By Angela Askey, Executive Director Public Relations and Marketing
Pinal County, Az. – Central Arizona College students enrolled in the spring 2024 High Altitude Balloon Payload (SCI195) course recently completed their semester coursework under the leadership of Dr. Armineh Noravian, Professor of Engineering and Dr. Kimberly Baldwin, IT Analyst.
As part of the SCI195 class, students develop and conduct a flight experiment for a high-altitude balloon as part of an Arizona Space Grant Consortium project. They are responsible for collecting and analyzing scientific data obtained by the balloon experiment and present their results at a meeting arranged by the Arizona Space Grant Consortium.
Dr. Noravian explains, “This spring semester was successful but also somewhat unusual. Due to weather conditions, the balloon launch was canceled twice and postponed indefinitely. However, students successfully completed the semester by developing two payloads, one of which was intended to collect local atmospheric data for a five-year database, while the other was designed to investigate the impact of high altitudes on foods such as coffee and pizza dough.”
In April, the students attended the 2024 Statewide Student Research Symposium in Tucson. They presented their project poster and payloads. More information about the mechanical, software and electrical design can be found on their project website at https://sites.google.com/view/cac-ascend-sp24/home.
This spring’s project team included the following students:
● Karen Banda
● Sonja Elstad
● Cortney Fisher
● Elizabeth Maziarka
● James Lafaut
● Jose Mendoza
● Elijah Mountz
● Norma Owens
● Jose Rodriguez
● Christopher Santos
● Hannah Tunstall
● ZhiLong Zhu
● Alexander Aguilar (Embedded Tutor)
Dr. Noravian and Dr. Baldwin are also co-mentors in CAC’s new Applied Projects in STEM class (SCI198B). In this class students work with their faculty to define the content of the project they undertake to meet their specific needs and will complete various applied projects outside of regular classes.
About CAC
For more than 50 years, Central Arizona College has been serving and educating the diverse communities of Pinal County. With five campuses located strategically throughout the county, CAC provides accessible, educational, economic, cultural, and personal growth opportunities for those of all ages.
CAC is an equal opportunity employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local laws regarding equal employment opportunity and anti‐discrimination. CAC strictly prohibits and does not tolerate discrimination on the basis of the following protected classes and/or characteristics, in all of its operations, programs and activities, including but not limited to employment, promotion, admissions and access to all career and technical programs: race, color, religion, creed, national origin or ancestry, ethnicity, sex (including sex assigned at birth, pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression), age, physical or mental disability, citizenship, past, current, or prospective service in the uniformed services, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state, or local law. For more information contact: Laura Shepherd, Title IX Coordinator at 480‐677‐7853 or titleix@centralaz.edu; Section 504/ADA Coordinator at 520‐494‐5409 or studentaccessibility@centralaz.edu or Talent Development at Talent.Development@centralaz.edu
