College Student From Cherry Hill Builds Robot That Will Visit 1 Of Jupiter's Moons

A college student from Cherry Hill has been named a NASA Community College Aerospace Scholar (NCAS) for the fall of 2016.

NCAS 2016 was held at the Langley Research Center, in Virginia. The program is an educational experience for students interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers.

Students apply and participate in a month long online workshop, if they score high enough in the class they can attend the four-day on-site experience. Community College STEM students get an authentic NASA experience through this program.

Eric Shaw, who majors in physics and mathematics at Rowan College at Burlington County, was selected to participate in both the online workshop and the on-site experience.

“It was an amazing opportunity that truly furthered my desire to go into the STEM field,” Shaw said. “To be able to meet other students with the same desires and work with them as a team for four days was an experience that couldn't have been better.”

In the spring, Shaw was part of a team that participated in the college’s Undergraduate Research Initiative. They presented the Europa Project.

The Europa Project’s goal was to develop a type of robot that would be sent on a mission to Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons.

This robot would go to Europa on a lander and move around separately to collect data, images and samples of the moon.

NASA is planning the Europa Multiple Flyby Mission that is set to launch in the 2020s. The students built the prototype robot and submitted the idea to NASA.

“I would match the quality of our RCBC engineering students against any school, anywhere. The innovation shown by Eric demonstrates the exceptional quality of these students, and many of our UGR students have gone onto other institutions and corporations in team leadership roles,” Rowan College at Burlington County Physics Instructor Greg Perugini said. “The Europa Project was a great success, and there are many safety, reconnaissance and military applications for this type of robot. The experience with using this technology will take these students far in the workplace.”

The Undergraduate Research Initiative is one of a number of factors that has helped the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Division at Rowan College at Burlington County become a premier destination for students interested in a STEM career.

Other factors include the 3+1 path to a biology degree from Rowan University and a National Science Foundation grant that is creating an Advanced Manufacturing Center in partnership with Rowan University and the Burlington Institute of Technology.

“It is wonderful to see our STEM students being selected for prominent national programs outside of the classroom,” Rowan College at Burlington County President Paul Drayton said. “Rowan College at Burlington County’s STEM Division strives to include new technologies into academic programs and stay up to date with the newest technological advancements to prepare our students for the best jobs in the 21st century.”

To learn more about the STEM programs or UGR program at Rowan College at Burlington County, visit rcbc.edu/stem.

Applications for NCAS 2017 open March 1.

For more information, visit https://nas.okstate.edu/ncas/.

The attached image of Eric Shaw was provided by Rowan College at Burlington County.