The New York Space Grant News

The New York Space Grant News Newsletter of the NASA/New York Space Grant Consortium Fall 2011 Supporting education and research in space-related fields through fellowships, internships, outreach, and corporate partnerships NASA / New York Space Grant Consortium Lead Institution: Cornell University Affiliates: Alfred University Barnard College City College of New York, CUNY Clarkson University Colgate University Columbia University Lockheed Martin Medgar Evers College, CUNY Polytechnic Institute of NYU Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rochester Institute of Technology Sciencenter SUNY Binghamton SUNY Buffalo SUNY Geneseo SUNY Stony Brook Syracuse University Union College University of Rochester York College, CUNY Greetings: Last year the New York Space Grant introduced significant new science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programs with NASA content for middle and high schools across the state. Middle school science teachers participated in a year-round Teacher Fellows Program, NASArelated teacher workshops were given through the Science Teachers Association of NY State, and we organized eleven NASA Research lectures and presentations at secondary schools across New York. STEM education should begin at home as children begin to question the how and why of every step they make. Such education should proceed throughout the educational pipeline and indeed our entire lives. We are thrilled that NASA recently selected all three NY Space Grant affiliates proposals to enhance engineering senior design courses at Alfred University, City College of New York, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. During the year our consortium also provided six competitive research and curriculum enhancement awards in areas of spacecraft technologies, aeronautical engineering, mechatronics/robotics doctoral training, astronomy instrumentation, and biochemical techniques for planetary science missions. In this newsletter we present a few of the NY Space Grantsupported projects across the state, from developing chip-sized satellites, to CubeSat and BalloonSat experiments, to the Rocket Team Challenge competition. We are also very proud to contribute to NASA s workforce development by supporting undergraduate internships at NASA centers across the country and at various NY State industries. STEM education promises to provide the next generation of scientists and engineers for our nation, while also preparing the public to make rational and realistic decisions. Yervant Terzian Director

Cornell s Sprite Satellite Prototypes are Orbiting Earth We call our dust-mote spacecraft Sprite. The goal is a 1 cm 2 integrated circuit on thin chip that includes everything a satellite would need but only just enough. On May 16, 2011 our first three prototypes flew into orbit on the space shuttle Endeavour (STS-134). Four days later astronaut Drew Feustel installed them as part of a larger experiment, known as MISSE-8, on the exterior of the International Space Station. We ll find out in a few months how they withstood the rigors of space. If all goes well, smaller Sprites could soon make solo flights around Earth on orbits of their own. NY Space Grant provided sponsorship with a research grant in 2009-2010. Seven Zac Manchester, graduate researcher at Cornell University, holds a Sprite prototype. undergraduates and two graduate students worked on the project. Although the Cornell team is the first to launch a prototype, ours is not the only one that has looked into integrated-circuit spacecraft. The idea for a spacecraft-on-a-chip goes back at least fifteen years, and it has its origins in the idea of smart dust small microelectromechanical sensor systems that can be used on Earth to measure light and temperature, register movement and location, and detect chemical and biological substances. The idea to send these types of systems into space was slow to gain momentum. But now, integrated circuits have gotten inexpensive, small, and easy enough to fabricate that groups around the world have become involved. Sprites will ultimately weigh between 5 and 50 milligrams. Each chip will likely carry only one sensor capable of making one type of measurement. That may seem unimpressive for a single spacecraft. But the tiny, easy-to-fabricate chips could open up new ways to do science in space. Rather than sending expensive, sensor-studded probes to the Sun to take detailed measurements of solar activity, one can send tens of thousands of Sprites into orbits between the Earth and the Sun. These simple chips would have one task to send Earth a signal when the local magnetic field or high-energy particle impacts exceed some threshold. Each chip would provide just one bit of information, but in aggregate, these scattered chips would be able to produce a three-dimensional picture of the environment around the Sun, capturing data a single spacecraft never could on its