Sometimes people joke that “it’s not rocket science” when referring to a non-technical matter. For one of mechanical engineering’s junior faculty members, her summer research experience with the U.S. Air Force Research Lab was in fact rocket science. Sarah Bentil, William March Scholar in Mechanical Engineering and assistant professor of mechanical engineering (ME), spent 12 …Continue reading “Advancing rocket science with the U.S. Air Force Research Lab”
Mechanical engineering graduate student Joel Lynch recently received a $2500 grant from the Iowa Space Grant Consortium to study the coupling of microwave fields with solid rocket propellant combustion. His current project is entitled “Modeling of Flames Seeded with Alkali Compounds under the Presence of Alternating Electric Fields.” The research is taking place within the …Continue reading “ME grad student gets funding to study microwave interaction with energetic material flames”
A strict series of physical requirements must be met in order to earn the coveted position of a NASA astronaut: 20/20 corrected vision, 140/90 blood pressure, and a height between 62 and 75 inches. At 5 feet tall, only two inches separated Michaela Antolak from her lifelong dream. Growing up near the Johnson Space Center, …Continue reading “Michaela Antolak: ‘If I can’t be an astronaut, I’ll build the rockets’”
