In August, the Minority Innovation Challenges Institute (MICI) completed its month long presentations focused on the NASA Strong Tether Competition. This competition, sponsored by NASA, featured potential cash prizes totaling $2 million if competitors could achieve certain technological thresholds.
The month included presentations from: Ben Shelef (upper left) the contest organizer; Dr. Gilberto Brambilla, a competitor in the 2010 Competition; Dr. Mario Encinosa, a professor at Florida A&M who discussed the theory nanotube technology; and Dr. Kalayu Belay, a professor at Florida A&M who provided an advanced discussion of carbon nanotubes.
These presentations can be viewed for free by registering at http://www.NASAMICIconference.com
In July, the NASA Minority Innovation Challenges Institute (MICI) concluded its Lunabotics Challenge Month. There was an opening presentation by the NASA Contest Organizer – Gloria Murphy (upper left); video interviews with 3 different student competitors including Rayna Thompson (center); a presentation with Kennedy Space Center Intern Laila Rahmatian (upper right), regarding soil mechanics; and a discussion with Rob Mueller (bottom left), the NASA Lunabotics technical advisor, and Paul Van Susante (bottom right) a NASA fellow from the Colorado School of Mines.
All of these presentations can be viewed by registering for MICI at http://NASAMICIconference.com
The mission of the Minority Innovation Challenges Institute (MICI) is to create a virtual training ground where minority undergraduate students learn how to compete in NASA technical challenges for both prestige and significant cash prizes. On September 8, 2010 at 2pm EDT NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will deliver a pre-recorded welcome message for the program which includes an inspirational explanation of how he started as an undergraduate student majoring in electrical engineering and built an impressive career path which led to him becoming the twelfth Administrator in NASA’s history.
Administrator Bolden’s message will be followed by a live presentation from MICI organizers including: Ms. Theresa Martinez, NASA MUREP project manager; Dr. Clement Allen, Florida A&M Associate Professor for the Department of Computer Information Sciences, and Mr. Paul Secor, president of Secor Strategies, LLC who is serving as a project coordinator for MICI. These individuals will explain how MICI works and how students and faculty can access this free year-round program which seeks to mentor students to compete in NASA technical challenges. The event will conclude with a question and answer session. Immediately following the kick-off event will be a live presentation starting at 3pm EDT from Julie Clift at the Marshall Space Flight Center explaining how students and faculty can get involved in the NASA University Student Launch Initiative. The entire month of September within MICI will be focused on this particular challenge and will feature weekly presentations on the subject.
MICI provides a year-round virtual conference platform where students from across the country can participate in free interactive educational sessions of their choosing. Many of the sessions will focus on competitions found within NASA’s Centennial Challenges program, which provides cash prizes ranging from $50,000 to $2 million. Students will also learn how to compete in other NASA sponsored competitions created specifically for Universities including: the Fundamental Aeronautics Student Competition for Colleges/Universities, The NASA University Student Launch Initiative, University Business Plan Contest for Engineering Technology, and the Great Moonbuggy Race.
Students and faculty are encouraged to register in advance for the September 8, 2010 Academic Year Kick-off Event by visiting http://www.NASAMICI.com/register . Please email questions concerning this program to mary@nasamici.com .
