Educational Activities
NASA JSC Tour for Summer Interns
Date:
Location: NASA JSC, Houston, TX 77003
Audience: 3 high school interns, 4 undergraduate interns, 2 graduate interns
Higher Ed Involvement: A UH graduate student coordinated the tour during their NASA internship. Faculty (Dr. Zheng Chen) provided context and oversight.
Description: IDEAS² organized a tour of NASA Johnson Space Center for interns. Participants explored Mission Control, Astronaut Training, and Space Vehicle Mockup Facilities, connecting classroom knowledge to real missions.
Space City Job Fair
Date:
Location: Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership, Houston, TX 77058
Audience: 20 undergraduate students, 200 public participants, 40 industry professionals, 2 faculty
Higher Ed Involvement: Faculty leadership from San Jacinto College represented IDEAS².
Description: IDEAS² partner San Jacinto College participated in the BAHEP Aerospace Industry Job Fair.
2025 Mars Rover Explorers Summer Camp
Date:
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Location: University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204
Audience: 65 elementary & middle school students, 4 graduate mentors, 4 undergraduate mentors, 2 faculty
Higher Ed Involvement: Graduate and undergraduate mentors guided student projects. Faculty coordinated demonstrations and led NASA visits.
Description: Directed by Co-I Dr. Heather Domjan, UH hosted 65 students from 16 districts.
Research Experiences for High School Students
Date:
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Location: University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204
Audience: 11 high school students, 8 graduate mentors, 4 faculty
Higher Ed Involvement: Faculty supervised research projects; graduate students mentored participants in labs, demonstrated experimental methods, and guided project work.
Description: Multiple high school students engaged in summer research at UH, mentored by IDEAS² faculty and graduate students.
STEM Go Pro Day 2025
Date:
Location: Shell Energy Stadium, Houston, TX 77003
Audience: 300 high school students, 2 graduate mentors, 2 faculty
Higher Ed Involvement: Graduate students ran demonstrations with a soft robotic gripper and robotic arm.
Description: As part of Tech Fest Live, IDEAS² Co-Is Drs. Olga Bannova and Zheng Chen engaged 300+ high school students through rover control and soft robotics demos.
St. Elmo Brady STEM Academy Teacher Training
Date:
Location: University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204
Audience: 3 elementary teachers, 65 elementary students, 2 graduate mentors, 2 faculty
Higher Ed Involvement: Faculty and graduate students delivered demonstrations, linked research with classroom applications, and introduced NASA MIRO technologies.
Description: IDEAS² faculty trained educators in STEM outreach with demonstrations of robotics and VR space architecture.
International Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC)
Date:
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Location: Midland, TX 79706
Audience: 12 undergraduate students, 2 graduate students, 2 faculty
Higher Ed Involvement: Faculty advisors and Co-Is mentored the team.
Description: UH AIAA SCR team, mentored by IDEAS², earned First Place in the SDL Payload Challenge.
Research Experience for Teachers (RET)
Date:
Location: University of Houston, Houston, TX 77059
Audience: 2 K-12 teachers, 2 graduate mentors, 2 faculty
Higher Ed Involvement: Faculty led demonstrations and mentoring.
Description: A one-month pilot RET hosted by Co-I Dr. Jerrod Henderson engaged two teachers from Spring ISD and CFISD.
Kinston STEAM Day
Date:
Location: NC State University, Kinston, NC 28501
Audience: 5 elementary teachers, 10 middle school teachers, 50 elementary students, 12 middle school students, 6 high school students, 2 undergraduate mentors, 1 graduate mentor, 2 faculty
Higher Ed Involvement: Dr. Henderson (UH) co-led the event.
Description: Kinston STEAM Day celebrated STEM with competitions, design projects, and talks.
HASSE Workshop on Lunar Surface Habitat Design
Date:
Location: University of Houston, Houston, TX 77005
Audience: 24 high school students, 3 graduate student facilitators, 1 faculty
Higher Ed Involvement: Graduate students facilitated design challenges; faculty provided oversight.
Description: UH graduate students led a workshop for HASSE on lunar habitat design.