Unversity of Guam Students Allen Jake Aromin (left) and John Tristan Palanca present their research at the Hawaii NASA Space Grant Fellowship and Traineeship Symposium held in April at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

University of Guam students, John Tristan Palanca and Allen Jake Aromin, presented their research at the Hawaii NASA Space Grant Fellowship and Traineeship Symposium held at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in April.  

Senior Computer Science major Palanca and Senior Secondary Education major Aromin are NASA Space Grant fellows at the University of Guam. During the spring semester, the students chose the Mars Ice Challenge as their research project and designed and built hardware that can extract water from simulated Martian subsurface ice.

“This fellowship has been a tremendous opportunity and really opened up doors,” said Palanca. “We are so grateful to the Hawaii Space Grant, the University of Guam, and RCUOG.”
 
The Hawaii Space Grant Consortium (HSGC) consists of the several universities and community colleges in Hawaii and the University of Guam.

HSGC develops and runs interdisciplinary education, research, and public service programs related to space science, earth science, remote sensing, human exploration and development of space, small satellites, and aerospace technology.  Through undergraduate research fellowships and traineeships, innovative college courses, workshops for educators, educational websites, public exhibitions, lectures, tours, primary school programs, and space-themed summer camps, HSGC strives to inspire and support students to enter STEM degree pathways and careers to promote the NASA mission.  
 
“We’re incredibly excited to be part of the HGSC, and John Tristan and Allen Jake’s accomplishments,” said Dr. Romina King, Associate Director of the Guam NASA EPSCoR Program at UOG. “It is an amazing opportunity for our students and will help us build STEM pathways as well as expose UOG to NASA products that could augment current research efforts on Guam.”
 
For more information about UOG NASA EPSCoR or the Space Grant Program, please contact Dr. Romina King at (671) 735-2880 or via email at roking@triton.uog.edu.