The National Science Foundation has announced five students from the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences are 2021 recipients of the presitigious Graduate Research Fellowship Program.
Anton Buynovskiy, Gregory Lund, Robert Sasse, Kieran Smith, and Shu-Yu (Michelle) Lin are each recipients of the fellowship, which recognizes outstanding students from across the country pursuing advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.
Anton Buynovskiy
Aerospace PhD Student
Advisor: Jeffrey Thayer
Lab: Space Weather Technology, Research and Education Center (SWxTREC)
I am currently the Student Science/Instrument lead for an NSF-funded CubeSat mission studying the LEO environment called Space Weather Atmospheric Reconfigurable Multiscale Experiment (SWARM-EX). This mission uses a swarm configuration of 3 identical satellites to measure the atmosphere to better understand some of the features and perturbations that occur in LEO. My research for the duration of my PhD will focus on modeling and characterizing the LEO environment using the latest modeling techniques, as well as developing an instrument called FIPEX to take in-situ neutral atmospheric measurements in LEO. The goal is to launch FIPEX on the SWARM-EX CubeSats to acquire more in-situ data to get a better understanding of the interactions in the LEO environment and help substantiate current physical models. With this research I hope to evolve FIPEX to have a higher Technology Readiness Level and help advance modeling methods for future applications.
Shu-Yu (Michelle) Lin
Aerospace and Applied Math Senior
Advisors: David Klaus, Allison Anderson
Lab: Bioastronautics Laboratory
My research considers the cognitive ergonomics of spacecraft habitat design, and I operate within the subfield of space architecture. I aim to quantify and qualify how architecture design decisions can impact the operability and perception of spaces in ICE (Isolated, Confined, and Extreme) environments. This work has applications for microgravity habitats, surface habitats, analogs, and terrestrial housing with limited volume.
Greg Lund
Aerospace Senior
Advisor: Christoffer Heckman
Lab: The Autonomous Robotics and Perception Group (ARPG)
Senior undergrad continuing onto graduate school in the fall (eventual PhD). Most likely will be going to Stanford for the MS program in Aero/Astro, but as the decision date is this Thursday this is subject to change. I was brought onto ARPG to help support the DARPA Subterranean Challenge team MARBLE that is based out of ARPG (includes other faculty in ME/Aero as well). This initial support consisted of hardware development for the robotic platforms, namely a deployable communications beacon to relay information between robots and the human supervisor during competitions. Over the past year I've been more involved in algorithms research, and the project that I led was to investigate methods for effectively navigating robots in human crowds. I've also been helping one of the PhD students with exploration-based visual perception research over the past few months.
Robert Sasse
Aerospace PhD Student
Advisor: Brian Argrow
Lab: Aerospace Engineering and Multiphysics Simulation (AEMS) Research Group
I am currently working on Project TORUS, a collaborative research project between CU Boulder, University of Nebraska Lincoln, Texas Tech University, the University of Oklahoma, and NOAA. My research relates to tornadogenesis and is focused on developing unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to collect in-situ data for supercell tornado producing weather events. This work includes designing and running computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to conduct performance analyses of the UAS. The results of these simulations are being used to inform sensor calibration as well as design decisions for sensor placement and orientation on the airframe. The UAS will be flown next spring to collect data on supercell storms around the Great Plains. As I continue my research as a graduate student, I look forward to working on more projects that bring aerospace engineering and climate modeling together.
Kieran Smith
Aerospace PhD Student
Advisor: Torin Clark
Lab: Bioastronautics Laboratory
I am studying the feasibility of using galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) as a display to provide users with new forms of information in new ways. GVS uses electrodes behind the ear to stimulate the vestibular system and send orientation information to the user, and I am working to develop a system that can provide both event cues and directional information in a way that doesn't destabilize the user.