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Reaching New Frontiers in Science Supported by Public Participation


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Reaching New Frontiers in Science Supported by Public Participation

Image representing a round star colorized with bands of purple and red against a black background with white stars
A brown dwarf roaming the Milky Way galaxy. Image by citizen scientist/artist William Pendrill.
Credit: William Pendrill

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate seeks knowledge and answers to profound questions that impact all people. Through competitions, challenges, crowdsourcing, and citizen science activities, NASA collaborates with the public to make scientific discoveries that help us better understand our planet and the space beyond. Multiple NASA science projects were supported through public participation in Fiscal Years 2021 and 2022, spanning pursuits in astrophysics, Earth science, heliophysics,1 and more.

Astrophysics

NASA challenges in astrophysics seek to uncover new information about the origin, structure, evolution, and future of the universe, as well as other worlds outside our solar system.

Seeking potential planets in the backyard of our solar system, NASA invited the public to examine data from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission to discern moving celestial bodies. Human eyes are needed for the task because anomalies in the images often fool image processing technologies. The WISE mission continues to collect data, and the Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 citizen science project is still ongoing. But the project has discovered so far more than 3500 brown dwarfs (balls of gas too small to be considered stars), and one notable citizen scientist himself found 34 ultracool brown dwarfs with companions, now published in The Astronomical Journal.

To understand stars better, a citizen science project called Disk Detective 2.0 was launched in 2020 to evaluate disks, or belts, of material around stars. The original 2014 project resulted in the discovery of the longest-lived disks that form planets—dubbed “Peter Pan” disks—as well as the discovery of the youngest nearby disk around a brown dwarf. The relaunch offered a new batch of 150,000 stars in infrared wavelengths from NASA’s WISE mission and other data. As of May 2023, more than 12,000 volunteers had contributed to the project and 14 of those co-authored scientific papers based on their findings.

The Hybrid Observatory for Earth-like Exoplanets (HOEE) is a concept for a mission that would combine a ground-based telescope with a space-based starshade to enable better views of exoplanets from Earth.  
The Hybrid Observatory for Earth-like Exoplanets (HOEE) is a concept for a mission that would combine a ground-based telescope with a space-based starshade to enable better views of exoplanets from Earth.  
As part of early-stage study of this concept, NASA invited the public to develop 3D computer models of a lightweight starshade. Requirements for the starshade design included compact packaging, successful deployment in orbit, and a low-mass structure capable of maintaining its shape and alignment using as little spacecraft fuel as possible. The Ultralight Starshade Structural Design Challenge received 60 entries, and the top five shared a $7,000 prize. First place combined inflatable tubes for compression structures and cables for tension.  

Artist rendering of a gold starsahde fully deployed in space.
The Ultralight Starshade Structural Design Challenge asked participants to develop a lightweight starshade structure that could be used as part of the Hybrid Observatory for Earth-like Exoplanets (HOEE) concept

Earth Science

One goal of NASA’s Earth science pursuits is to map the connections between Earth’s vital processes and the climate effects of natural and human-caused changes. Multiple competitions are aiding our understanding of these interconnected systems.

A worldwide program called Global Learning and Observation to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) has brought educators and students together since 1995, promoting science and learning about the environment. As one of the partner organizations for the program, NASA sponsored the NASA GLOBE Trees Challenge 2022: Trees in a Changing Climate to gather tree height observations. The data collected is compared with space-based observation systems to track tree height and growth rate as an indicator of ecosystem health. Volunteers from around the world have amassed more than 4,700 tree-height observations from over 1,500 locations in 50 countries.

A similar data-gathering effort—the Cooperative Open Online Landslide Repository (COOLR)—utilizes a web-based platform developed by NASA to share reports of landslides. The repository’s data is validating a model in development at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt Maryland, the Landslide Hazard Assessment for Situational Awareness (LHASA), to map areas of potential landslide hazard in real-time. LHASA incorporates landslide inventories from people around the world in a machine-learning framework to estimate the relative probability of landslide occurrence.

