Congratulations to LSC-CyFair's Team Aquarius Solutions for advancing to Phase 2 of NASA MITTIC Competition! The team is invited to pitch their NASA technology spinoff business idea at NASA's Johnson Space Center in April 2023!

Lone Star College-CyFair will start recruiting for the new round of NCAS experience in Spring 2023 semester. Join the Email List: Fill out this form to receive future information on the NCAS on Campus program. Or email Yiheng.Wang@lonestar.edu.

NCAS Fall 2022 on-site event, Sept 11-14, 2022

Lone Star College-CyFair hosted NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars (NCAS) Mission 2: Engage – NASA on Campus (Mission 2) on-site event from September 11-14, 2022. Mission 2 engages community college students in authentic learning activities connected to NASA’s “Moon to Mars” missions and local STEM industry.

Group picture of all participating students, campus PIs, and NCAS coordinators, 9/14/2022.

Twenty scholars, including 7 students from Lone Star College (LSC-CyFair), were invited to Mission 2 by successfully completing Mission 1: Discover. The 13 other students hailed from Atlanta Metropolitan State College (Atlanta, GA), Meridian Community College (Meridian, MS), and Redlands Community College (El Reno, OK).

Lone Star College scholars, from left to right, Kyle Mohammed, Julia Westmoreland, Christian Steward, Kylie Ruiz, Patricia Harrison, and Elias Meza.

The scholars formed two fictitious aerospace companies to compete for a NASA award to design and build a mini-rover prototype and complete mock missions on a simulated Mars terrain.

Scholars formed two fictitious aerospace companies and engaged in mini-rover competition, pictured with team mentors.

Scholars networked with each other and STEM industry professionals, toured Seatronics, attended virtual NASA internship presentations, and worked with local mentors for career insights in industry.

Touring local company, Seatronics

Additionally, scholars attended the “60^th Anniversary of the John F. Kennedy Speech” at Rice University. Scholars listened to inspiring speakers including NASA Administrator Sen. Bill Nelson.

Scholars attended the “60^th Anniversary of the John F. Kennedy Speech” at Rice University.

The local mentors included Yahael Goldstein, an engineer-in-training with EHRA Engineering in Houston; Dr. Luiza Esteves, a technical marketing engineer at Sandvik Materials Technology; Dr. Jim Kaculi, Vice President of Engineering and RD at Dril-Quip, and Juventino Uriate, Research Engineer, Advanced Technologies at Huntsman Performance Products.

Mentors from local industries, from left to right, Yahael Goldstein, Luiza Esteves, Juventino Uriarte, and Jim Kaculi.

The closing ceremony included the presentation of four MVP awards. Two of the awards were given to LSC-CyFair scholars Kylie Ruiz and Kyle Mohammed.

MVP award winners, from left to right, Dyson Williams (Meridian CC), Kylie Ruiz (Lone Star), Kyle Mohammed (Lone Star), and Summer Camper (Redlands CC).

Click here for additional event pictures. 
For more information on NCAS please visit https://go.nasa.gov/ncas or email JSC-NCAS@mail.nasa.gov.

NCAS stands for NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars. As the name states, this is a unique program designed only for community college students.

NCAS on Campus website

Through this program, once selected, you will take a competitive 5-week online course that is developed by NASA to teach you all about NASA’s missions and research. Don’t worry, you are not alone in this course - you will have instructional assistants that support you as you complete the coursework, you will participate in discussions with community college students all over the country, and you can live-chat with NASA experts and learn directly from their lectures. If you perform well in this course, that means earning a 70% grade or above, you will qualify for a very special multi-day event!

For more information, contact LSC-CyFair Engineering Professor Dr. Yiheng Wang at Yiheng.Wang@lonestar.edu.

The NCAS experience

Mission 1: Discover

Mission 1: Discover is a 5-week, self-paced online course. This orientation to NASA sets a baseline for all students wishing to pursue subsequent NCAS missions. Students will gain a broad knowledge of what NASA has in its current plan and how they can play a role. STEM based activities embedded in the online course include live and recorded subject matter expert lectures, interactive multimedia on NASA content, interactions with fellow aerospace scholars, knowledge assessments including a final project, and guidance and support from trained professional educators.

