University of Houston wins $5 million grant from NASA to launch new aerospace research center

The University of Houston was one of seven minority-serving institutions to receive a nearly $5 million grant this month to support aerospace research focused on expanding human presence on the Moon and beyond. March.

The five-year, $4,996,136 grant is funded by the NASA Office of STEM Engagement’s Institutional Research Opportunity (MIRO) program through the Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP). It will be used to create NASA’s IDEAS2 Center (IDEAS2) at UH, according to A declaration of the University.

“The vision of the IDEAS2 Center is to become a leading national innovation center that powers cutting-edge NASA-centered research and promotes 21st century aerospace education,” Karolos Grigoriadis, Moores Professor of Mechanical Engineering and director of aerospace. engineering at UH, said in a statement.

Another goal of the grant is to develop the next generation of aerospace professionals.

Graduate, undergraduate, and even middle and high school students will conduct research on IDEAS2 and work closely with the Johnson Space Center, located in the Houston area.

The center will collaborate with Texas A&M University, Houston Community College, San Jacinto College and Stanford University.

Grigoriadis will lead the center. Dimitris Lagoudas, of Texas A&M University, and Olga Bannova, research professor of mechanical engineering at UH and director of the Space Architecture graduate program, will serve as associate directors.

“Our mission is to establish an enduring link of excellence in aerospace engineering research and education, supported by targeted multi-institutional collaborations, strategic partnerships and various educational initiatives,” Grigoriadis said.

Industry partners include Boeing, Axiom Space, Bastion Technologies and Lockheed Martin, according to UH.

UH is among 21 higher education institutions that will receive approximately $45 million through NASA MUREP grants.

According to NASA, the other six universities that received approximately $5 million in MIRO grants over five years and their projects include:

• University of Alaska Pacific Anchorage: University of Alaska Pacific Microplastics Research and Education Center
• California State University, Fullerton: SpaceIgnite Center for Advanced Research-Education in Combustion
• City University of New York, Hunter College of New York: NASA-Hunter College Center for Advanced Energy Storage for Space
• Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University Tallahassee: Integrative Space Additive Manufacturing: Workforce Development Opportunities in NASA-Related Materials Research and Education
• New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark: Center of Excellence in AI-Powered Solar Flare Research and Education
• University of Illinois at Chicago: Space Manufacturing Center: Regolith Recycling and Processing

Fourteen other establishments will each receive up to $750,000 over a three-year period. These include:

• University of Mississippi
• University of Alabama at Huntsville
• Louisiana State University Baton Rouge
• West Virginia University Morgantown
• University of Puerto Rico at San Juan
• Desert Research Institute, Reno, Nevada
• Oklahoma State University at Stillwater
• Iowa State University at Ames
• University of Alaska Fairbanks in Fairbanks
• University of the Virgin Islands at Charlotte Amalie
• University of Hawaii at Manoa in Honolulu
• University of Idaho Moscow
• University of Arkansas at Little Rock
• South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City
• Satellite data feed

NASA’s MUREP held its annual “Space Tank” event at Space Center Houston last month. Teams from across the country, including three teams from Texas, presented business plans based on technology created by NASA. Click here to find out more out of the seven finalists.