own. Thousands of Sprites could land on the moon and be used to make a distributed seismology network using simple accelerometers. A million of even the heavy 50 mg version of the Sprite would amount to 50 kg, about the mass of a large science instrument on one of NASA s flagship missions. The first step on the road to swarms of distributed space sensors is beginning this year. The three prototypes now in orbit will beep away under their own power for about the next two years or until they fail in the harsh environment of space. After two years of exposure, the experiment pallet on which they reside will be returned to Earth, where we will find out what did the Sprites in. Fabricated by hand in the lab, each of these prototypes measures 3.8 cm on a side and contains seven solar cells, a microprocessor with a built-in radio, an antenna, an amplifier, and switching circuitry to turn on the microprocessor when there is enough stored energy to create a single RF emission (a digital beep ). There are no specialized sensors built into these first Sprites. Instead, the goal is to confirm that the tiny, 1 microjoule transmissions can be received from space. If so, the next step will be free-flying Sprites that are able to exploit solar pressure, drag, and electromagnetic effects to change their orbits. On-orbit photo of the MISSE-8 experiment; the three Sprite ChipSats are mounted near the center. (Photo credit: NASA) May 20, 2011: STS-134 NASA astronaut Andrew Feustel installs and photographs the MISSE-8 experiment on the exterior of the International Space Station. (Photo credit: NASA) New York Space Grant 2

Medgar Evers Continues CubeSat and BalloonSat Programs Medgar Evers College (MEC) is continuing to complete the CUNYSAT-1 CubeSat supported by the National Space Grant Minority Serving Institution Partnership Development award. Over 50 students from MEC, other City University of NY colleges, and NYC metropolitan area colleges have been involved, in collaboration with Cornell students with expertise from the Cornell Violet and CUSAT nanosatellite projects. Critical Design Review (CDR) was held in February 2011 with reviewers from Cornell, Honeybee Robotics, Lockheed Martin, Princeton Satellite Systems, and Goddard Space Flight Center. sensors and a Geiger counter. MEC provided the communications payload and flight balloon, parachute, helium, etc. MEC students gave on-thespot communications and balloon launch training. Cornell students prepared the communications payload. Participating students were S. Levine, C. Marvinney, D. Lombardo, D. Rosen, C. Martin from RPI; C. Candia, A. Farrell, C. Bullen from MEC; and J. Abeshaus and C. Ng from Cornell. The balloon flight crossed the state of Vermont and then landed near Lebanon, NH. Its payload was successfully recovered by the student team. MEC students work on the CUNYSAT development board (Flatsat). The summer 2011 CUNYSAT students were C. Candia, B. Filin, F. Lindo, R. Hafeez, P. Dumervil, C. Moore, D. George, C. Bullen, O. Nwabuoku from Medgar Evers; E. Etienne from Cooper Union; J. Borrero from the College of Staten Island; and J. Abeshaus and C. Ng from Cornell. Abeshaus, former lead mechanical engineer for the Cornell Violet project, played a lead role in guiding the team s activities and worked closely with the student program manager, Cynthia Candia. One of the many positive outcomes of this CubeSat project has been the number of students pursuing graduate studies within the CUNY system and other universities including NYU, MIT, Michigan State and Northeastern. CUNYSAT-1 was selected to participate in NASA s Educational CubeSat Launch Initiative, and has been manifested on CRS-03, an ISS supply mission on a Falcon 9 rocket, expected to launch in August 2012. MEC also assisted Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) students with launching their first payload in preparation for an RPI BalloonSat program. A joint launch was held on July 23, 2011 at MEC s BalloonSat launch base in Paradox, NY, with MEC and Cornell students participating in the launch and recovery. The RPI payload included temperature and humidity 3 RPI students launch their first BalloonSat with the help of MEC and Cornell students. Additionally MEC continued to conduct ozone profiles at the NYC National Weather Service (NWS) sounding facility in Brookhaven, NY. During summer 2011 a team of four undergraduates, two high school students and one graduate student worked on this research. These students conducted the launches and were trained in data analysis techniques to develop skills in interpreting the ozone profiles. Students prepare to launch an ozonesonde with radiosonde at the NYC NWS sounding facility. Fall 2011

