NASA Nebraska Space Grant
November 2016
NASA Nebraska EPSCoR FY17 Call for Pre-Proposals
NASA Nebraska EPSCoR is pleased to announce its Call for Pre-Proposals for this year’s NASA EPSCoR program. The purpose of the NASA EPSCoR program is to establish partnerships with government, higher education, and industry that are designed to effect lasting improvements in a state’s or region’s research infrastructure, R&D capacity and hence, its national R&D competitiveness. In addition to the research and technology development, the awards enable faculty development and higher education student support.
Each year NASA Nebraska EPSCoR holds a statewide proposal competition to select the top proposal from across the state. The selected proposal is ultimately submitted on behalf of NASA Nebraska EPSCoR to the national competition. While NASA has not yet released its RFP for this year, NASA Nebraska EPSCoR is collecting required Letters of Intent from interested researchers across the state. Letters of Intent for this year’s proposal cycle are due on November 14, with Pre-Proposals due on November 30.
The attached document includes instructions for the content, format, and submission of Letters of Intent and Pre-Proposals. If you have any questions about this year's competition or the attached document, please contact Michaela Lucas or Jon Hiles at Nasa.Nebraska@unomaha.edu or 402-554-3772.
2016 News
October 2016
Nebraska Graduate Student Plays Critical Role in Launch of International Space Station Payload
The Nebraska NASA EPSCoR program is pleased to announce that a scientific payload developed by researchers from the University of Nebraska with support from NASA EPSCoR was successfully launched to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard an Orbital-ATK Antares rocket on October 17. The rocket was launched from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, which is located on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. The payload, officially designated as the Detector for the Analysis of Solar Neutrons or DANSON, uses a boron carbide to absorb neutrons, which could enable researchers to use the material for the generation of power during space flight.
Special credit for the success of the payload’s development and integration goes to Nicole Benker, a graduate student at UN-L, who was instrumental in helping the researchers navigate NASA’s payload integration process. “Nicole played a critical role in bringing this project to fruition and getting the payload on board the Orbital-ATK launch vehicle. She demonstrated what we know very well, that Nebraska students are capable of incredible things when given the support and encouragement to take on new challenges,” said Scott Tarry, Director of the NASA Office at UNO. Nicole’s hard work earned her a trip to Wallops, where she participated in pre-launch activities and watched the Antares rocket lift off on its journey to the ISS. NASA Nebraska Space Grant and EPSCoR was thrilled to give Nicole the opportunity. Benker said of the experience, “Thank you everyone for the opportunity to go to the launch. It was an amazing experience watching the rocket go up with a payload that I've been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to work on.”
October 2016
Nebraska Graduate, Robot Builder, JPL
Ryan McCormick launched his career from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln studying robots. With the help of an internship through NASA Nebraska Space Grant along the way, Ryan now works for NASA JPL designing and building robots as part of NASA's Mission to Mars. Ryan's journey is featured in the November edition of Smithsonian Air & Space magazine. Click photo to read full article.
