A team of Lumbee students from UNC Charlotte’s Lee College of Engineering and from UNC Pembroke got the chance to perform experiments in zero gravity this April on board
NASA’s KC-135A aircraft.
The students, who are all members of
the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, started
work in October preparing their research
proposals. Their Aqueous Diffusion Rates (ADR)
project centered around researching how
liquids diffuse in a reduced gravity
environment.
The KC-135A executes controlled dives
that simulate zero-gravity in its bay. The UNC
Charlotte team completed 19 parabolas in its
first day of flying and 42 in its second.
Team member Kiel Locklear from the
College of Engineering’s Engineering
Technology Department said they learned a lot
between day one and two. “There were a few
things we didn’t count on,” he said,
“like how difficult it was to float over and
turn the knobs to start the diffusion in the
20 seconds of weightlessness. But it was worth
all the hard work to have such a rewarding
experience.”
Other members of the UNC Charlotte team
were Robbie Goins of Engineering Technology
and Ginger Moody of Business Administration.
They were advised by Dr. Howard Phillips of
Electrical and Computer Engineering.
“It was a unique experience,”Goins said. “There’s nothing else
like it anywhere, not even the fastest roller
coaster.”
NASA’s KC-135A Reduced
Gravity Undergraduate Research Program is
designed to inspire student interestin science, engineering and technology.
The William States Lee College of Engineering
The University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Last Modified: May 2003