To develop more accurate air quality data products from NASA satellite missions, a public competition called NASA Airathon: Predict Air Quality2 asked participants to develop algorithms for estimating daily levels of surface-level air pollutants on Earth. Using NASA satellite data, model outputs, and ground measurements, the public estimated daily levels of particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) across urban areas in the U.S., India, and Taiwan—all of which have readily available satellite data. The contest generated more than 1,200 submissions from over 1,000 participants and awarded $25,000 in prizes.

A coral reef in American Samoa, one of the locations where researchers from the Laboratory for Advanced Sensing went on deployment to collect data using fluid-lensing instruments.
The ocean: it’s Earth’s largest ecosystem and the habitat for coral – one of the planet’s most unique and oldest life forms.

While the concept for an iPad game called NeMO-Net could be applied to the search for life across the universe, the current application is assessing the health of coral reefs. Players help NASA classify coral reefs by painting 3D and 2D images of coral captured using the NASA FluidCam instrument, the highest-resolution remote sensing benthic imaging technology capable of removing ocean wave distortion. Data from the painted images feeds into NASA NeMO-Net, the first neural multi-modal observation and training network for global coral reef assessment. With 43,000 unique downloads of the game, there have been 71,000 classifications, of which 56,400 have been reviewed and confirmed by NASA.

Planetary Science

NASA’s spacecraft, which arrived at Jupiter in 2016, continues to explore the planet and its satellites with a suite of scientific instruments and a camera called JunoCam. The camera takes visible frequency images of Jupiter’s polar regions and its moons.  Via the project website, citizen scientists create images from the raw JunoCam data and post their creations on the Juno website and social media platforms. Early during the prime mission, the project engaged with the public in an online voting campaign to plan image-taking during orbital passes around Jupiter (“perijoves”), but the effort was abandoned after the transition to the 53 day–orbit mission due to unfavorable evolution of the approach geometry.

Ideally, when a space rover lands on Mars, it will know where it is safe to drive, land, sleep, and hibernate—without any guidance from a human operator. An early step in developing this capability, AI4Mars, invited the public to label images of Mars terrain taken by the Curiosity rover. The goal is to train a machine learning algorithm to improve the rover’s ability to identify and avoid hazardous terrain, which is essential for autonomous exploration. Over 16,000 volunteers completed more than 632,000 classifications, and a model developed using the data has a total accuracy of 91%.

A self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity rover taken on Sol 2082 (June 15, 2018). A Martian dust storm has reduced sunlight and visibility at the rover's location in Gale Crater.
A self-portrait of NASA’s Curiosity rover taken on Sol 2082 (June 15, 2018). A Martian dust storm has reduced sunlight and visibility at the rover’s location in Gale Crater. Self-portraits are created using images taken by Curiosity’s Mars Hands Lens Imager (MAHLI). https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22486

Another ideal capability for a Mars rover is independent analysis of data to avoid the tedious process of data transmission from Mars to Earth and back. In the Mars Spectrometry: Detect Evidence for Past Habitability challenge, NASA engaged the public to build a model to automatically analyze mass spectrometry data from rock and soil samples. Out of 656 entries, a software engineer from Brisbane, Australia, won $15,000 for first place. The second-place winner from the United States received $7,500, and the third-place winner from India won $5,000.

Biological and Physical Sciences

One of the aims of biological science research at NASA is to understand how biological systems acclimate to spaceflight environments. 

A unique classroom-based citizen science program called Growing Beyond Earth advances NASA’s research on growing plants in space. In its seventh year, the NASA program provides all the materials needed for the experiments. In total, more than 40,000 participating students and teachers have contributed hundreds of thousands of data points and tested 180 varieties of edible plants. As a result of their efforts, four types of vegetables were grown by NASA off-Earth, and two varieties have been successfully grown on the International Space Station.

Heliophysics

NASA studies the Sun and its effects on Earth and the solar system—or heliophysics—to increase understanding of how the universe works, how to protect technology and astronauts in space, and how stars contribute to the habitability of planets throughout the universe.

SOHO captured this image of a gigantic coronal hole hovering over the sun’s north pole on July 18, 2013.
SOHO captured this image of a gigantic coronal hole hovering over the sun’s north pole on July 18, 2013.

