A NASA chiefvisited Harding, marking the highest ranking NASA official to visit Arkansas. Dr. Douglas Terrier, NASA chief technologist, visited Harding to observe research and share NASA's plan for the future of space travel as the first NASA chief to visit Arkansas. Gov. Asa Hutchinson declared Jan. 27, 2020, "NASA Day" in the state to acknowledge the historic visit. Harding faculty and staff planned a full day of activities for both students and community members. Terrier acknowledged Harding's long-standing history with NASA. In the 1960s, Harding received grants to conduct fitness research for the furthering of space exploration. In the following years, Harding completed other NASA-related experiments including analysis of solar flares, laser control of robots and designing atmospheric spectrometers. In the 2019-20 school year, a number of students performed a variety of studies - in plant growth, ocular degeneration and water purification, for example - through funding from the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium sponsored by NASA. Dr. Dennis Province, professor of chemistry, said he served as an aid to the students involved in the projects, but ultimately, the students carried out the work. "That's the thing in all of these studies; I'm not driving this research," Province said. "Every single one of them has done a great job and has been very successful, so it's been really fun." This current research was part of NASA Day, which began with presentations and exhibits shown to local third through 12th-grade students to educate about past and future space research and exploration. 106 Sophomore Darby Mohon researched plant growth on Mars and shared her experiences with the students. Mohon said she hoped to inspire the students to learn more about NASA and the greatness of the universe. "I can just remember being in elementary school and hearing about NASA for the first time and the concept of space and stars and the planets and all of that was just so stinking cool," Mohon said. "[I hope] they can feel a little bit of that inspiration to maybe search for something bigger than themselves." After visiting students left, Terrier toured the projects being researched by Harding students. Terrier said many students saw research as something unavailable to undergraduates. He said he was impressed by the work at Harding. "I think one of the unique things I saw here is that we've got young undergraduate students doing real work, creating real new knowledge and new science, new technology," Terrier said. "I think that's a remarkable opportunity for the students and for us to bring a different group of folks into this innovation ecosystem." The day ended with Terrier speaking to a crowd of students, faculty and community members about NASA's plan to return to the moon with the Artemis program. Province said he saw the event as a success and hoped Harding would host similar events in the future. story by Emma Aly
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