Florida Tech Student Earns Grant for NASA Summer Experience

– Christina Pelzer, a Florida Tech senior majoring in space sciences, was awarded $3,000 from the Florida Space Grant Consortium (FSGC). The FSGC funds a
NASA Academy Program at Goddard Space Flight Center just outside Washington D.C. She is one of only 17 students nationwide to be selected for the 10-week
summer student laboratory experience.

Pelzer, of Brookfield, Wis., is conducting individual research with single electron transistors to be used in detecting infrared light on a space
telescope. She is also involved in a group project to develop the technology of precision formation flying (where several spacecraft fly in close
formation) for future stellar imaging missions.

In connection with these projects, Pelzer is attending lectures by internationally known scientists. She is also touring different NASA facilities,
including Johnson Space Center, Langley Research Center, Wallops Flight Facility and Marshall Flight Center. The students also visit commercial space
industry centers, such as Orbital Sciences Corporation.

The University of Central Florida and the Florida Space Institute administers the FSGC, a voluntary association of 17 public and private Florida
universities and colleges.