Kudos to these students
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Northern Arizona University engineering students (pictured right) competed in the 2017 Engineering Challenge of the Collegiate Wind Competition last weekend at the National Wind Technology Center in Colorado. The competition challenges interdisciplinary teams of undergraduate students from a variety of programs to offer a unique solution to a complex wind energy project, providing each student with real-world experience as they prepare to enter the wind industry workforce. The students are challenged to design a wind turbine based on market research, develop a business plan to market the product, build and test the turbine against set requirements and demonstrate knowledge of siting constraints and location challenges for product installation. The NAU team took third place in technical design, and got the best score of the 10 competing teams for technical design presentation.- Studying Japanese, Alex Peters, Christiane Harris and Noemi Gastelum participated in the 28th Annual Arizona Japanese Speech Contest that took place at Saguaro High School in Scottsdale earlier this month. Of the 47 contestants from Arizona high schools, community colleges and universities, 19 prizes were awarded; NAU took home two Best Effort Awards and the Judges Special Award.
- The following NAU students have completed research projects under the 2016-2017 NAU/NASA Space Grant Undergraduate Research Internship Program and presented the results of their projects at the Arizona/NASA Space Grant 26th Annual Statewide Symposium in Tempe last week—many of whom were accompanied by their mentors (pictured below).
- Connor Auge (Senior, Physics and Astronomy): Turbulent gas motion in interacting galaxy systems. Mentor: Lisa Chien, Physics and Astronomy
- Dustin Branges (Junior, Mechanical Engineering): Creating a dynamic lift system for assisted mobility. Mentor: Sarah Oman, Mechanical Engineering
- Nathaniel Bransky (Senior, Environmental Sciences): Comparison of Structure from Motion to LiDAR data for geomorphic change detection. Mentor: Temuulen Sankey, SESES
- Robert Castellanos (Senior, Physics): Numerically simulating gradient alloy materials. Mentor: John Gibbs, Physics and Astronomy
- Linnea Gear (Senior, Chemistry): Seasonal trends in Larrea Tridentata (Creosote Bush) leaf starch. Mentor: Kiona Ogle, SICCS
- Kevin Gochenour (Senior, Geology): The role of hydrogen bonding in forming secondary structure in a proposed DNA precursor. Mentor: Gerrick Lindberg, Chemistry and Biochemistry
- Anna Gorman (Junior, Environmental Engineering, Spanish): Solar disinfection of domestic greywater for landscape and edible plant use. Mentor: Lar Reiboldt, CECMEE
- Shannon Harrel (Post-Baccalaureate, Geology): Giving the Moon a 21stCentury makeover. Mentor: Corey Fortezzo, USGS Astrogeology Science Center
- Taylor Hartman (Senior, Geology): An interdisciplinary approach to scientific translation and communication, or why we need popular science journalism. Mentor: Randy Wilson, Arizona Daily Sun
- Josue Juarez (Senior, Environmental Engineering): Reclamation of human urine as a fertilizer in an off-Earth colony. Mentor: Paul Gremillion, CECMEE
- Amanda Ketting-Olivier (Senior, Geology): Determining the disruption of the Little Colorado River by past eruptions of the San Francisco Volcanic Field. Mentor: Nancy Riggs, SESES
- Channing Laturno (Senior, Forestry): Effects of restoration treatments and forest type on soil microarthropod communities in Valles Caldera National Preserve. Mentor: Anita Antoninka, School of Forestry
- Haley Leonard (Senior, Geology): Hydrothermal alteration analysis from the Flynn Creek impact crater. Mentor: Tenielle Gaither, USGS Astrogeology Science Center
- Isaac Romero (Senior, Mechanical Engineering): Design of a simple test fixture for a powered foot-ankle prosthesis. Mentor: John Tester, Mechanical Engineering
- Michael Rynders (Senior, Physics and Astronomy): Flagstaff Robotic Survey Telescope (FRoST) software development. Mentor: David Trilling, Physics and Astronomy
- Josephine Schindler (Post-Baccalaureate, Physics and Astronomy): Coevolution of supermassive black holes and their host galaxies. Mentor: Scott Barrows, Lowell Observatory
- Athena Talk (Junior, Environmental Science): Uranium, radon, and radiation outreach. Mentor: Mansel Nelson, ITEP.
- Olivia Thomas (Junior, Physics): Deformation analysis of advanced materials using digital holography. Mentor: Christopher Mann, Physics and Astronomy
