Terps in Space will commence, VIRTUALLY, in Spring 2021! Terps in Space provides an opportunity for students to gain real-world research experience by proposing and designing microgravity experiments that compete for a chance to be sent to the International Space Station! We will contact interested participants with an invitation to a virtual program orientation session (to be held in January 29, 2021. A recording will be made available to those who weren't able to attend orientation).
Timeline (tentative):
Spring 2021 (virtual):
Student teams of 2-4 students work with a mentor to design and propose an experiment. This involves literature research, experiment planning, and gathering preliminary data. In May, three finalist teams will be selected.
Note: Non-finalist teams will conclude their participation in the program having gained a semester of independent, student-driven research experience.
Summer 2021-Fall 2021:
The three semi-finalist teams will have time to further develop their proposals and, optionally, do preliminary experiments. In December, the winning team will be selected.
Spring 2022:
The winning team will conduct lab work to optimize their proposed experiment, and then load their experiment and ship it to be flown to the ISS.
*Note: Teams can be self-assembled. We will assign you into a team if you sign up for the program solo. Since this iteration of the program will be partially virtual, we recommend signing up as a team
Feel free to contact Nicole Catanzarite <
ncatanz@terpmail.umd.edu> or Daniel Serrano <
dsvolpe@umd.edu> with questions.