Mechanical Engineering Student Awarded Prestigious NASA Research Fellowship

Devin Nielsen is the USU recipient of the FY24 NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Opportunities fellowship. Roughly 50 graduate students receive this award from NASA each year.

Awards are made in the form of grants to accredited U.S. universities on behalf of individuals pursuing master's or doctoral degrees, with a maximum of $84,000.

NSTGRO fellows will perform research at their respective campuses and at NASA centers. Each recipient will be matched with a technically relevant and community-engaged NASA researcher who will serve as a collaborator and liaison to the larger technical community. Through this collaboration, graduate students get to take advantage of space technology research opportunities directly related to their academic and career objectives and share their research results within the NASA community.

“It’ll be nice not having to worry about expenses,” Nielsen said. “It’s nerve wracking, but I’m also really excited.”

Nielsen, a master’s student in mechanical engineering mentored by Juhyeong Lee, began his undergraduate research through the Engineering Undergraduate Research Scholar program and never looked back. This opportunity with NASA will act as his thesis project and will provide him with up to two years of funding for NASA resources. His research will observe multiscale integrated solar panels and the ways he can refine them.

NSTGRO24 marks the 14th consecutive year that NASA’s Space Technology Mission directorate has sponsored graduate students who showed significant potential to contribute to NASA’s goal of creating innovative new space technologies for the future of science, exploration and economy in the United States.