Space researchers highlight NASA Innovation Day

Texas State University will host National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Innovation Day on Sept. 26 in the LBJ Student Center Ballroom as part of Innovation Week.

NASA Innovation Day is free and open to the public. Innovation Week is part of this year’s Common Experience program at Texas State.

NASA Innovation Day will consist of six sessions led by NASA Educator Professional Development Collaborative (EPDC) specialists. The EPDC specialists have traveled from different NASA centers across the United States to discuss topics of innovation, commercial crew and human exploration.

The sessions will run 45 minutes each starting at 11 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. STEM students are encouraged to attend. The NASA Innovation Day sessions include:

Small Steps to Giant Leaps: Art and the Cosmic Connection

• 11-11:45 a.m.
• Brandon Rodriguez, Barbie Buckner of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Armstrong Flight Research Center

Innovation the NASA Way: Impacting our World and Beyond

• 12-12:45 p.m.
• Araceli Martinez Ortiz of Texas State and Deepika Sangam of the Goddard Space Flight Center

Return to Flight for American Astronauts from American Soil

• 1-1:45 p.m.
• Lester Morales of the Kennedy Space Center and Samuel Garcia, Jr. of the Ames Research Center

Beyond Low Earth Orbit: Touchdown on the Moon

• 2-2:45 p.m.
• Steven Smith of the Johnson Space Center and John Weis of the Marshall Space Flight Center

Apollo’s Small Steps to the Moon, Orion’s Giant Leap to Mars

• 3-3:45 p.m.
• Stephen Culivan of the John C. Stennis Space Center and Anne Weiss of the Langley Research Center

NASA Commercial Crew: Partnering for Space Exploration

• 4-4:45 p.m.
• Susan Labarre-Kohler of the Glenn Research Center and Sara Torres of Texas State

For more information regarding Innovation Week, visit Texas State's website.