SPOTLIGHT Archive

Congratulations to the STEM Enhancement in Earth Science (SEES) high school internship program at UT/CSR, an integral part of the NASA Science Mission Directorate’s Science Activation program, for receiving the 2024 American Geophysical Union Excellence in Earth and Space Education Award. SciAct is a cooperative network of competitively-selected teams from across the Nation working with ...

“Determination of the time-variable geopotential by means of orbiting clocks“, was published in the Journal of Geodesy by the Center’s Simone Giuliani, Byron D. Tapley, and John C. Ries on June 5, 2024. Abstract: Monitoring the time-variable geopotential identifies the mass redistribution across the Earth and reveals, e.g., climate change and availability of water resources. The ...

“Measuring 1-mm-accurate local survey ties over kilometer baselines at McDonald Geodetic Observatory“, was recently published in the Journal of Geodesy by the Center’s Jullian Rivera, Srinivas Bettadpur, Zhigui Kang, and John Ries with John Griffin. Abstract: The goal for the next generation of terrestrial reference frames (TRF) is to achieve a 1-mm- and 0.1-mm/yr-accurate frame realization ...

Congratulations to Shauna Pendleton on receiving the 2024 Staff Excellence Award from the Cockrell School of Engineering. Texas Engineering honored their exceptional staff members with the prestigious Staff Excellence Awards ceremony held in the Mulva Auditorium on May 14, 2024. These awards recognize non-teaching personnel who have made remarkable contributions to the Cockrell School through ...

The NASA STEM Enhancement in Earth Science (SEES) High School Summer Internship Program had the opportunity to select 4 students to conduct research in microgravity on a Zero-G G-Force One aircraft last year. Many applications were received for the coveted four research positions. Students would work remotely with their project teachers, scientist, and director of Wisconsin ...

The Center for Space Research hosted the Quantum Networking Event on February 7, 2024 as part of the kickoff activities of the Quantum Pathways Institute (QPI), a NASA-sponsored Space Technology Research Institute. The event served as an informal opportunity for academia, national labs, and industry to get together and share views on research, education/workforce development, and ...

The Center for Space Research hosted a Technical Showcase on January 23, 2024. The event highlighted the various research projects at the Center, and provided the opportunity for CSR’s research staff, students and invited guests to engage and foster community interaction and conversation. Please visit CSR’s Flickr album for more photos from the event at: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBekTK

For the last few decades, a series of satellites have used lasers to radically improve our understanding of Earth and how it is changing over time. This technology, satellite laser altimetry, has quantified data on critical climate issues such as melting ice, sea level changes, carbon levels in forests around the globe and the amount ...

“Monitoring Earth’s climate variables with satellite laser altimetry” , was recently published in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment by the Center’s Lori Magruder and Amy Neuenschwander on how satellite laser altimetry has provided critical measurements of Earth for multi-disciplinary knowledge of climate impact. Co-authors on the paper include Sinead Farrell and Laura Duncanson of the ...

“Monitoring Coastal Waves with ICESat-2“, was recently published in the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering by the Center’s James Dietrich and Matt Holwill characterizing coastal waves with ICESat-2. Abstract: The coastal zone faces an ever-growing risk associated with climate-driven change, including sea level rise and increased frequency of extreme natural hazards. Often the location and ...