The Hawai‘i Space Grant Consortium awarded undergraduate fellowships in the Spring of 2011 to students at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa and Hilo, and Maui College.

University of Hawai‘i at Manoa:

• Jennifer Beyer, a junior in Geology and Geophysics will use data from two observatories in the Wide Angle Search for Planets (WASP) research program to help find exoplanets. These planets orbit stars beyond our Solar System and are of astrobiological interest as possible habitable environments. She will be analyzing light curves to identify possible transiting planet systems. Jennifer's work, titled "Finding Companions of M Dwarf Stars Using Data from WASP," will be conducted under mentor Dr. Eric Gaidos of the Department of Geology and Geophysics. Final Report
• James Bishop, a junior in Geology and Geophysics, will continue to work with mentor Dr. Jeffrey Gillis-Davis of the Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology on lunar geology and remote sensing. With his project titled "Exploring Correlations Between Radar, Spectral, and Neutron Spectrometer Data to Determine TiO₂ Content of the Lunar Maria" James is comparing data sets from multiple missions to try to identify trends, anomalies, and correlations in lunar surface titanium concentrations. Final Report
• John Furumo, a senior in Mechanical Engineering, will continue working with mentor Dr. Weilin Qu of the Department of Mechanical Engineering on experiments to improve spacecraft thermal control. In his study titled, "Two-phase Micro-Channel Heat Sink Cooling Loop for Spacecraft Thermal Control" John will concentrate on system assembly and determining the effects of gravity on the thermal performance of the cooling loop. Final Report
• Samantha Jacob, a junior in Geology and Geophysics, is using lunar images and multispectral data to map and date overlapping lava flows on the surface of the Moon in her project titled, "Solar Wind Volatile Preservation." Working with mentor Dr. Sarah Fagents of the Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, Samantha will compare her mapped units to numerical models of heat transfer into buried regolith deposits to help find ancient regolith with preserved solar wind particles. Final Report
• Kimberly Rottas , a senior in Geology and Geophysics, will work with mentor Dr. Norbert Schorghofer of the Institute of Astronomy on a project titled, "Fading of Martian Slope Streaks." This work extends previous Fellows' remote sensing projects dealing with the physical characteristics and rates of fading of these surficial mass movements on Mars by incorporating new Context Camera images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Final Report
• Amanda Yamamoto, a sophomore in Mechanical Engineering, is working on a robotics project titled, "Underwater Sampling System for High Temperature Extremophiles" with mentor Dr. Brian Bingham of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Amanda will design, build, and test a prototype, autonomous sampling device that can be appended to a small ROV to collect seawater samples in hot shallow waters near volcanic activity. This work compliments the broad goals of NASA's Astrobiology program.

University of Hawai‘i at Hilo:

• Ryan Bishop, a junior in Geology, is working on a project titled, "Mineralogical Study of Volcanic Sublimates from Halema‘uma‘u Crater, Kilauea Volcano" using lab spectrometers and microscopes for element and mineral analyses. This work is relevant to current research on the possible formation mechanisms of sulfates and associated alteration deposits on Mars. Serving as mentor for this work is Dr. Kenneth Hon of the Department of Geology. Final Report
• Toby Horner, a sophomore in Mathematics and Computer Science, is putting his skills to work to help improve the performance of image processing algorithms for remote sensing data. Toby's project is titled "Evolving Matched Filter Transform Pairs for Satellite Image Compression." Serving as mentor is Dr. Michael Peterson of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. Final Report
• Briana Hurley, a junior in Astronomy and Physics, will work with mentor Dr. Jesse Goldman of the Department of Astronomy and Physics on statistical data analysis applied to large-scale phenomena of the universe. With her project titled "Statistically Determining the Likelihood of Finding Cosmic Strings" Briana plans to use computer models to determine the probability of finding cosmic strings that are predicted to exist by high energy physics theories.
• Jamie Scharf, a senior in Geology, Astronomy, and Physics, is working on a project titled, "The Calibration of the CCD for Hoku Ke‘a." Obtaining observations under varied sky conditions, Jamie will characterize the spectral and throughput performance of the new science camera on the telescope, and create an exposure time calculator for the facility. Dr. William Heacox of the Department of Physics and Astronomy is serving as mentor. Final Report

University of Hawai‘i Maui College:

• Kevin Roy, a sophomore in Liberal Arts, is working on a project titled, "Searching For and Tracking Near-Earth Objects and Potentially Hazardous Asteroids." He is using remotely-operated telescopes and performing image analysis to collect and submit astrometric information as part of a global effort to catalog these objects. Dr. John Pye of the STEM Unit is serving as mentor.

• Jeffrey Griffith and Eric Jordan, Kapiolani CC, "Autonomous Mapping Platform."
• Stanley Weber, Mitchell Heins, Ghian Paolo Pajarillo, and Shohan Islam, Kapiolani CC, "CanSat Competition."
• Cyril Botelho, Robert Garvida, Tisha Kurokawa, and Kira-Ashley Taylan, Kaua'i CC, "Kauai: Rocketry, Weather System, and Telemetry."
• Todd Esposito, Joleen Iwaniec, Patrick Lancaster, Jasmine Maru, and Kristi Ross, Windward CC, "Rocketry Competitions: CanSat/ARLISS Results and USLI Updates."
• Nathaniel Hiraoka and Samuel Plunkett Jr., Windward CC Interns, "Astronomical Research and Outreach at WCC's Lanihuli Observatory."