To enable better discovery and tracking of sungrazing comets—the large but faint objects made of dust and ice in close orbit of the Sun—NASA held the NASA SOHO Comet Search. Over $55,000 in prizes was awarded to solutions to reduce background noise in data recorded by the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO), one of the instruments on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft. Hundreds of participants from around the world devised artificial intelligence and machine learning approaches, which led to the discovery of two previously unidentified comets, including a difficult-to-detect non-group comet.

The preliminary results we’re already seeing come out of this challenge highlight the value of the open science movement.

Katie Baynes

Katie Baynes

NASA's Deputy Chief Science Data Officer

Space Apps 2021

In its tenth year, NASA’s 2021 International Space Apps Challenge took place in 320 locations across 162 countries or territories. The hackathon for coders, scientists, designers, storytellers, makers, technologists, and innovators around the world offered 28 different topics to solve using open data from NASA and others. This year’s winners included an app for homeowners to simplify data from NASA’s Prediction of Worldwide Renewable Energy Resources (POWER) web services portal to help make solar panel purchasing decisions and encourage solar energy use. Another winning app detects, quantifies, follows, and projects the movement of plastic debris in the ocean with high accuracy.

Endnotes

[1] https://science.nasa.gov/about-us/smd-vision

[2] https://drivendata.co/blog/nasa-airathon-winners

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Last Updated
Nov 07, 2023

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      While helping put up meteorological towers in the Amazon deep jungle, we would encounter massive squall lines. These storms were so loud as they rained down on the deep forest that you could not hear someone 10 feet away. One of the neatest things that I observed was that after the storms passed, we would see a fine red dust settling on top of our fleet of white Volkswagen rental vehicles in the middle of the rainforest.
      That observation piqued my interest and led to a paper I wrote about Saharan dust being transported to the Amazon basin and its potential implications for the Amazon, especially regarding nutrient losses from the system. Our initial work suggested there was not enough input from Northern Africa to support the system’s nutrient losses. That caused us to start looking to Sub-Saharan Africa as a potential source of these nutritive species.
      I finished my master’s during the first Persian Gulf War, and finding a job was challenging. During that phase I diversified my income stream by delivering newspapers and pizzas and also bouncing at a local nightspot so that I could focus on writing papers and proposals related to my research. One of my successes was the winning of a joint National Science Foundation proposal that funded my doctoral research to go to Namibia and examine sources of aerosol and trace gases as part of the larger NASA TRACE-Southern African Atmosphere Fire Research Initiative – 92 (SAFARI-92). We were based at Okaukuejo Rest Camp inside of Namibia’s Etosha National Park for the better part of two months. We characterized conservative chemical tracers of aerosols, their sources and long-range transport from biomass burning regions, which proved, in part, that Central Southern Africa was providing mineral and biomass burning emissions containing biogeochemically important species to far removed, downwind ecosystems thousands of kilometers away.  
      When I returned to Africa as a postdoctoral fellow, I  was able to experience other countries and cultures including Lesotho, Mozambique, and Zambia. In 1997, NASA’s AERONET project was also expanding into Africa and I helped Brent Holben and his team deploy instruments throughout Africa in preparation for vicarious validation of instrumentation aboard NASA’s Terra satellite platform.
      I returned to UVA as a research scientist to work for Chris Justice and his EOS MODIS/Terra validation team. I used this field experience and the international networks I developed, which contributed to my assuming the role of U.S. principal investigator for NASA’s Southern African Regional Science Initiative. Known as SAFARI 2000, it was an effort that involved 250 scientists from 16 different countries and lasted more than three years. When it ended, I became a research professor and began teaching environmental science and mentoring UVA students on international engagement projects.
      Around 2000, I created a regional knowledge network called Eastern/Southern Africa Virginia Network and Association (ESAVANA) that leveraged the formal and informal structures and networks that SAFARI 2000 established. I used my team building and science diplomacy skills to pull together different regional university partners, who each had unique pieces for unlocking the larger puzzle of how southern Africa acted as a regional coupled human-natural system. Each partner had something important to contribute while the larger potential was only possible by leveraging their respective strengths together as a team.
