CONWAY, Ark. (February 27, 2017) – Hendrix College student
Ryan Tumminello ’18 has been accepted to the NASA Airborne Science Program’s
9th annual Student
Airborne Research Program (SARP).
Tumminello is a chemistry major from St. Louis, Missouri.
The eight-week program provides students with hands-on
research experience in all aspects of a major scientific aircraft research campaign,
from detailed planning on how to achieve mission objectives to formal
presentation of results and conclusions to peers and others. SARP participants
will receive a stipend, a travel allowance, free housing and local
transportation during the eight-week program.
“SARP is truly an amazing research program that allows
students to try their hand at collaborative efforts toward understanding the
Earth System using aircraft as a research platform,” said Hendrix chemistry
professor Dr. Courtney Hatch, who chairs the College’s Environmental Studies
Program and currently holds the Morris and Ann Henry Odyssey Professorship. “I
couldn’t be more proud of and excited for Ryan.”
About
SARP
SARP students will work in multi-disciplinary teams to study
surface, atmospheric, and oceanographic processes. Participants will fly
onboard the NASA C-23 Sherpa and assist in the operation of
instruments to sample and measure atmospheric gases. They will also use data
collected during the program from the NASA ER-2 to image land and
water surfaces in multiple spectral bands. Along with airborne data collection,
students will participate in taking measurements at field sites. Each student
will complete an individual research project from the data collected.
Instrument and flight preparations, and the research flights themselves, will
take place during the first two weeks of the program at NASA’s Armstrong Flight
Research Center, in Palmdale, California. Post-flight data analysis and
interpretation will take place during the final six weeks of the program at the
University of California, Irvine.
Watch a video about the program here.
About
Hendrix College
Hendrix College is a private liberal arts college in Conway,
Arkansas. Founded in 1876 and affiliated with the United Methodist Church since
1884, Hendrix is featured in Colleges
That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think about Colleges and is
nationally recognized in numerous college guides, lists, and rankings for
academic quality, community, innovation, and value. For more information, visit
www.hendrix.edu.