CMU joins Michigan Space Grant Consortium

Central Michigan University was approved to join the Michigan Space Grant Consortium (MSGC). The MSGC’s mission is to “create, develop, and promote programs that reflect NASA’s strategic interests and support cooperation between academia, industry, state, and local government in science and technology in Michigan.”  

With the University of Michigan as the lead, a consortium of 12 Michigan universities participates in NASA's projects and offers a variety of funding opportunities to support student and faculty lead research projects, as well as fellowships, internships, and educational programs. Additionally, a conference is held each year to showcase the outcomes of the new research developed through the consortium’s funding.  

Tao Zheng, Ph.D., Professor of Geography & Environmental Studies, will serve as the CMU affiliate liaison. At the recent MSGC board meeting, Zheng presented on CMU facilities, faculty expertise, capabilities, and more. Rachael Nelson, Ph.D., Professor of Exercise and Health Sciences, and David Weindorf, Ph.D., Vice President for Research and Innovation, joined Zheng and Weindorf to answer questions from the board. After the presentation and questions, the board unanimously approved CMU’s application to join the board.  

Weindorf says, “The space grant program has a strong focus on student engagement which is a really good fit for CMU! While many of these grants are fairly small, they can be used for initial data collection or proof of concept ideas in support of much larger NASA funding requests. […] One other thing to note is that while most people think about NASA funding aerospace engineering, etc., they fund so many other things as well – everything from medical or human physiology research to geosciences, atmospheric science, even textiles used to make space suits.”