University of Scranton wins nearly $5.5 million NASA education grant

The University of Scranton has received a $5,495,781 NASA grant to lead a five-year project bringing space science education to classrooms, libraries, museums and communities across the United States. The initiative, called “Discovering the SPARC: Space Physics Through Amateur Radio Connections,” is funded through NASA’s Science Activation program and will continue through 2031.

The project will help students and the public understand space weather: conditions caused by activity on the sun that can disrupt radio signals, GPS systems and satellites. By connecting educational activities with live data and scientific research, the initiative aims to show how solar activity can affect technologies people rely on on Earth.

Nathaniel Frissell, an associate professor of physics and engineering at Scranton, will lead the work. He said the NASA award gives the university an opportunity to make space science more accessible through partnerships and public participation.

How students and the public will take part

The project plans to establish interactive “Discovery Stations” at public locations. Visitors will be able to view real-time space-weather data and learn how solar activity affects radio communications. The university has not identified the locations of the stations.

The grant will also support approximately 85 Citizen Science Space Weather Monitors across the country. The monitors will track radio signals and conditions in the ionosphere, a region of the upper atmosphere important to long-distance radio communications. Data gathered will contribute to research, while giving students and amateur radio enthusiasts a chance to take part in scientific work.

Teachers will receive educational materials developed through the American Radio Relay League’s Teachers Institute. The materials will connect classroom lessons with live NASA data.

Who is working on the project

Scranton will collaborate with MIT Haystack Observatory, the Space Science Institute, the University of Alabama and the New Jersey Institute of Technology. The project is intended to link educators, amateur radio operators and citizen scientists in a network that organizers hope will continue after NASA funding ends.

The grant totals nearly $5.5 million and is scheduled to support the initiative through 2031. The university has not announced a schedule for opening Discovery Stations or deploying the monitors.

This report draws on information from WOLF.