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By NASA
3 Min Read NASA Invests in Future STEM Workforce Through Space Grant Awards
NASA is awarding up to $870,000 annually to 52 institutions across the United States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico over the next four years. The investments aim to create opportunities for the next generation of innovators by supporting workforce development, science, technology, engineering and math education, and aerospace collaboration nationwide.
The Space Grant College and Fellowship Program (Space Grant), established by Congress in 1989, is a workforce development initiative administered through NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement (OSTEM). The program’s mission is to produce a highly skilled workforce prepared to advance NASA’s mission and bolster the nation’s aerospace sector.
“The Space Grant program exemplifies NASA’s commitment to cultivating a new generation of STEM leaders,” said Torry Johnson, deputy associate administrator of the STEM Engagement Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “By partnering with institutions across the country, we ensure that students have the resources, mentorship, and experiences needed to thrive in the aerospace workforce.”
The following is a complete list of awardees:
University of Alaska, Fairbanks University of Alabama, Huntsville University of Arkansas, Little Rock University of Arizona University of California, San Diego University of Colorado, Boulder University of Hartford, Connecticut American University, Washington, DC University of Delaware University of Central Florida Georgia Institute of Technology University of Hawaii, Honolulu Iowa State University, Ames University of Idaho, Moscow University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Purdue University, Indiana Wichita State University, Kansas University of Kentucky, Lexington Louisiana State University and A&M College Massachusetts Institute of Technology Johns Hopkins University, Maryland Maine Space Grant Consortium University of Michigan, Ann Arbor University of Minnesota Missouri University of Science and Technology University of Mississippi Montana State University, Bozeman North Carolina State University University of North Dakota, Grand Forks University of Nebraska, Omaha University of New Hampshire, Durham Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey New Mexico State University Nevada System of Higher Education Cornell University, New York Ohio Aerospace Institute University of Oklahoma Oregon State University Pennsylvania State University University of Puerto Rico Brown University, Rhode Island College of Charleston, South Carolina South Dakota School of Mines & Technology Vanderbilt University, Tennessee University of Texas, Austin University of Utah, Salt Lake City Old Dominion University Research Foundation, Virginia University of Vermont, Burlington University of Washington, Seattle Carthage College, Wisconsin West Virginia University University of Wyoming Space Grant operates through state-based consortia, which include universities, university systems, associations, government agencies, industries, and informal education organizations engaged in aerospace activities. Each consortium’s lead institution coordinates efforts within its state, expanding opportunities for students and researchers while promoting collaboration with NASA and aerospace-related industries nationwide.
To learn more about NASA’s missions, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/
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By NASA
2 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Nemanja Jovanovic, lead instrument scientist at Caltech, presents at the Emerging Technologies for Astrophysics workshop, held at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. The workshop brought together experts in astrophysics to discuss how advanced technologies could impact future mission planning.NASA/Donald Richey The future of astrophysics research could unlock the secrets of the universe, and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, quantum sensing, and advanced materials may hold the key to faster, more efficient discovery. Advancements and implementations of new technologies are imperative for observational astrophysics to achieve the next level of detection.
NASA’s Emerging Technologies for Astrophysics workshop brought together subject matter experts from industry, government, and academia to explore the state of new and disruptive technologies. The meeting was an effort to identify specific applications for astrophysics missions and better understand how their infusion into future NASA space telescopes could be accelerated.
The workshop took place at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley,. supporting the agency’s efforts to make partnership with public and private industry and collaborative mission planning possible.
“The profound questions about the nature of our universe that astrophysics at NASA answers require giant leaps in technology,” explained Mario Perez, chief technologist for the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Spotting potential in early-stage tech by encouraging discussions between imaginative researchers helps expand the scope of science and lessen the time required to achieve the next generation of astrophysics missions.”
Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence can support the design and optimization of future missions, and participants focused efforts on combining technologies to push research further. “Cross-pollination” of advanced materials like composites with advanced manufacturing, metamaterials, and photonic chips could support advancement in imaging missions beyond existing mechanical stability needs.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has dubbed 2025 the “International Year of Quantum Science and Technology” in recognition of a century of quantum mechanics. Workshop participants discussed how quantum sensing could enable more precise measurements, achieve “super resolution” by filling in missing details in lower resolution images, and provide greater capabilities in forthcoming space telescopes.
“This gathering of experts was an opportunity to find ways where we can increase the capabilities of future space instrumentation and accelerate technology development for infusion into NASA astrophysics missions,” said Naseem Rangwala, astrophysics branch chief at NASA Ames. “We can speed up the process of how we develop these future projects by using the emerging technologies that are incubated right here in Silicon Valley.”
The findings from this workshop and ongoing discussions will support efforts to study and invest in technologies to advance astrophysics missions with greater speed and efficiency.
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Tara Friesen
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Last Updated Apr 29, 2025 Related Terms
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By NASA
Jeremy Johnson, a research pilot and aviation safety officer, poses in front of a PC-12 aircraft inside the hangar at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland on Thursday, April 17, 2025. Johnson flies NASA planes to support important scientific research and testing.Credit: NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna Jeremy Johnson laces his black, steel-toed boots and zips up his dark blue flight suit. Having just finished a pre-flight mission briefing with his team, the only thing on his mind is heading to the aircraft hangar and getting a plane in the air.
As he eases a small white-and-blue propeller aircraft down the hangar’s ramp and onto the runway, he hears five essential words crackle through his headset: “NASA 606, cleared for takeoff.”