N e w York Spac e Grant H i g h l i g h t s York College York College utilized Space Grant funds to support the following two students from different City University of New York (CUNY) campuses: Chaele Nicholson, a Borough of Manhattan Community College student, conducted a multi-wavelength analysis (radio, IR, optical, and X-ray) of nearby active galactic nuclei (AGN) during summer 2010. To constrain the strength of nearby AGN emission, he estimated the number of supernova remnants and X-ray binaries that could account for the radio and X-ray emission in AGN with weak [OIII] luminosities. Chaele presented his work at the Einsteins in the City Conference (held at City College of New York in April 2011) and earned the Most Outstanding Poster Presenter distinction in the Environmental Sciences section, beating out students from senior colleges and universities across the nation. During summer 2011, Chaele was supported under a NASA Heliophysics grant from Medgar Evers College. NYSG-supported Borough of Manhattan Community College student Chaele Nicholson (Photo credit: BMCC News) Athena Brensberger, a student at the College of Staten Island, researched stellar proplyds in the Orion Nebula during summer 2010. She investigated the dynamics of bow shocks caused by stellar winds incident on the proplyds from hot stars in the nebula, and learned the Python programming language in order to begin rudimentary modeling of such shocks. She presented her work at the CSI Student Symposium of Research, Scholarship, and Performance in April 2011. Columbia University Members of Columbia s Astronomy Department set up telescopes in the Brooklyn Bridge Park for a World Science Festival event on June 3, 2011. Titled From the City to the Stars: A Night of Stargazing, the event included a discussion and Q&A from prominent area astronomers, followed by public observing. Demand for observing was high even before the public talk. Telescopes were set up to allow early arrivals to view the crescent moon setting over the Manhattan skyline, as well as terrestrial targets such as the Statue of Liberty. After the sky got darker and the Q&A was over, telescopes were pointed at Saturn and a series of double stars (Mizar/Alcor, Alberio, Epsilon Lyrae). Over the course of approximately 4 hours (8pm - 12am), close to 1000 members of the public looked through the telescopes. Participants ranged in age from 4 years old to over 70, and ranged in experience from complete novices who had never looked through a telescope to amateur astronomers with extensive observing experience. While a significant fraction of the public observers were there for the World Science Festival, a large number of the observers just happened to be in the park. While people were waiting in line to look through the telescopes, members of the Astronomy Department talked to them about astronomy, handed out astronomical bookmarks and posters, and told them about Columbia s many other public outreach events. New York Space Grant 4 Public stargazing at Brooklyn Bridge Park during the World Science Festival (June 2011).

Polytechnic Institute of NYU N e w York Spac e Grant H i g h l i g h t s NASA/NY Space Grant Consortium funding supported diverse research, focused on advanced control technology and mechatronics-related experiments, and pre-college outreach activities at NYU-Poly s Mechatronics Lab. A brief overview follows; see http://mechatronics.poly.edu/ for additional details. Vibration-based methods for crack detection in beam type structures continue to attract intense attention. Over the last decade, progress in chaos theory has led to the use of chaotic excitation in vibration-based crack detection. In a recent effort, NYU-Poly researchers considered the use of wave fractal dimension to predict the severity and location of a crack in a beam that is made to vibrate using a chaotic input. Specifically, wave fractal dimensions of the time series of beam response and its corresponding power spectrum were studied to develop a new crack detection methodology. The results of this research appeared in the Proceedings of the 4th CHAOS 2011 International Conference, Crete, Greece, May-June 2011. NYSG Affiliate Director Vikram Kapila also directs a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded GK-12 Fellows project at NYU-Poly. His GK-12 Fellows project was one of only 15 research and education projects selected by NSF to showcase activities at the inaugural U.S. National Science and Engineering Expo in Washington, DC, October 23-24, 2010. The project team, including two NY Space Grant-supported Mechatronics Lab students Jared A. Frank and David Lopez, presented the Mechatronics Mania exhibit at the Expo, interacting with over 5,000 attendees. The same team also exhibited at the February 2011 Sci-Ed Innovators Expo and Symposium at New York University. Upon request Prof. Kapila and his students presented an interactive LEGO Mindstorms exhibit, with a discussion about NASA s use of robots in exploration, at NASA s What s Your Favorite Space? public event in New York City on August 17, 2011. With guidance from NYU- Poly Space Grant student David Lopez, a young visitor tries out an iphonecontrolled mobile