Agenda

7:30 – 8:30 am – Student Poster Set Up

7:30 – 8:15 am – Continental Breakfast and Networking

Susan White, Director, North Carolina Space Grant

Erica Alston, Program Executive, NASA Earth Sciences Division, NASA Headquarters

• From Back Roads to Space

Dr. Erica Alston will engage the audiences via a high-level overview of NASA Earth Science while exploring her strong North Carolina roots.

• Moderated by Kathyrn Caruso, North Carolina Center Lead for the NASA DEVELOP National Program, NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information; North Carolina Space Grant Advisory Board Member

9:05 – 9:25 am – Douglas Rao, Research Scientist, North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies

• The Trifecta for Climate Studies: Long-Term Satellite Records, Data Science, and Cloud Computing

Environmental satellite missions provide unique value for monitoring different aspects of climate change and their impacts to both natural and human systems. The recent progress of data science and cloud computing technologies make long-term satellite observations much more accessible for a variety of applications including climate studies. This talk will provide a brief overview of how to use long-term satellite observations for climate monitoring on the cloud.

9:25 – 9:45am – Leila Hashemi Beni, Associate Professor of Remote Sensing and GIS, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University

• Remote Sensing and Geospatial Data Science Harnessing for Flood Mapping and Impacts

The recent proliferation of remote sensing platforms (e.g., satellites, aircraft, and UAVs) equipped with advanced sensor technologies (e.g., optical, hyperspectral, SAR, LiDAR) has enabled systematic production of massive amounts of high spatial, spectral and temporal data. Extracting and combining the information contained in these rich multisource data enable novel views and creating a comprehensive and detailed knowledge basis of the environmental dynamics for both rapid changing event (i.e. Flood) and steady progressions (e.g., erosion monitoring). This talk will discuss the research efforts at NCAT to develop a multimodal and multitemporal data fusion framework for flood mapping.

9:45 – 10:05 am – Tamlin Pavelsky, Professor of Global Hydrology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• The Surface Water and Ocean Topography Mission: A new Satellite to Study Earth’s Surface Water

Refreshments and beverages available in the general session room.

Odd-numbered posters presented

Transition back to the general session room. Refreshments and beverages available in the general session room.

• Moderated by Aurora Toennisson, Ph.D. Candidate, North Carolina State University; North Carolina Space Grant Alumni and Advisory Board Member

Spencer Rhea, 2023-2024 NC Space Grant – NC Sea Grant Graduate Research Fellow, Duke University

• Clearing blackwaters: Satellite detection of saltwater intrusion events in North Carolina’s coastal waterways

Victoria Whidden, 2023-2024 Undergraduate Research Scholar, Appalachian State University

• Gold nanoshell response in optical tweezers of varying trap strength

Logan Selph, 2023-2024 Undergraduate Research Scholar, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Using real LVK data for gravitational wave education

Khalaeb Richardson, 2023-2024 Graduate Research Fellow, North Carolina State University

• The effect of cognitive aids on workload and performance during long-term space flight

Paul Byrne, Director, NASA Planetary Data Systems Geosciences Node; Associate Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis

• Exploring Venus to Understand Earth

At first glance, Earth and Venus should be the same—yet the surface of Venus is anything but Earth-like. Understanding why, how, and when Venus and Earth diverged is crucial if we’re to make sense of our own planet’s history of habitability. And with ever more Earth-size worlds being discovered in orbit of other stars, the exploration of Venus has taken on a renewed urgency for the U.S. and international planetary science communities.

Even-numbered posters presented

Transition back to the general session room. Refreshments and beverages available in the general session room.

• Moderated by Bryce Abbott, Aerospace Structural Engineer, Collier Aerospace; North Carolina Space Grant Alumni

Riley Bishop, 2023-2024 Graduate Research Fellow, North Carolina State University

• An investigation of the locomotion capabilities of a screw-propelled vehicle for planetary surface exploration

Anjali Kumari, 2023-2024 Graduate Research Fellow, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University

• A design of experiment approach to evaluate extracellular vesicle stability and integrity in select buffer combinations for long-term storage

Titus Szobody, 2023-2024 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Intern, North Carolina State University

• Silver coated ionic liquids for liquid phase space telescope optics

Derrick Carr, 2023-2024 Graduate Research Fellow, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Probing the evolution of local nuggets in the RESOLVE and ECO SurveyProbing the evolution of local nuggets in the RESOLVE and ECO Survey

Nathan Morrow, Associate Professor in International Health and Sustainable Development, Tulane University

• Advancing Gulf Coast Environmental Justice Leadership & Engagement in Open Science (AGEJLE-OS)

A significant gap in availability and access of appropriate data to advance environmental justice exists in Gulf Coast communities. The Advancing Gulf Coast Environmental Justice Leadership & Engagement in Open Science (AGEJLE-OS) project seeks to unlock the potential of NASA Earth science and earth observation products to address environmental injustice and investigate climate change-related disparities by engaging underserved EJ communities throughout the scientific process. Community-engaged open science research promises to broaden inclusive participation and benefit from greater diversity, but only if open science approaches and tools developed by initiatives such as the NASA Transform to Open Science (TOPS) program can be appropriately adapted to address the access barriers faced by many EJ communities.

Jobi Cook, Associate Director, North Carolina Space Grant

Transition to Open Science 101 student workshop.

Open Science is the principle and practice of making research products and processes available to all, while respecting diverse cultures, maintaining security and privacy, and fostering collaborations, reproducibility, and equity. In this workshop, participants will explore Open Science, the current landscape, as well as the benefits and challenges. Learners will gain insights into the practices of open science through case studies.

Facilitators:

• Elizabeth Joyner, Community Coordinator, NASA Earth Science Data Systems Communications, Science Systems and Applications, Inc.
• Nathan Morrow, Associate Professor in International Health and Sustainable Development, Tulane University
• Cynthia Hall, Support Scientist, Early Career Research Program, NASA Earth Sciences Division