This is a typical morning for Johnson, a research pilot and aviation safety officer at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. Johnson flies NASA planes to support important scientific research and testing, working with researchers to plan and carry out flights that will get them the data they need while ensuring safety.
Johnson hasn’t always flown in NASA planes. He comes to the agency from the U.S. Air Force, where he flew missions all over the world in C-17 cargo aircraft, piloted unmanned reconnaissance operations out of California, and trained young aviators in Oklahoma on the fundamentals of flying combat missions.
Jeremy Johnson stands beside a C-17 aircraft before a night training flight in Altus, Oklahoma, in 2020. Before supporting vital flight research at NASA through a SkillBridge fellowship, which gives transitioning service members the opportunity to gain civilian work experience, Johnson served in the U.S. Air Force and flew C-17 airlift missions all over the world.Credit: Courtesy of Jeremy Johnson He’s at Glenn for a four-month Department of Defense SkillBridge fellowship. The program gives transitioning service members an opportunity to gain civilian work experience through training, apprenticeships, or internships during their last 180 days of service before separating from the military.
“I think SkillBridge has been an amazing tool to help me transition into what it’s like working somewhere that isn’t the military,” Johnson said. “In the Air Force, flying the mission was the mission. At NASA Glenn, the science—the research—is the mission.”
By flying aircraft outfitted with research hardware or carrying test equipment, Johnson has contributed to two vital projects at NASA so far. One is focused on testing how well laser systems can transmit signals for communication and navigation. The other, part of NASA’s research under Air Mobility Pathfinders, explores how 5G telecommunications infrastructure can help electric air taxis of the future be safely incorporated into the national airspace. This work, and the data that scientists can collect through flights, supports NASA’s research to advance technology and innovate for the benefit of all.
Jeremy Johnson pilots NASA Glenn Research Center’s PC-12 aircraft during a research flight on Thursday, April 17, 2025.Credit: NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna “It’s really exciting to see research hardware come fresh from the lab, and then be strapped onto an aircraft and taken into flight to see if it actually performs in a relevant environment,” Johnson said. “Every flight you do is more than just that flight—it’s one little part of a much bigger, much more ambitious project that’s going on. You remember, this is a small little piece of something that is maybe going to change the frontier of science, the frontier of discovery.”
Johnson has always had a passion for aviation. In college, he worked as a valet to pay for flying lessons. To hone his skills before Air Force training, one summer he flew across the country in a Cessna with his aunt, a commercial pilot. They flew down the Hudson River as they watched the skyscrapers of New York City whizz by and later to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, where the Wright brothers made their historic first flight. Johnson even flew skydivers part-time while he was stationed in California.
Jeremy Johnson in the cockpit of a PC-12 aircraft as it exits the hangar at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland before a research flight on Thursday, April 17, 2025.Credit: NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna Although he’s spent countless hours flying, he still takes the window seat on commercial flights whenever he can so he can look out the window and marvel at the world below.
Despite his successes, Johnson’s journey to becoming a pilot wasn’t always smooth. He recalls that as he was about to land after his first solo flight, violent crosswinds blew his plane off the runway and sent him bouncing into the grass. Though he eventually got back behind the stick for another flight, he said that in that moment he wondered whether he had the strength and skills to overcome his self-doubt.
“I don’t know anyone who flies for a living that had a completely easy path into it,” Johnson said. “To people who are thinking about getting into flying, just forge forward with it. Make people close doors on you, don’t close them on yourself, when it comes to flying or whatever you see yourself doing in the future. I just kept knocking on the door until there was a crack in it.”
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By NASA
NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Don Pettit sets up camera hardware to photograph research activities inside the International Space Station’s Kibo laboratory module on March 15, 2025.Credit: NASA Media are invited to a news conference at 2 p.m. EDT Monday, April 28, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston where astronaut Don Pettit will share details of his recent mission aboard the International Space Station.
The news conference will stream live on NASA’s website. Learn how to stream NASA content through a variety of platforms.
To participate in person, U.S. media must contact the NASA Johnson newsroom no later than 5 p.m. Thursday, April 24, at 281-483-5111 or jsccommu@mail.nasa.gov. Media wishing to participate by phone must contact the newsroom no later than two hours before the start of the event. To ask questions by phone, media must dial into the news conference no later than 10 minutes prior to the start of the call. NASA’s media accreditation policy is available online.
Questions also may be submitted on social media during the news conference by using #AskNASA. Following the news conference, NASA will host a live question and answer session with Pettit on the agency’s Instagram. For more information, visit @NASA on social media.
Pettit returned to Earth on April 19 (April 20, Kazakhstan time), along with Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner. Pettit celebrated his 70th birthday on April 20. He spent 220 days in space as an Expedition 71/72 flight engineer, bringing his career total to 590 days in space during four spaceflights. Pettit and his crewmates completed 3,520 orbits of Earth over the course of their 93-million-mile journey. They also saw the arrival of six visiting spacecraft and the departure of seven.
During his time on orbit, Pettit conducted hundreds of hours of scientific investigations, including research to enhance on-orbit metal 3D printing capabilities, advance water sanitization technologies, explore plant growth under varying water conditions, and investigate fire behavior in microgravity, all contributing to future space missions.
He also spent time aboard the space station sharing his photography, often posting images to his X account. He took more than 670,000 photos during his stay.
Learn more about International Space Station research and operations at:
http://www.nasa.gov/station
-end-
Joshua Finch / Claire O’Shea
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov
Chelsey Ballarte
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
chelsey.n.ballarte@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Apr 23, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
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