Tammy Jones							May 10, 1996
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
(Phone:  301/286-5566)
tammy.jones@ccmail.gsfc.nasa.gov

Release: 96-032

NASA Selects Research Associates for the 1996 NASA Academy
at Goddard Space Flight Center

	NASA has selected 24 Research Associates (RAs) to participate in the 
1996 NASA Academy program at the Goddard Space Flight Center,  Greenbelt, 
Md.  The goal of the intensive 10 week summer institute is to help guide 
potential future leaders of the space program.  All RAs were selected 
competitively from a nation-wide pool of approximately 100 applicants.  
Potential RAs must be current undergraduate or graduate level students 
majoring in science, math, engineering, computer science, or other areas of 
interest to the space program.

	This Academy experience is intended to bring out the leadership 
qualities in the Research Associates, and to show them how the real world is 
working.  For some of them it will change their careers, for others it will be a 
real eye opener of what happens behind the scenes,  said Dr. Gerald Soffen, 
Director of University Programs at the Goddard Space Flight Center.  Soffen 
also serves as Director of the Goddard NASA Academy.

	The Academy provides insight into all of the elements that make the 
NASA mission possible, while at the same time assigning the RA to one of 
Goddards most innovative and creative researchers.  In addition, 
the RAs get a unique view of the space program through interactive 
lectures, tours, and special projects with the leaders and motivators of the 
space program.  The program will be held from June 1, 1996 through August 
10, 1996.

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	The program is co-sponsored by Goddard and the National Space Grant 
College and Fellowship Program consortium in each state.  A total of 66 RAs 
have participated in the program since its inception in the summer of 1993.  
Additional information on the NASA Academy program can be accessed 
through the World Wide Web at: 

http://university.gsfc.nasa.gov/SA/academy.html.

1996 Research Associates selected:
Research Associate		University					
Brett Allard			University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, CO
					Electrical Engineering
Lothar Birke			Imperial College, London, UK
					Physics
Peter Castro			Case Western Reserve Univ., Cleveland, OH
					Biomedical Engineering
Christopher Cousins		University of Idaho, Moscow, ID
					Mechanical Engineering
Dawn Crowder			Montana State University, Bozeman, MT
					Physics and French
Niem Dang				University of New Hamsphire, Durham, NH
					Biochemistry
Anthony DeBella			Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
					Mechanical Engineering
Lizhen Gao				Univ. of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK
					Electrical Engineering
Harry Garner			Harding University, Searcy, AR
					Physics and Mathematics
Alberto Gay			University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, PR
					Mechanical Engineering
Daniel Greenspan		Rowan College of New Jersey, Glassboro, NJ
					Computer Science
Cynthia Hall			College of Charleston					
				Charleston, SC
					Biology and Geology
Christopher Lewicki		University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 
					Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering
Danielle Manuszak		University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
					Physics
Benjamin Mazin 			Yale University, New Haven, CT
					Astronomy & Physics
Jeffrey Munson			University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
					Mechanical Engineering
Jeremy Richardson		West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV
					Physics 
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Gregory Richardson		Massachusetts Institute of Technology 		
				Cambridge, MA
					Aerospace Engineering
Holly Ridings			Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
					Mechanical Engineering
Joseph Spence			Howard University, Washington, DC
					Electrical Engineering
Danielle Walker			Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
					Electrical Engineering
Kristin Whitson			University of Tennessee at Chattanooga		
				Chattanooga, TN.,
					Physics
Christopher Wilkinson		Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
					Mechanical Engineering
Jacob Yates			San Diego State University, San Diego, CA
					Geological Sciences

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Goddard  Space Flight Centers NASA Academy Program Description

I n t r o d u c t i o n
NASA Academy is a unique  summer institute of higher learning whose goal is to help 
guide future leaders of the U.S. Space Program by giving them a glimpse of how the 
whole space program works. The success of the space program results from the 
interaction of government, academia and the private sector, each playing a critical and 
different role in the 35-year old civilian program. Responsibilities overlap, leaders 
migrate from one sector to another, and interdependence changes with each new 
administration. 

T h e  A c a d e m y
The primary function of the Academy is to provide insight into all of the elements that 
make NASA missions possible, while at the same time matching each student to one of 
our best researchers to contribute towards one of our Earth or space missions. Each 
student is carefully selected by a series of panels, interviews, etc., starting with their 
own State Space Grant Consortium who has nominated and agreed to sponsor them. 
The participating GSFC researchers are selected through a highly competitive process 
for selecting only the best, the brightest, and the most innovative. The "match" between 
student (Research Associate, RA) and researcher (Principal Investigator) is done by 
mutual selection.  A portion of the working time and much of the social time spent by 
the RAs will be as a "group" or "team" in plenary sessions. This time is devoted to an 
exchange of ideas, forays into the highest level of decision making, prioritizing, 
planning and executing our space missions. This is done by interviews with leaders and 
motivators of the Space Program. Besides the domestic GSFC 'experts', we will tap 
Washington, DC, legislators, business company Presidents, international partners, and 
the energetic people who champion our cause. The majority of the working time is 
spent in the laboratory of the selected Principal Investigators working on their Earth or 
space related technical project.

This summer, 24 students interested in space science, Earth science, or engineering will 
come GSFC to share a unique experience resulting from their own ingenuity and hard 
work for the 10 week session.  This year marks the fourth year of the Goddard NASA 
Academy and the third year for the Marshall Space Flight Centers NASA Academy.

A d d i t i o n a l  G r o u p   A c t i v i t i e s - J u n e  1  t o  A u g u s t  10
In order to enhance the RAs understanding of NASA as an agency, several trips are 
planned for the summer.  RAs visit Langley Research Center and Wallops Flight Facility 
in Virginia, the Goddard Institute for Space Studies at Columbia University in New 
York City, and the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Other weekend trips are planned 
by the RAs when they arrive. 

T h e  A c a d e m y  E x p e r i e n c e
Our goal is to 'guide', not instruct.  Teaching and learning are not the same. Teaching is 
the orthodoxy of our universities and colleges; learning is the "ah-ha!" process of 
finding out and understanding. That is the objective of the NASA Academy: to foster 
curiosity, to spirit endeavor, and to inspire leadership.