      I traveled extensively during this time and was supported in 2001 partially by a Fulbright Senior Specialist Award which allowed me to spend time at the University of Eduardo Mondlane in Maputo Mozambique to help them with hydrology ecosystem issues in the wake of massive floods. We kept the network alive by creating summer study abroad, service learning and intersession January educational programs that drew upon colleagues and their expertise from around the world that attracted new people, energy, and resources to ESAVANA. All of these efforts contributed to a “community of practice” focused on learning about the ethics and protocols of international research. The respectful exchange of committed people and their energies and ideas was key to the effort’s success. I further amplified the impact of this work by contributing my lived and learned experiences to the development of the first ever global development studies major at UVA.
      In 2004, I had a bad car accident and as a result have battled back and hip issues ever since. After falling off the research funding treadmill, I had to reconfigure myself in the teaching and program consultant sector. I grew more into a teaching role and was recognized for it by UVA’s Z-Society 2008 Professor of the Year, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s Virginia’s 2012 Professor of the Year, as well as my 2014 induction into UVA’s Academy of Teaching — all while technically a research professor. I was also heavily involved for almost a decade with the American Association for the Advancement of Science and its Center for Science Diplomacy and tasks related to activities such as reviewing the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research and teaching science diplomacy in short courses for the World Academy of Sciences for the Advancement of Science in Developing Countries located in Trieste, Italy, and the Academy of Science of South Africa.
      I worked in the Earth Sciences Division at NASA Headquarters from 2014 to early 2017 as a rotating program support officer as part of the Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA), where I supported the atmospheric composition focus area. One of my responsibilities involved serving as a United States Embassy science fellow in the summer of 2015, where I went to Namibia to support one of our Earth Venture Suborbital field campaigns. I came to Goddard in April 2017 to help revector their nascent global network of ground-based, hyperspectral ultraviolet and visible instruments known as the Pandora.
      What is your next big project?
      I am currently working with the NASA Goddard Earth Science Division front office to craft a vision for the next 20 years, which involves the alignment of people around a process to achieve a desired product. With the field of Earth System Science changing so rapidly, we need to position ourselves within this ever evolving “new space” environment of multi-sectoral partners — governmental, commercial, not-for-profit, and academic — from the U.S. and beyond to study the Earth system. This involves working with other governmental agencies, universities and industrial partners to chart a way forward. We will have a lot of new players. We will be working with partners we never imagined.
      We need people who know how to work across these different sectors. One such attempt to “grow our own timber” involves my development of an experimental version of the first NASA Student Airborne Research Program East Coast Edition (SARP and SARP-East), where student participants from a diversity of institutions of higher learning can see the power and promise of what NASA does, how we work together on big projects, and hopefully be inspired to take on the challenges of the future. In other words, I am pushing an exposure to field-based, Earth system science down earlier into their careers to expose them to what NASA does in an integrated fashion.
      What assets do you bring to the Earth Science Division front office?
      In 2020, I came to the Earth science front office to help lead the division. I make myself available across the division to help inspire, collect, suggest, and coach our rank and file into producing really cool mission concept ideas.
      Part of why the front office wanted me is because I use the skills of relationship building, community building, and science diplomacy to make things happen, to create joint ventures.  Having had to support myself for over 20 years on soft money, I learned to become an entrepreneur of sorts — to be scientifically and socially creative — and I was forced to look inward and take an asset-based approach. I look at all the forms of capital I have at hand and use those to make the best of what I have got. In Appalachia, there is an expression: use everything but the squeal from the pig.
      Lastly, I bring a quick wit with a good dose of self-deprecating humor that helps me connect with people.
      How do you use science diplomacy to make things happen?
