NASA Minority Innovation Challenges Institute (MICI)

June will be “Space Elevator” month at the NASA Minority Innovation Challenges Institute.  The month will open on June 1st with a presentation from Ben Shelef.  Mr. Shelef is the CEO of the Spaceward Foundation, which is the non-profit organization responsible for managing the  $1.1 million Space Elevator contest funded by NASA’s Centennial Challenges program. In the weeks that follow, there will be subject matter expert presentation related to the robotics, photovoltaics, and lasers utilized in the Space Elevator.  These presentations will be conducted by Dr. Antonio J. Soares from Florida A&M.

June will also feature a presentation from Dr. Jayfus Doswell, a professor who organized the first HBCU team to compete in the DARPA Grand Challenges. Dr. Doswell, who is the CEO of Juxtopia LLC,  mentored engineering students from Morgan State University Baltimore, Maryland to build an Unmanned Autonomous Vehicle (UAV) to compete in this contest during 2007.

Minority undergraduate students and faculty are encouraged to attend these free online sessions by visiting NASAMICIconference.com .  Those that attend will have the opportunity to ask live questions, download informational materials, and network with fellow students.  A schedule of this month’s presentations is as follows:

June 2010 – Upcoming Presentations

• June 1, 2010 – 3:00pm EDT – Ben Shelef – Centennial Challenges Contest Organizer – The Space Elevator
• June 9, 2010 – 3:00pm EDT – Dr. Jayfus Doswell – Founder of Juxtopia, which sponsored an African American team composed of students from several different HBCUs to compete in the DARPA Grand Challenges Program.
• June, 14 – 3:00pm EDT – Antonio J. Soares – Electric Engineering Technology – Robotics and the Space Elevator
• June, 21 – 3:00pm EDT – Antonio J. Soares – Electric Engineering Technology – Photovoltaics and the Space Elevator
• June, 28 – 3:00pm EDT – Antonio J. Soares – Electric Engineering Technology – Lasers and the Space Elevator