robot at the Mechatronics Mania exhibit in Washington, DC. At a NASA event in New York City, visitors get handson experience with a LEGO Mindstorms-based bipedal robot. Rochester Institute of Technology Grant Tremblay, whose work was largely funded by the New York Space Grant, recently completed his PhD in Astrophysics at Rochester Institute of Technology. Advised by Prof. Chris O Dea and Prof. Stefi Baum, Grant used data from the Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory to study massive clusters of galaxies, among the largest objects in the Universe. His work helps explain heating and cooling of the ultra-hot ambient plasma in which these clusters reside, as well as its role in driving the formation and evolution of massive galaxies. Grant is now off to Munich, Germany on a postdoctoral fellowship at the European Southern Observatory, the organization which operates the world s largest and most advanced ground-based telescopes. Grant Tremblay celebrates completion of his PhD with advisors Stefi Baum and Chris O Dea. 5 Fall 2011

N e w York Spac e Grant H i g h l i g h t s SUNY Stony Brook The Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program at Stony Brook University continues its collaboration with the New York Space Grant, supporting two students in the following research projects: Current Measurement in DC Motor Dynamometers - Bernard Leon (mechanical engineering) worked under the supervision of Prof. John Kincaid on modifying an electric motor dynamometer, a device for measuring force, torque, and power, to provide accurate measurements of the current draw of direct current (DC) motors under a broad range of load conditions. More accurate data on current draw and motor performance can aid engineers in determining the best electric motor designs for use in various space applications, such as spacecraft attitude control, throttle control, and deployment operations. Bernard Leon and Prof. John Kincaid at Stony Brook University. Heterogeneous Oxidation of Biomass Burning Aerosol Using OH, NO 3, and O 3 - Frederic Jones (electrical engineering) is working with Prof. Daniel Knopf (School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences) on a project investigating how organic particles generated during biomass burning, when released into the atmosphere, are further transformed/oxidized by atmospheric trace gases such as OH, O 3, and NO 3. Such chemical transformation has significant impacts on the role of aerosol particles with respect to climate, health-related issues, and air quality. This multidisciplinary project covers topics in chemistry, atmospheric sciences, physics, and engineering. In other related news, Sabrina Thompson, a former Stony Brook LSAMP undergraduate who received Space Grant support as a graduate student, was one of the 32 Women of NASA featured on the website http:// women.nasa.gov. She is currently assigned to the Navigation and Mission Planning Branch at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. In March 2011 Leland Melvin, NASA Associate Administrator for Education, spoke at the STEM Diversity Summit at nearby Farmingdale State College. He kindly signed a photo of himself, dedicating it to the success of LSAMP and CSTEP (Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program) students at Stony Brook University. Mr. Melvin was very gracious with his time and gave a wonderful presentation that covered his two Shuttle flights. SUNY Buffalo At the University at Buffalo, Space Grant funds were used to support student fellowships in various engineering disciplines. Advised by faculty mentors, Eric Kozarsky (electrical engineering), Richard Linares (aerospace engineering), and Christopher Van Loon (mechanical engineering) studied formation of thin silicon films for solar cells, impact probability estimation, and a three-dimensional tracking system. In addition, Space Grant funds supported the Buffalo-area Engineering Awareness for Minorities (BEAM) program, which engaged thirteen post 10 th - and 11 th -grade students in five weeks of research and classes, providing them with a strong foundation in diverse engineering principles. BEAM students researched, gave oral presentations, and wrote reports on three of the fourteen National Grand Challenges for Engineering, determined by the National Academy of Engineering to address society s most pressing problems. They also enrolled in an Introduction to Computing & Engineering course. Five of the thirteen BEAM students were chosen to do Honors Research. These students worked closely with University at Buffalo faculty mentors on research projects involving silicon nanoparticles, magnetic shielding, robotics applications, evolutionary game theory, and architectural engineering. A BEAM Honors Research student with her magnetic shielding experiment. New York Space Grant 6

