On May 17 NASA announced its second class of Space Technology Research Fellows. 48 students, including four from Georgia Tech, will receive graduate student fellowships from NASA's Space Technology Program to pursue master’s or doctoral degrees in relevant space technology disciplines at their respective institutions. 

With four awards Georgia Tech tied the University of Colorado in Boulder for the most awards in the nation, surpassing MIT and Michigan who each had three. Georgia Tech also led the way in 2011 with a nation-high seven awards (tied with MIT), giving the Institute 11 Space Technology Research Fellows in the first two years of the program- more than any other school in the country.

Keir Gonyea, Amit Mandalia, and Grant Rossman are Aerospace Engineering majors at georgia while the fourth Tech student receiving a Space Technology Research Fellowship, Peter Song, is an Electrical and Computer Engineering student. 

The NASA Space Technology Research Fellowships are managed by the NASA Office of the Chief Technologist and were established by Georgia Tech's Prof. Bobby Braun when he served as the first chief technologist at NASA in 2010-2011. 

Through the Space Technology Research Fellowships Program, NASA is providing the nation with a pipeline of highly skilled engineers and technologists to improve U.S. competitiveness while developing the intellectual and technological foundation needed for future science and exploration missions. The program is part of a renewed emphasis on technology at NASA, which is designed to inspire the nation and contribute to an innovation-driven economy. 

"By investing in the intellectual capacity of America's best and brightest minds today, we're guaranteeing not only a great future for NASA, but also for the nation," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "These NASA Fellows will bolster America's competitiveness in a knowledge-based, global economy while enabling our space exploration goals." 

NASA Space Technology Fellows will perform innovative space technology research while building the skills necessary to become future technological leaders. Selected candidates will perform graduate student research on their respective campuses and at NASA centers and nonprofit U.S. research and development laboratories. 

For a list of fellowship recipients and their respective research institutions and research topics, visit: http://go.usa.gov/BfN