Boise State Research Team One of 14 Chosen by NASA

A collaboration involving the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering has resulted in Boise State being selected into NASA's Microgravity University 2011.  The Boise State team is one of 14 groups selected.

The Boise State students will study the issue of bone density loss suffered by astronauts who are in an extended period of weightlessness.  The team will collect information on and monitor the body's response to the environmental stress of microgravity given the fluctuation of calcium molecules in bone cells.  The Bronco students will propose, design, fly and evaluate a reduced gravity experiment that is based on NASA's mission.

Boise State will be joined by peers from Yale, California Institute of Technology, Cal Poly, George Washington, Utah State, the University of Washington, Florida, West Virginia, Lehigh, Oklahoma State, Dartmouth, Purdue and the University of New York at Buffalo.  The schools will present and conduct their experiments June 2-11 during Flight Week at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

The prestigious invitation is the culmination of two years of work by team leader and senior Jake Forsberg (computer science), 2010 graduate Ben Davis (biology) and faculty advisers Robert Hay (electrical and computer engineering), Julie Oxford (biology) and Sondra Miller (civil engineering).  Additional members include sophomore David Connolly (mechanical engineering), senior Travis Dean (mechanical engineering), junior Stephanie Frahs (chemistry), sophomore Dawn Mikelonis (biology), graduate student Alex Miller (materials science and engineering), senior Ron Pierce (electrical engineering) and graduate student Ellen Rabenberg (materials science and engineering).  Former NASA astronaut Barbara Morgan, now Boise State's distinguished educator in residence, is assisting the team.

"Our 2011 Microgravity University team is looking at some basic biological questions in a new way, and a lot will be learned from their exploration," Morgan said.  "Major advances in technology happen at the intersection of disciplines," said Hay.  "This kind of collaboration forces us to look at things from a different perspective."