N e w York Spac e Grant H i g h l i g h t s Union College NY Space Grant and Union College matching funds supported five summer 2011 research students. Maria Battaglia worked with Prof. Scott Labrake and Prof. Michael Vineyard to investigate seasonal variation in rainwater composition in upstate New York, analyzing samples via particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) on the Union College Pelletron accelerator. Will Linthicum and advisor Prof. Seyffie Maleki used laser-induced photochemistry to identify lead components in paint. Vaishali Parkash measured transits of extrasolar planets using Union s 20 telescope with Prof. Francis Wilkin. Alexandrea Safiq and Prof. Samuel Amanuel studied the phase transitions of physically confined systems, finding that the melting temperature and heat of fusion are dependent on pore size. Christine Wong worked with Prof. Jay Newman to measure insulin aggregation using dynamic light scattering. University of Rochester Union 2011 NASA NY Space Grant awardees (left to right): Christine Wong, Alexandrea Safiq, Maria Battaglia, Vaishali Parkash, and Will Linthicum. A portion of Space Grant funds supported K-12 outreach programs. The Union College Society of Physics Students, partnering with Union s Kenney Community Center, visited local secondary schools to interact with students and provide stimulating physics demonstrations. On December 4, 2010 twenty high school physics faculty and students from five area schools attended Union s Third Annual Physical Constants Workshop, designed to inspire students to pursue STEM careers and provide teachers with an enriching experience that extends into their classrooms. Participants performed six experiments to measure fundamental physical constants, using equipment such as the Pelletron particle accelerator and a scanning electron microscope. University of Rochester (UR) undergraduate Meridel Phillips worked on adapting a laser speckle technique to measure the modulation transfer function of an infrared detector array intended for a space-borne telescope. Recently developed for visible wave detector arrays, this lauded technique allows the array itself to be characterized, without the need for complex and expensive optical configurations. Adapting the technique to the infrared was not straightforward. With the Center for Emerging & Innovative Sciences (CEIS) and ITT Corporation funding instrumentation and UR engineer Craig McMurtry s work on this project, Space Grant-funded Meridel Phillips was able to complete the experiment and analysis at one infrared wavelength. This experiment utilized a 1.55 micron laser, an integrating sphere to diffuse the light, a specially designed cross aperture to modify the spatial frequency spectrum of the input laser speckle, and a polarizer to assure a polarized speckle pattern (see Fig. 1 schematic below). The results were excellent, and experiments at other wavelengths are continuing. In April 2011 Meridel presented a poster at the CEIS University Technology Showcase entitled Measuring the MTF of a Raytheon 2Kx2K InSb Array at IR Wavelengths coauthored by Craig McMurtry, Meridel Phillips, Judith Pipher (UR), Paul Lee and Daniel Newman (ITT). Experimental setup for adapting the laser speckle technique. UR undergrad Meridel Phillips. 7 Fall 2011

All systems go on the launch pad. Sky s clear. Three, Two, One, LAUNCH! The annual Central New York (CNY) Rocket Team Challenge blasted off Saturday June 4 th, 2011 with 585 students competing in 73 junior level teams (grades 4 through 8) and 40 senior level teams (grades 9 through 12) a 34% increase in participation over previous years. Forty percent of the competitors were from the urban center of Syracuse. This year s innovations included on-line launch status viewable from smart phones; three new launch pads, staffed by the Syracuse Rocket Club; and a crowd favorite: the countdown and simultaneous launch of three rockets! Students designed, built, and launched their own rockets; most importantly, they learned about rocket science and engineering in the process. Each rocket flew with a payload containing an egg-stronaut, Top: A Syracuse City School District team. Right: A LOC IV rocket blasts off the launch pad, reaching 130 meters/sec. digital recording altimeters, and new cameras capturing high definition video from the rocket s perspective. High-power rocket motors with various colored flames added to the excitement. Teams were judged on their understanding of rocket stability and physics of powered flight, successful flight of the rocket (including recovery of the egg-stronaut payload), precision in estimating peak rocket altitude, and rocket aesthetics. Professional engineers plus Syracuse University students and faculty judged the designs and presented awards to the winning teams. The top four teams in each division received awards, commemorative medallions, and plaques to hang in their schools. The CNY Rocket Team Challenge is made possible thanks to major sponsors Lockheed Martin and the New York Space