CNDE College Student Receives Second NASA Fellowship.

Katelyn Brinker, a graduate student in electrical engineering, has gotten a 2nd NASA Space Innovation Research Study Fellowship (NSTF).

The fellowship will support Brinker’s Ph.D. research study developing chipless RFID nondestructive examination strategies, integrating brand-new tag styles and microwave imaging to increase energy.

NSTRF, which beginning in 2020, is now the NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Opportunities (NSTGRO) program, which supports graduate students in their education and research into low innovation preparedness level (TRL) technologies to advance the area expedition capabilities of NASA. The program likewise offers support for recipients to provide their work at conferences and provides the chance to perform research study at NASA centers around the country.

Brinker first got the award in 2017 to support her master’s degree in electrical engineering research at Missouri University of Science and Technology. During that time, she worked to develop ingrained chipless RFID tags for product characterization and structural health tracking (SHM). She completed two research study experiences at NASA Langley Research Center during the summertimes of 2018 and 2019. During these research activities, she worked in the Nondestructive Evaluation Sciences Branch with William (Cy) Wilson, her NASA research partner.

Brinker is now pursuing a Ph.D. in electrical engineering at Iowa State University with Reza Zoughi, Kirby Gray (Battelle) Chair in Engineering in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and director of Iowa State’s Center for Nondestructive Evaluation.

When Brinker finishes her Ph.D., she wants to work for NASA full-time in a research position. This fall she worked as a Pathways intern at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC in the Telecommunication Networks & Technology Branch (code 566). The Pathways program enables trainees to complete work trips at NASA throughout their degree program and provides the chance to transform to full-time work after graduation. During her time at GSFC she helped style interaction systems for future space expedition objectives. She finished part of her NSTRF research in the Flight Microwave & Telecommunication Systems Branch (code 567).