The Alabama Space Grant Consortium has awarded three undergraduate scholarships and two graduate fellowships to students in the Lee J. Styslinger Jr. College of Engineering.
The three undergraduate recipients are Robert Adkison, a junior in aerospace engineering from Long Beach, Mississippi; Rianna Frances Cassibry, a junior in mechanical engineering from Madison, Alabama; and Geordie Jones, a sophomore in computer engineering from Atlanta.
The two fellowship recipients are Adam Hallmark, a graduate student in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics from Nashville, Tennessee, and Gavin Money, a graduate student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering from Denton, Texas.
According to The University of Alabama in Huntsville, the consortium was formed with a mission to inspire the next generation of space explorers in 1989, when NASA implemented the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program. Each scholarship recipient is awarded $1,500, and each fellowship winner receives $37,000.
Money earned the fellowship for his dissertation titled “FLORAL: Fiducials for Low-Light, Occlusion-Resistant, At-range Localization.” Under the guidance of Dr. Kenny Ricks, interim department head and professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Money focuses on developing more accurate LiDAR-based fiducial markers to enable autonomous navigation in GPS-denied environments, such as the moon’s permanently shadowed regions.
His research supports NASA’s goal of mining lunar ice for water, oxygen and rocket fuel, reducing the need to transport resources from Earth.
“NASA wants to mine ice already present on the moon, but these regions are permanently dark, making navigation difficult,” Money said. “My research focuses on creating more accurate and robust LiDAR fiducials that can operate in low light and handle occlusion.”
“This is a life-changing opportunity, and I can’t wait to work with some of the brightest minds this world has to offer,” he added. “I’m so incredibly grateful to all my family, friends and teachers who have supported me through it all.”
Hallmark earned the fellowship for his dissertation titled “Safe and Fault-Tolerant Control of Hybrid eVTOL Aircraft.” His research, which he conducts under the supervision of Dr. Pan Zhao, assistant professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics, involves developing automated control systems for hybrid vertical takeoff and landing aircraft that ensure safe operation while meeting key constraints such as passenger comfort and flight safety.
“Being selected as a fellow represents a vote of confidence from the professionals at ASGC and NASA,” Hallmark said. “I am honored to have been selected, and I am very grateful.”
All scholars and fellows will be honored at a NASA Alabama Space Grant Consortium convocation this fall.