KY EPSCoR: FY26: NASA: KY Space Grant Consortium State Match - Match for 3200007110

NASA Kentucky Space Grant Consortium 2025-2028 Executive Abstract The Kentucky Space Grant Consortium began serving the Commonwealth in 1991 and since 2010 has been managed by NASA Kentucky at the University of Kentucky Kentucky Space Grant Consortium (KYSGC), a diverse group of 29 affiliate members that includes 18 Kentucky universities, colleges and community colleges, 5 industry partners, and 6 STEM educational organizations, uses a portfolio-of-programs approach and best practices to set students and faculty on Pathways of Opportunities towards aerospace-related career goals, contributing to a skilled, high-performing and diverse workforce to meet emerging needs of both NASA and Kentucky. KYSGC programs engage competitively selected participants in STEM education and training primarily at the post-secondary level, including developmental pipeline pre- college programs. Diversity of students, faculty, disciplines and institutional types is essential and integral to this approach. NASA Mission Directorate and OSTEM alignment is required for all programs. Three strategic themes chosen by KYSGC are Data + Science, Earth + Space, and Aerospace + Innovation. These themes enable multiple programs to be unified in a portfolio approach balanced to serve state and national aerospace needs. A fundamental premise of KYSGC programs is that STEM education should reach out to inspire and recruit talent from all student populations to engage and enable innovative contributions to NASA and the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program. Special focus areas to increase program and participant diversity in Kentucky include participation of students from rural and urban underserved areas, students with disabilities, and minority and female students and faculty. Funding for the 2025-2028 Space Grant cycle will be used to implement the following KYSGC programs and themes: NASA Internships and Fellowships (NIFs), including Graduate Fellowships (GF), Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU), NASA Center Internships (NCI), and Kentucky Aerospace Internships (KYAI), offer a flexible set of hands-on NASA- aligned training, guided by Kentucky faculty, NASA, and industry mentors, serving to advance the student''s knowledge and provide experience of working with technical professionals in support of NASA''s missions, Kentucky research priorities, or with established and start-up aerospace companies and labs in Kentucky. Higher Education funding programs include Team Projects (TP) to support faculty-mentored experiences focused on authentic, hands-on design in science and engineering to inspire innovation, including participation in team competitions and flight opportunities. Research Initiation Awards (RIA) support early-stage NASA-aligned research programs as an entry point to sustained NASA research collaboration and development of student- mentoring opportunities. Education and Outreach programs include Mini-Grants (MG) and Affiliate Program Grants (APG) to provide flexible higher education and pre-college opportunities aligned with Kentucky and NASA priorities at sites across the state, such as STEM camps and competitions, K-12 teacher professional development, and astronomy and aerospace programs for science centers. EXECUTIVE ABSTRACT – 2025-2028 PROPOSAL