Eligibility

• U.S. Citizenship
• High school graduate or equivalent
• At least 18 years of age
• Currently attend a U.S. community college
• Concurrent enrollment or completion of 9+ hours of STEM coursework
• Able to commit to a 5-week online session
• Internet access
• Have not previously participated in NCAS

Mission 2: Explore

Mission 2: Explore allows students to choose one of two educational simulation experiences.

• Exploration simulation is a gamified mission to the Moon or Mars where students develop a design solution that integrates multiple systems. This simulation highlights the acts of prioritizing and making trade-offs to remain within limits.
• Career simulation situates students to take on fictitious roles as NASA employees to gain exposure to workplace structure and culture. This simulation highlights the personal responsibilities and team dynamics needed to accomplish a huge goal such as a lunar surface exploration mission.

Eligibility

• Must have successfully completed NCAS Mission 1: Discover

Mission 3: Innovate

Mission 3: Innovate is an engineering design challenge. Participating students will be hosted onsite for a week at an NCAS partner institution or a NASA field center. STEM based activities for all students will include a capstone problem to solve as well as facility tours, live subject matter expert presentations, a resume workshop, a networking event, a job shadowing opportunity, and a 4-year college campus visit. However, the type of engineering design challenge differs depending on the host location.

Students affiliated with an NCAS partner institution will participate in a robotics competition. During the 4-day engagement, students collaborate with team members as a fictitious aerospace company vying for a NASA rover contract. Working in assigned roles, students utilize STEM-industry mentors to guide the rover design.

Students unaffiliated with an NCAS partner institution will participate with a NASA mission directorate in a collaborative a capstone problem based on current challenges faced by NASA. Thus, this engagement begins with online activities two weeks prior to the actual onsite event to brief students on the emerging and relevant details of the problem. Leading up to and during the 4-day onsite event, students develop possible solutions to the capstone problem and report them to a panel of NASA guests.

Eligibility

• Must have successfully completed NCAS Mission 1: Discover and NCAS Mission 2: Explore

How to Apply

Lone Star College-CyFair will start recruiting for the new round of NCAS experience in Spring 2023 semester.

Important dates

Eligibility

U.S. Citizenship High school graduate or equivalent. At least 18 years of age. Currently attend a U.S. community college. Concurrent enrollment or completion of 9+ hours of STEM coursework. Able to commit to a 5-week online session. Internet access. Have not previously attended an NCAS onsite event.

Application Information

To complete the application, provide: Community college transcripts (official or unofficial) or screenshots including: Your name. Your school’s name. 9 hours of STEM courses, either completed or in progress. Proof of current enrollment. Contact information. Recommendation form to be completed by a college professor. 300 word explanation of why you want to participate in NCAS. Application Requirements Once your application is submitted, you will receive a confirmation email. If you do not receive this email, please contact hq-nasa-stem-gateway@mail.nasa.gov.

NCAS Principal Investigators

Dr. Yiheng Wang is the Engineering Professor and Mr. Mohamad Hishmeh is the Electronics Professor at Lone Star College-CyFair. The college received the NASA award to connect Lone Star College students to the exciting NCAS program. 

Special thanks to Mr. Jared Cammon, the Engineering Technology Professor at Lone Star College-CyFair, who has been a long-time collaborator and advisor on NASA funded student projects, as well as previous NCAS Co-PI.

Congratulation to Team CRATER for receiving a U.S. Patent (US Patent No US 11,219,995 Bl) for the Dust tolerant pivot device they designed during 2019-2020 TSGC Design Challenge and NASA Micro-G NExT Challenge!

From community college student project to the International Space Station!

Click the thumbnail image below to see the amazing multi-year journey and success of Team CERO!

To learn more about the many other NASA funded student projects at Lone Star College-CyFair, click the links under "Related" on the right.