The indelible images that have defined space and flight exploration-including Neil Armstrong's raising of the American flag on the moon-have made the National Aeronautics and Space Administration part of America's mythology of the frontier. Nonetheless, much of the behind-the-scenes grunt work that makes advancement possible occurs through an integral yet underappreciated source: universities.
"In a nutshell, we really look to the university community to provide the real cutting edge technologies for the future," said Bob Luddy, university and cooperative programs manager for NASA. "We are working on reinvigorating our university partnerships."
This year, NASA spent approximately $1 billion on universities out of its $14 billion budget. Thirty-five percent of that research funding goes toward grants to professors at approximately 500 universities around the country. NASA also negotiates with universities to manage specific projects.
Lt. Gen. Spence Armstrong, senior advisor to NASA Administrator Dan Goldin, said that since NASA's inception in the 1950s, education and research have been a high priority.
"It's extremely useful to work with the universities. We certainly don't know everything," said Dr. Francis Montegani, university affairs officer at NASA's John Glenn Research Center.
Professors may receive grants through several processes. Sometimes scientists happen to know the kind of research various space centers are conducting and send in their own proposals. Montegani said announcements are also "put out on the street" through mailing lists, newspapers and word of mouth.
Various field centers across the country are responsible for handling and giving out grants.
Professor James Kuchar, associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, found that simply talking with researchers at NASA led to exciting research opportunities in his area of expertise-designing warning systems for pilots. These discussions led to a focused proposal, which resulted in two six-figure research grants through Ames and Langley research centers.
Although many Americans associate NASA only with space flight, Kuchar's research indicates NASA's dual emphasis on flight technology.
With most of the research done at MIT, Kuchar has helped design an alarm that goes in the airplane cockpit, complete with a display that shows where other airplanes are located.
The research could solve significant in-air confusion. Kuchar has created a transmitter on each airplane that sends information about its location and heading. If two airplanes are on a collision course, the alarm will sound. All of the systems created at MIT are tested in NASA's flight simulators.
This particular collaboration, Kuchar said, benefits both NASA and MIT. "They have a lot facilities that we don't have, and a number of research experts we can interact with.... We have a chance to do some longer-term thinking that they may not get to do."
Although Duke University collaborates far less than other schools, some faculty are involved in NASA research, including Fritz London Professor of Physics Horst Meyer. Funded by a 13-year grant that ends in May 2002, Meyer conducts ground-based experiments to measure the properties of fluids near their critical points.
Meyer works in conjunction with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "There are quite a few results that come as a surprise, and such discoveries are very welcome and stimulate further research," he said. "This has been a very satisfying and stimulating experience."
But NASA offers shorter term opportunities, too. The Summer Faculty Fellowship Program, for example, gives individuals a 10-week appointment to do research at NASA field centers. Faculty members maintain relationships with NASA staff and stay in touch with the people with whom they have worked. In addition, many graduate students who work on NASA projects at universities, like one of Meyer's former students, end up working for NASA.
With a plethora of research opportunities that connect university research with the larger goals and principles of NASA, as well as the alarming trend of fewer students entering the fields of physics and engineering, it is no wonder that both sides plan to continue joint exploration.
"For the amount of money we put into the universities, we get quite a bit back," Armstrong said.
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