McNeese student Anthony Miller receives NASA-funded internship
By Ashlee Lhamon
Special to the American Press
Special to the American Press
McNeese State University engineering student Anthony Miller, seated, works with T. Gregory Guzik, professor of physics at LSU, to construct an electrical field mill as part of Miller’s NASA-funded summer internship with the LaSPACE program.
McNeese State University engineering junior Anthony Miller of Sulphur is one of 13 undergraduates from Louisiana institutions to receive a NASA-funded summer internship focused on what happens inside thunderstorm cells at high altitudes.
This 10-week internship looks into the correlation of terrestrial gammaray flashes, electric fields and lightning strikes in storms. This project revolves around a ballooning project sponsored by the Louisiana SPACE program on the Louisiana State University campus and funded by NASA’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research.
The interns are working with LSU staff members on research and development that will include gamma-ray flashes detection, flight software, telemetry and a ground station.
Miller said he is working specifically with electric field mills, or specialized instruments used to measure the strength of electrical fields in the atmosphere during a lightning thunderstorm.
“We are correlating these electrical fields to terrestrial gamma-ray flashes, which are the highest-energy light waves on the electromagnetic spectrum,” Miller said. “TGFs have been linked to lightning strikes during thunderstorms and our research will bring us closer to understanding why this happens.”
Miller said he heard about the internship while working as project manager with a team of McNeese students who participated in the Louisiana Aerospace Catalysts Experiences for Students balloon project at NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas, in May.
“Mechanical engineering professor Dr. Zhuang Li told us about the internship,” Miller said. “It sounded like a great opportunity to continue my research experience with high-altitude ballooning, engineering and physics. I applied and was accepted.”
He said the internship will provide him with the hands-on experience that will better prepare him for his continued undergraduate research studies at McNeese.
“I also think this internship will provide me with a great advantage when I apply for graduate programs after I graduate,” Miller said.
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Ashlee Lhamon is a graduate assistant at Mc-Neese State University.