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Design Challenge is a one- or two-semester-long research competition that tasks students from across Texas to propose, design, and fabricate a solution toward solving research objectives of importance to NASA and its mission.

Eligibility

Teams are formed from 3-6 undergraduates from TSGC member institutions. At least half of the team members must be U.S. citizens. See the membership list for verification.

Graduate students with an interest in including one of the research topics as thesis or dissertation research should contact TSGC to apply separately for a possible Design Challenge Fellowship.

Each eligible student may only participate on only one team. Faculty may support more than one team.

Citizen Considerations:

• Some NASA topics may be restricted to U.S. citizens. Check each topic description for any restrictions.
• For site visits, NASA and contractors may limit access to U.S. citizens only.
• TSGC funding is restricted to U.S. citizens, although teams may include non-citizens if the topic allows.
  • At least half of the team members must be U.S. citizens.
  • Non-citizens are ineligible for scholarships.

Students will submit one online application per team and will need to collect the following information:

• Institution (College/University)
• Team Name (a creative name based on institution or topic choice)
• Project Duration (1 or 2 semesters)
• Three topic choices (in order of preference)
  • Note: Historically about two-thirds of teams accepted into the program get their first choice and most others their second choice
• Course Number and Title (if class is for credit)
• Faculty Advisor information (name, email, phone, department)
• Department Chair (name, email)
• Department Accounting Contact (name, email)
• Team member information (3 to 6 students)
  • Name, email, birthdate, major, academic level, citizenship, hometown, team role (team leader, deputy leader, or team member)
  • Optional for NASA reporting: gender, ethnicity, race, and if any of the following apply: disabled, veteran, first-generation college student.

To learn more about the Design Challenge process, previous topics, and teams, check out the links below.

Questions? Contact designchallenge@tsgc.utexas.edu

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