      Two of the things that bind people together about science are the process of inquiry and utilizing the scientific method, both of which are universally accepted. As such, they allow us to transcend national and cultural divides.
      Science diplomacy works best when you start with this common foundation. Starting with this premise in collaborative science allows for conversations to take place focusing on what everyone has in common. You can have difficult conversations and respectful confrontations about larger issues.
      Scientists can then talk and build bridges in unique ways. We did this with SAFARI 2000 while working in a region that had seen two major wars and the system of Apartheid within the previous decade. We worked across borders of people who were previously at odds. We did that by looking at something apart from national identity, which was Southern Africa. We focused on how a large-scale system functions and how to make something that incorporates 10 different countries operate as a unit. We wanted to conduct studies showing how the region operated as a functional unit while dealing with transboundary issues. It took a lot of community and trust, and we began with the science community.
      What drives you?
      I want to put knowledge into action to make a difference. I realize it is not about me, it is about “we.” That is why I came to NASA, to make a difference. There is no other agency in the world where we can harness such a unique and capable group of people.
      What do you do for fun?
      I enjoy watching sports. I still enjoy hiking, fishing, and tubing down the river. My wife and I like long walks through natural settings with our rescues, Lady, our black-and-tan coonhound, and Duchess, our long-haired German Shepherd Dog. They are our living hot water bottles in the winter.
      My wife and I also like to cook together.
      Who would you like to thank?
      Without a doubt, it starts with my wife, family, and children whom without none of what I have accomplished would have been possible. I have had the good fortune to be able to bring them along on some of my international work, including to Africa.
      I am also very grateful to all those people during my school years who stepped in and who did not judge me initially by my less than stellar grades. They gave me the chance to become who I am today.
      Who inspires you?
      There is an old television show that I really liked called “Connections,” by James Burke. He would start with a topic, go through the history, and show how one action led to another action with unforeseen consequences. He would take something modern like plastics and link it back to Viking times. Extending that affinity for connections, the Resilience Alliance out of Sweden also influences me with their commitment to showing connections and cycles.
      My mentors at UVA were always open to serving as a sounding board. They treated me as a colleague, not a student, as a member of the guild even though I was still an apprentice. That left an indelible impression upon me and I always try to do the same. My doctoral mentor Mike Garstang said that he already had a job and that this job was to let me stand on his shoulders to allow me to get to the next level, which is my model.
      Another person who was very formative during my early professional career was Jerry Melillo who showed me what it was like to be an effective programmatic mentor. I worked with him as his chief staffer of an external review of the IAI and learned a lot by watching how he ran that activity program.
      With respect to NASA, a number of people come to mind: Michael King, Chris Justice, and Tim Suttles, as well as my South African Co-PI, Harold Annegarn, all of whom, at one time or another, took me under their respective wings and mentored me through the whole SAFARI 2000 process. From each of their different perspectives, they taught me how NASA works, how to engage, how to implement a program, and how to navigate office politics. And my sister and our conversations about leadership and what it means to be a servant leader. To be honest, there are scores more individuals who have contributed to my development that I don’t have the space to mention here.
      What are some of your guiding principles?
      Never lose the wonder — stay curious. “We” not “me.” Seeking to understand before being understood. We all stand on somebody’s shoulders. Humility rather than hubris. Respect. Be the change you wish to see.
      By Elizabeth M. Jarrell
      NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
      Conversations With Goddard is a collection of Q&A profiles highlighting the breadth and depth of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s talented and diverse workforce. The Conversations have been published twice a month on average since May 2011. Read past editions on Goddard’s “Our People” webpage.
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      Details
      Last Updated Nov 19, 2024 EditorMadison OlsonContactRob Garnerrob.garner@nasa.govLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
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      Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)