Grant. The Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science and Technology, L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science at Syracuse University, and the Syracuse Rocket Club provided technical support and coordination to make the CNY Rocket Team Challenge an overwhelming success. For results see http://www.most.org/rockets/. NY Space Grant-Sponsored Summer 2011 Interns at NASA Roberto Dextre B.S. Mechanical Engineering (SUNY Binghamton) NASA Marshall Space Flight Center I worked on the Cryogenic Acquisition and Transfer System (CATS) Project, which involved developing a scaled model similar to COLD-SAT (Cryogenic On-Orbit Liquid Depot-Storage, Acquisition and Transfer) used for testing on ground. I researched various designs, including the frame and fluid schematic for the system, to minimize the amount of cryogenic liquid needed for optimal thrust. Nitesh Donti B.S. Computer Science (Cornell Univ.) NASA Goddard Space Flight Center I redesigned a conversion software suite that allows heterogeneous model output to be stored uniformly in a common science data format. Using the Java programming language, I improved the existing software that facilitates analysis of space weather model data to allow for more types of conversions. Samuel Grunblatt B.A. Astrophysics (Columbia Univ.) NASA Academy at Marshall Space Flight Center I worked with the Gamma Ray Burst Monitor Team doing time-resolved spectral analysis of soft gamma repeaters. I utilized specialized software to plot distributions of assorted parameters (temperature, amplitude, energy, etc.) to better constrain models, in order to investigate the mechanisms that cause soft gamma repeaters. New York Space Grant 8

Space Grant Internships at NASA & NY Industry: Summer 2011 This summer NYSG supported student research at affiliate institutions, plus awarded funds to ten NY student interns at NASA centers and NASA Academies. NASA Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD) supported three student interns at NY industries. Two more Space Grant interns worked in NY industry, funded by NYSG and Moog Inc. See more details on the NASA and industry interns in the table below. Location Students Students Home Institutions NASA Ames Research Center 2 Polytechnic Institute of NYU, Rensselaer NASA Goddard Space Flight Center 1 Cornell University NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory 1 Columbia University NASA Langley Research Center 2 Rensselaer, Rochester Institute of Technology NASA Marshall Space Flight Center 4 Honeybee Robotics (New York, NY) 1 Cornell University Lockheed Martin (Owego, NY) 1 Cornell University Alfred University, Columbia University, SUNY Binghamton, SUNY Buffalo Moog Inc. (East Aurora, NY) 3 Clarkson University, SUNY Buffalo New York Space Grant Affiliate Directors and Institution Locations Prof. Yervant Terzian, Cornell University (Director) Prof. Marcel Agüeros, Columbia University Prof. Wayne Anderson, SUNY Buffalo Prof. Shermane Austin, Medgar Evers College, CUNY Prof. Thomas Balonek, Colgate University Prof. Frank Cardullo, SUNY Binghamton Mr. Ron Crawford, Lockheed Martin Prof. David Ferguson, SUNY Stony Brook Prof. Susannah Fritton, City College of NY, CUNY Prof. Vikram Kapila, Polytechnic Institute of NYU Prof. Rebecca Koopmann, Union College Prof. Reshmi Mukherjee, Barnard College Prof. Heidi Newberg, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Prof. Chris O Dea, Rochester Institute of Technology Prof. Tim Paglione, York College, CUNY Prof. Judith Pipher, University of Rochester Prof. Peter Plumley, Syracuse University Prof. Aaron Steinhauer, SUNY Geneseo Prof. David Toot, Alfred University Prof. Charles Trautmann, Sciencenter Prof. Daniel Valentine, Clarkson University NY county map from geology.com 9 Fall 2011

New York Space Grant News Fall 2011 FIRST Robotics students interact with STS-135 astronauts during a NYSG-sponsored lunch at NASA s What s Your Favorite Space? event in New York City. (August 2011; Photo credit: FRC Team 369) Authors: Mason Peck (Cornell University) Shermane Austin (Medgar Evers College, CUNY) Tim Paglione (York College, CUNY) Hugh Crowl (Columbia University) Vikram Kapila (Polytechnic Institute of NYU) Grant Tremblay (Rochester Institute of Technology) Paul Siegel (SUNY Stony Brook) Wayne Anderson and Marilyn Helenbrook (SUNY Buffalo) Rebecca Koopmann (Union College) Judy Pipher and Craig McMurtry (University of Rochester) Peter Plumley (MOST and Syracuse University) Editor/Layout: Erica Miles (Cornell University) Center-of-mass experiments during a NYSG NASA Lecture at a middle school in Queens, NY (March 2011). Middle school science teachers from across NY State attend the NY Space Grant Teacher Fellows conference at Cornell (January 2011). NASA/New York Space Grant Consortium 517 Space Sciences Building Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853-6801 New York Space Grant News NASA/New York Space Grant Consortium http://astro.cornell.edu/spacegrant/