| Space Students |
| Justin Thompson, UArk |
Justin Thompson, an undergraduate physics and mathematics major and researcher with the Arkansas-Oklahoma Center for Space and Planetary Sciences, has been given a $6500 award by the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium to conduct research this summer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Although it functions as NASA's base for robotic exploration of the solar system, JPL is actually an operating unit within CalTech, and Justin will be working with both JPL and CalTech researchers. He will continue the research that he has been conducting at the University of Arkansas on water on Mars, research that is described in an article he has just submitted to Inquiry, the University of Arkansas' undergraduate research journal. Justin graduated in May with a B.S. degree in Physics and Mathematics. He came to the university from Fayetteville High School. In the fall he will take up a position at Los Alamos National Laboratories working on missions to Mars.
| Space Visitors |
| John Herrington, Astronaut |
"Live your dreams"
John Herrington, the first Native American to fly in space, visited Oklahoma State University on April 11, 2003 to talk about his life as an astronaut.
Herrington, who was born in 1958 in Wetumka, Oklahoma, is a member of the Chickasaw tribe. He grew up in Colorado Springs, Colorado, as well as Riverton, Wyoming, and Plano, Texas, graduating from Plano Senior High School in 1976. He enrolled in college but dropped out after only a year.
While working as a rock climber on a survey crew, Herrington had a chance to meet one of the people who would guide him in his career decisions. At his boss’ advice, he enrolled in college again and received a B.S. degree in Applied Mathematics from the University of Colorado in 1984. Following graduation from the University of Colorado, Herrington received his commission from Aviation Officer Candidate School in March 1984 . Within a year he won his Navy "wings of gold".
He graduated from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School with a M.S. degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 1995. While in college he applied for an astronaut position at NASA, and in April 1996 he was selected to start astronaut training at Johnson Space Center, Houston.
Herrington said that he was really lucky to have had people in his life helping him to realize what path to follow. When asked what it took to become an astronaut, he said that in order to succeed one doesn’t have to be a genius, but a good team worker.
Herrington flew on his first space assignment in November and December 2002. As the mission specialist of the Endeavor Shuttle mission (STS-113), he spent 14 days in space and 8 days aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The mission's primary goal was to bring the Expedition 6 crew to the ISS and the Expedition 5 crew back to Earth. A secondary task was the installation and activation of the Port 1 Integrated Truss Assembly. As part of his mission, Herrington performed three space walks in order to install the assembly.
In his concluding remarks, John Herrington said that he doesn’t consider his mission fulfilled until his achievements inspire someone else. After the lecture, he signed autographs for the audience, with the postscript, “live your dreams”.
Ramona Gaza, OSU Graduate Student
| Space Graduates |
| Alumni News - Richard Jennings |
Following his AM residency, Richard began work as a NASA flight surgeon in 1987 and served as the Chief of the Flight Medicine Clinic and Chief of Medical Operations, Space Shuttle. During this time, he was the crew surgeon or deputy crew surgeon on 15 Shuttle missions and provided direct mission support to 45 Shuttle flights. In 1995, he transitioned to the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston with appointments in Preventive Medicine and Community Health, Ob/Gyn, and Family Medicine.
Richard currently serves as residency director of the UTMB/NASA-JSC aerospace medicine residency program and director of the UTMB Aviation Medicine Center. He continues to provide astronaut clinical care, astronaut selection examinations, and consultation services at the Flight Medicine Clinic at NASA-JSC. In addition, he supervises the Wyle Laboratories/UTMB physicians that support the space program at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, and for ISS increments at the Johnson Space Center. He also serves as the medical director of the Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix of Houston and continues work in the reproductive aspects of high-risk environments.
| Space Travels |
| Center Faculty |
At the Technical University Vienna I visited two researchers in the physics division, Prof. Friedrich Aumayr and Prof. Heinz Oberhummer. Prof. Aumayr works on sputtering by highly charged “slow” ions. This experimental work may be able to shed light on interactions of the solar wind with asteroids. Prof. Oberhummer works on nucleosynthesis in stars.
The Austrian Academy of Sciences operates a Space Science Institute in the city of Graz. I visited the research groups of Dr. Norbert Kömle and Dr. Klaus Torkar. The Kömle group operates an environmental chamber for planetary simulations and is a member of the Association of Laboratories for Space Simulation. Dr. Torkar is deputy principal investigator of the MIDAS (Micro-Imaging Dust Analysis System) experiment on the Rosetta mission, a spacecraft designed to rendezvous with a comet and perform a detailed study.
Alfred Kracher
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701
| REU Program 2003 |
| Summer Seminar Schedule |
Seminars will be held at 2 pm via video conferencing (UArk: Chemistry Bldg., Rm. 226, OSU: Physical Sciences, Rm 147)
*The June 24th seminar will be held at 3:30 pm instead of 2:00 pm.
Tuesday, June 3, 2:00 pm
Dr. Barney Farmer, Retired JPL scientist
"A career in space & planetary research"
Tuesday, June 10, 2:00 pm
Dr. Tim Kral, University of Arkansas
“Center Faculty Research”
Tuesday, June 17, 2:00 pm
Dr. Richard Marston, Oklahoma State University
“Making a poster presentation”
Tuesday, June 24, 3:30 pm*
Dr. Steven McKeever, Oklahoma State University
“Center Faculty Research”
Tuesday, July 1, 2:00 pm
Oklahoma State University
”Review Presentations (posters) by REU students”
[at OSU (full day)]
Tuesday, July 8, 2:00 pm
Dr. Gerry Carr, former astronaut
“A career as an astronaut”
Thursday, July 10, 2:00 pm
Dr. Michael Hecht, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena
“Mars research”
Tuesday, July 15, 2:00 pm
Dr. Derek Sears, University of Arkansas
“Making an oral presentation”
Tuesday, July 22, 2:00 pm
Chris Neel, Oklahoma State University
“Center Student Research”
Tuesday, July 29, 2:00 pm
University of Arkansas
“Final Presentations (oral) by REU students”
[at UArk (full day)]