The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Science Directorate recently awarded $297,537 seed funding to Glendale Community College. The funding will provide GCC students, who will be selected on the basis of financial need and academic merit, with an authentic lab training experience, under the guidance of experienced student leaders. Participating students will design experiments, analyze data and develop critical thinking skills with the expectation of presenting their findings at monthly lab meetings and scientific conferences, and subsequently publishing in peer-reviewed journals.
During the course of the project, students will have the opportunity to travel to the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama while NASA scientists will also visit GCC. This award is intended to inspire students to pursue research careers in NASA-related fields by engaging them early in a cutting-edge astrobiology project.
The title of the proposal that was submitted by James Tuohy, GCC Biology Department, is “Molecular Response of Desert Extremophiles to Desiccation, Temperature and Radiation: A Biosignature for Survivability.” The funds are from a program called Mentorship and Opportunities in STEM with Academic Institutions for Community Success (MOSAICS). The collaborating institution is the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL.
The study duration is two years and will investigate the survival strategies of certain microorganisms which have demonstrated the ability to successfully exist for years under the harsh conditions of vacuum, temperature, and radiation characteristic of the low earth orbit of the International Space Station and beyond. Their existence raises the possibility of the interplanetary transfer of life via space dust, meteoroids, comets, or even cosmic exploration. In collaboration with NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, Dr Tuohy and his students propose to investigate the mechanism of resilience of these microorganisms while simulating the harsh environmental conditions of outer space in the laboratory.
In addition, the seed proposal aims to generate proof-of-concept data that will serve as the foundation for future NASA funding.
Glendale Community College provides a bachelor’s degree 41 associate’s degrees, 61 certificate programs, plus a range of community education and non-degree offerings, all available to students in traditional, online and hybrid formats. Founded in 1965 to serve the northwestern part of the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, the college is part of the Maricopa County Community Colleges District, has two campuses and enrolls approximately 26,000 students annually, and employs approximately 1,000 resident faculty, staff, and administrators with an operational budget of $83 million.