St. Philip’s College Student Participates in NASA NCAS Mission

During July and August, St. Philip’s College student Jaime Lopez was selected to participate in the NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars (NCAS) Mission 3: Innovate Capstone ARC.

This project consisted of a two-week online experience, followed by a one-week residential experience at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. During the project, he worked with a group of engineers to develop solutions to current challenges in advanced air mobility.

Jaime’s team met nearly a dozen times to formulate their proposal which focused on the environmental impact of passenger transportation in three-dimensional sky highways, specifically with noise pollution. Their solution was to reduce the amount of sound by using a toroidal propeller to emit a different sound frequency.

“The experience was life-changing. The atmosphere at NASA is palpable. The employees are positive, and you can feel how much they care. It was cool to have the opportunity to get to see exactly what specific jobs do. This helped me gain clarity about my future and what career I want to pursue,” said Jaime.

Jaime's current goal is to work with a group of SPC students from ProjectSure on NASA's 2025 Gateways to Blue Skies Competition. College teams work together to conceptualize aviation-related systems that can be applied to agriculture by 2035 that will improve agriculture production, efficiency, environmental impact, and extreme weather/climate resilience.

Jaime anticipates to graduate with his Associates of Arts studying Business Administration in the upcoming academic school year.