, for supporting
her efforts.
“Our mission is to inspire
motivated students before
they graduate so that they
may fulfill their dreams of
working at NASA or launch
exceptional careers,” Dama
said. “Queensborough has
also supported many community
college students nationwide.
I always remind
my former Queensborough
students: remember where
you got your start; be proud
of what you accomplished at
Queensborough.”
Damas gratefully acknowledges
support from the NASA
MUREP MISTC-2 (Minority
University Research and
Education Project—Innovations
in Space Technology
Curriculum—Group 2) under
NASA Award Number 80NSSC19M0221,
NASA MUREP
Community College Curriculum
Improvement (MC3I)
under NASA Award Number
NNX15AV96A; and the National
Science Foundation (NSF)
Geosciences Directorate under
NSF Award Number DES-
1446704.
QNS file photo
/QNS.COM