      Abigail Reigner, a systems engineer at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, supports the agency’s research in electrified aircraft propulsion to enable more sustainable air travel. Behind her is a 25% scale model of NASA’s SUbsonic Single Aft eNgine (SUSAN) Electrofan aircraft concept used to test and demonstrate hybrid electric propulsion systems for emission reductions and performance boosts in future commercial aircraft.
      Credit: NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna Growing up outside of Philadelphia, Abigail Reigner spent most of her childhood miles away from where her family called home, and where there was little trace of her Native American tribe and culture.
      Belonging to the Comanche Nation that resides in Lawton, Oklahoma, Reigner’s parents made every effort to keep her connected to her Indigenous heritage and part of a community that would later play a key role in her professional journey.
      “My parents were really adamant on making sure my brother and I were still involved in the Native American traditions."
      Abigail Reigner

      “My parents were really adamant on making sure my brother and I were still involved in the Native American traditions,” Reigner said. “We would go down to Oklahoma often in the summertime, spending time with family and staying immersed in our culture.”
      Both her parents come from a teaching background, so Reigner was surrounded by hands-on learning experiences early in life. As a school teacher, her mother would participate in local outreach events each year, talking and interacting with students. Her father, a middle school technology education teacher, taught Reigner how to use computer-aided design (CAD) and helped introduce her to the world of engineering at a young age.  
      These unique experiences helped spark Reigner’s curiosity for learning about science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and connecting with others in her community who shared these interests. Reigner says she never takes her upbringing for granted. 
      “I feel pretty lucky to have grown up with so many educational opportunities, and I try to use them as a way to give back to my community,” Reigner said.
      After participating in various engineering and robotics classes in high school and realizing a career in STEM was the right fit for her, Reigner went on to attend the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York where she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering.
      During her time there, she joined the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) where she got the unique opportunity to connect with other Indigenous students and mentors in STEM fields and gain leadership experience on projects that eventually set her up for internship opportunities at NASA.
      “The opportunities I got through AISES led me to get an internship at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory during the summer of 2021, and then an eight-month co-op the following year working in the center’s materials science division,” Reigner said.
      Through AISES, Reigner also met Joseph Connolly, an aerospace engineer at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland who was looking to recruit Indigenous students for full-time positions in the agency. Upon graduating from college, Reigner joined NASA Glenn as an engineer in the summer of 2024.
      Abigail Reigner (top far left) and Joseph Connolly (middle far right) pose with NASA employees while staffing a booth at an American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) conference to help recruit Indigenous students to the agency. Credit: Abigail Reigner Today, Reigner works as a systems engineer supporting NASA Glenn’s efforts to test and demonstrate electrified aircraft propulsion technologies for future commercial aircraft as part of the agency’s mission to make air travel more sustainable.
      One of the projects she works on is NASA’s Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration (EPFD), where she supports risk-reduction testing that enables the project to explore the feasibility of hybrid electric propulsion in reducing emissions and improving efficiency in future aircraft.

      “It’s always good to know that you’re doing something that is furthering the benefit of humanity,” Reigner said. “Seeing that unity across NASA centers and knowing that you are a part of something that is accelerating technology for the future is very cool.” 
      “I really feel like the reason I am here at NASA is because of the success of not just the Native American support group here at Glenn, but also Natives across the agency.”
      Abigail Reigner

      The growing community of Native Americans at NASA Glenn has fostered several initiatives over the years that have helped recruit, inspire, and retain Indigenous employees.
      Leveraging some of the agency’s diversity programs that provide educational STEM opportunities for underrepresented communities, the Native Americans at NASA group has encouraged more students with Indigenous backgrounds to get involved in technical projects while developing the skills needed to excel in STEM fields.
      “The Native American support group at NASA has been around since the mid-to-late 1980s and was actually one of the first Native American employee resources groups at the agency,” Connolly said. “Through this, we’ve been able to connect a number of Native employees with senior leaders across NASA and establish more agencywide recruitment efforts and initiatives for Native Americans.”
      These initiatives range from support through NASA’s Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) to help recruit more Indigenous students, to encouraging participation in hands-on learning experiences through projects such as NASA’s University Leadership Initiative (ULI) and the agency’s involvement in the First Nations Launch competition, which helps provide students with opportunities to conduct research while developing engineering and team-building skills.
      The efforts of the Native American community at NASA Glenn and across the agency have been successful in not only creating a direct pipeline for Indigenous students into the NASA workforce, but also allowing them to feel seen and represented in the agency, says Connolly.
      For Reigner, having this community and resource group at NASA to help guide and support her through her journey has been crucial to her success and important for the future of diversity within the agency.
      “I really feel like the reason I am here at NASA is because of the success of not just the Native American support group here at Glenn, but also Natives across the agency,” Reigner said. Without their support and initiatives to recruit and retain students, I wouldn’t be here today.” 
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