UT Tyler engineering team takes second place in NASA challenge

TYLER – The University of Texas at Tyler Houston Engineering Center placed second overall in a NASA design challenge. According to our news partner KETK, they competed against 16 other teams from around Texas including teams from UT Austin and Texas A&M University. They placed first in model/display and peer evaluation, and placed second in oral presentation and design. The team was awarded scholarships in the amount of $750 each. The annual Texas Space Grant Consortium’s NASA Design Challenge attracts collegiate teams from across Texas to propose, design and fabricate a solution towards solving NASA’s research objectives.

The UT Tyler HEC team developed an enhanced compliant end effector for a robotic arm to be used aboard NASA’s International Space Station. Competitors worked alongside NASA engineers at the Johnson Space Center for the yearlong project. “It was a tremendous experience for the team members to work with NASA engineers,” said faculty adviser Dr. Hussain Rizvi, UT Tyler HEC mechanical engineering lecturer. UT Tyler HEC members include: Charles Canales of Sugarland, Andrea Fabila of Missouri City, Tanya Padilla of Spring, Samuel Thompson of Huffman, Jesus Enriquez of Houston and Robert Meeker of Houston. Rizvi said that most team members have space-related careers lined up for when they graduate from companies like Boeing, Lockheed Martin and NASA.