This year marks the first year that the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama, will hold a Space Academy, an eight-week educational program designed as a summer research internship for exceptional upper-division and first-year graduate students who are majoring in science, math or engineering. The intent of the Space Academy is to infuse in the participants a working knowledge of NASA's programs, to show them how NASA Field Centers operate in consort with aerospace industry and to experience research as part of the NASA team. The selected students spend most of their time working with principal investigators doing hands-on laboratory research, while also spending time in discussions, tours and demonstrations hosted by the heads of projects within MSFC, by private industry and other organizations.

The Minnesota Space Grant Consortium is happy to announce that a junior physics students from Augsburg College has been selected to participate in this year's MSFC Space Academy. Daniel Lideen will be working with Mark Whorton at NASA MSFC on the damping mechanisms for microgravity vibration isolation. Daniel was chosen out of several applicants to fill one of 12 internship positions. As part of the internship, he will receive a $3,200 stipend from Augsburg College's Space Grant Program and the Alabama Space Grant Consortium will provide free lodging and local transportation during his stay in Huntsville.

Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, Maryland, will also hold its Space Academy for the second year during the summer of 1994. Announcements for both academies were distributed during the winter of this year and nomination deadlines were set for early spring. Applicants must chose a research project from a predetermined list of possibilities and must be nominated by the Director of a NASA Space Grant College Consortium or the Coordinator of a JOVE Institutional Research Grant. By nominating a student, that institution or program is obligated to provide a stipend for the student ranging from $2,000 to $4,000. Three to four students may be nominated each year for the GSFC program while only one may be nominated for the MSFC program.

It is certainly a treat that a student from Minnesota will be able to participate in MSFC's Space Academy. Good going Vivian and Ken at Augsburg!