Research opportunities have been identified for Masters and PhD students as part of the joint program between the NASA-Langley Research Center (LaRC), the National Institute of Aerospace (NIA) and the North Carolina State University (NCSU) departments of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Marine, Earth, & Atmospheric Sciences.

Students selected for these opportunities will generally perform their research within a LaRC research Branch under the direction of Dr. Tolson and a NASA mentor. Since students will be on-site at NASA LaRC, the program will be restricted to U.S. citizens and permanent residents.

Students interested in these opportunities should, in a timely manner, contact Prof. Tolson via e-mail and visit NCSU for application instructions.

Potential research opportunities include:

Flight mechanics studies for upcoming and past Mars missions including MER, Phoenix and Mars Science Laboratory, with emphasis on the phase from entry to landing.

Participation in proposals for future planetary missions

Interdisciplinary studies of planetary atmospheric and flight sciences.

Participation in one of the numerous LaRC studies associated with the Moon, Mars, and beyond exploration initiative including using LIDAR for precision lunar and planetary landing.

Participate in a scale model ballistic flights for crew exploration vehicle (CEV) abort and tumbling characterization.

Determine spatial and temporal spectra of atmospheric waves at aerocapture and EDL altitudes and evaluation the effects of atmospheric varability on entry performance.

Participate in post flight analysis of data collected during aerobraking operations of the Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, or Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter missions and developing methods to evaluate spacecraft performance and determine Mars atmospheric properties.

Prof. Tolson also collaborates with other NCSU faculty performing research in other areas at NASA Langley. Some potential current areas of research in aerospace structures and structural dynamics include: