Washington NASA Space Grant Consortium

Rohan Pandey is a current Project Manager Intern at NASA’s L’SPACE program and a Research Assistant! "At NASA’s L’SPACE program I’m learning so much about leading a team on a robotic surface reconnaissance project to map near‑surface water ice in the lunar South Pole’s Permanently Shadowed Regions. I am also doing research with Professor Mamis of the AMath department on the theory of Gaussian processes with applications in stochastic dynamical systems for epidemiology and cancer modeling." Amazing work Rohan! 🎉 Connect with him on LinkedIn!

Arushi is working on the backend distributed systems infrastructure for testers at Tesla as well as some components of the Optimus robots! She enjoys the innovative nature of the work and how many of the teams operate like startups, giving everyone opportunity to ideate and contribute in a fast-paced setting. She also loves seeing all of the cool technology Tesla creates! Great work Arushi 🎉

With our 2024 Summer Undergraduate Research (SURP) Program coming to an end, we wanted to take a moment to look back at some of our summer research students from 30 years ago in 1994! Providing students with the opportunity to gain research experience and overcome barriers has been essential to the development of the SURP Program 🔥 Our current scholars are gearing up to present the amazing work they've accomplished this summer. Join us this Friday for our Poster Symposium open to the public, where they will showcase all of their findings.

Daniel Campos Zamora is a human-computer interaction (HCI) researcher, artist, and designer a focus on robotics, fabrication, and tangible interaction. He is a PhD student at the University of Washington in the School of Computer Science & Engineering as a member of the Makeability Lab advised by Jon E. Froehlich. Previously, he worked at Disney Research developing novel robot interactions, HCI, and social and immersive augmented reality experiences. His current research explores mobile fabrication platforms which combine robotics and 3D printing to enable environment-scale design and manufacturing. He is an avid soccer fan, recovering sneakerhead, and cat parent to a 2-year-old British shorthair cat named Sochi. Website: https://lnkd.in/gAuW594k

Colin Marquis joins Washington Space Grant as a Ph.D. student from the UW Materials Science and Engineering Department. Throughout his time at UW he has received several academic awards, in addition to student recognition as MSE TA of the year in 2023 and graduate student mentor of the year in 2023 and 2024. Outside the classroom, he finds joy in the great outdoors. You can likely find him hiking and backpacking Washington’s beautiful mountains every weekend that the PNW weather allows. His research focuses on the development of additive manufacturing (AM) with novel composite materials. This Summer Colin continues to explore the use of these new composite materials with the addition of thermally protective barriers, modified surface chemistries, and next generation AM using a unique 4-Axis printer. Colin hopes to use his passion for materials, aerospace, and education throughout his career.

Welcome to the WA Space Grant team Brenda Martinez! Brenda’s values of equity, mentorship, and advocacy are fueled by the recognition that not all communities have the same access to resources and education. Her work uplifts BIPOC students and creates opportunities and access to resources when they might not be there so that all individuals have an educational environment where they can be authentic and thrive. She has been successful across many roles in implementing programs that address the systemic barriers in educational settings and beyond. We are so thrilled to have you apart of our community 😊

Brianna Wimer, a Google Ph.D. Fellow, is a visiting researcher at the University of Washington from the University of Notre Dame's Computer Science and Engineering Department. She is passionate about mentoring younger students, and her research focuses on increasing data access for students with disabilities, particularly in information visualization. This summer, Brianna is developing an interface that allows teachers and educators to effectively make their flowcharts accessible. In her free time, she enjoys exploring the Pacific Northwest with her Goldendoodle, Sunny. Check out her website: https://buff.ly/3Ywloli

Catherine Rasgaitis is a Space Grant scholar and computer science major at UW Seattle. This summer she is interning at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Dr. Helen Hou's lab. She is excited to be working on computational neuroscience experiments and study neural systems in mice. Catherine will spend the rest of her summer as part of the science crew for the VISIONS ‘24 seagoing expedition to conduct oceanography research. She will be living and working aboard the R/V Atlantis and working with the deep diving robotic vehicle Jason. Amazing work Catherine!

This week we want to highlight Amila Cooray! Amila Cooray is a Mechatronics Engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In addition to being passionate about problem-solving for the most challenging and innovative missions at JPL, Amila is also committed to supporting a diverse and equitable work environment, splitting his time between engineering and supporting JPL's Office of Inclusion. "I try to keep an open mind and meet people where they’re at, regardless of what they think of me, knowing that they’ve come to me trying to learn something. I try to be the bridge for where they’re at and where they want to be. That is something that I’m proud I am able to do now." #pridemonth #NASA

Congratulations Landon!