Article source: California Space Grant Consortium

San Diego: On July 25, 2014 the CaSGC completed an intense 5-day San Diego MESA Alliance Research Academy at San Diego State University and UC San Diego. Twenty-five students from San Diego City College, Southwestern College, and San Diego State University worked in teams on five research projects mentored by graduate students: Microgravity Flame Research, PMMA Combustion in a Narrow Channel Apparatus Simulating Microgravity, Sensory Motor Neural Engineering, Bulk Metallic Glass, and Near Space Ballooning using Arduinos. One of the projects, PMMA Combustion, involved a real-time video downlink with astronauts on board the International Space Station, an exciting highlight of the project. The students toured and worked in university laboratories, learned about the research process, learned the theory and governing equations behind the research, and analyzed the data they collected. This fall the students will conduct outreach at community colleges and K-12 schools presenting their projects and inspiring students to seek research experiences during their studies.

The Research Academy was formulated in 2011 by Rafael Alvarez, MCCP Director at San Diego City College in response to CaSGC encouragement to develop a meaningful program introducing community college students to university research while affecting a wide number of students. It has been run these past three summers providing 60 community college students with hands-on university research experiences. The curriculum was developed by graduate student Daniel Nelson and the program is led by CaSGC Campus Director Dr. Gustaaf Jacobs, professor at San Diego State University, and Theresa Garcia, Director of theMESA Engineering Program and Interim Assistant Dean of Student Affairs at San Diego State University, with assistance from MCCP Directors Rafael Alvarez of San Diego City College and Dr. Raja Bakhiet ofSouthwestern College.

For more photos from the projects, please visit the following links:
San Diego Project