The office of stem engagement (ostem) seeks to: attract students to stem through unique learning opportunities that spark interest and provide connections to nasas mission and work engage students…

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Shared Services Center awarded Wichita State University a $750,000 cooperative agreement on October 1, 2025, under the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (CFDA 43.016) to provide professional development and resources for informal educators nationwide, strengthening their organizations' ability to engage learners across the United States in Earth and space science using NASA's resources and personnel connections.

Work is performed at Wichita State University's Office of Research and Sponsored Programs in Wichita, Kansas, through September 30, 2028. The University of Kansas Center for Research Inc. is a sub-recipient investigating how surface roughness influences aero-chemo-thermodynamic behavior of hypersonic turbulent flows over ablated surfaces and woven Thermal Protection Systems in Entry, Descent, and Landing applications. This work will conduct over 350 Direct Numerical Simulations across a range of Mach numbers, Reynolds numbers, and roughness geometries to develop a comprehensive database enabling accurate predictions of key aerothermodynamic parameters critical for NASA's CFD tool development and Thermal Protection Systems design for space exploration and reentry missions.

The office of stem engagement (ostem) seeks to: attract students to stem through unique learning opportunities that spark interest and provide connections to nasas mission and work engage students in authentic learning experiences with nasas people