Harding University STEM program with NASA ahead of upcoming eclipse

SEARCY, ARK (KATV) — Harding University is just one of the many Arkansas colleges that offer STEM programs with NASA, giving students the opportunity to participate in real lab research.

Throwing it back to the early 1960s, Harding University has a long history working with NASA. As astronauts were first being launched into space, some of the physical fitness testing for the astronauts was actually done at Harding.

“So NASA has a program called NASA space grant, that allows for funding in Universities around the Nation to help support NASA research projects," said Cindy White, Harding professor and chair of department of chemistry & biochemistry.

Students can obtain grants and funding from the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium to help support their research.

“So as a biochemistry student, each one of us has to do a full senior seminar presentation over research we’ve conducted at our time here at Harding," said Carson Stewart, Senior Biochemistry student at Harding University.

Steward is working with Professor White and NASA to assist with their water treatment program. “I worked through the help of the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium, they’ve funded the research on how we can work with the international space station to disinfect their water because it’s too expensive to continuously bring up water to the international space station," said Stewart.

Another STEM program student was chosen to be a NASA eclipse ambassador for the upcoming solar eclipse on April 8.

“I think that it is definitely a really special opportunity, one that I have been really blessed to be involved with, it has helped me not only grow as a person in my leadership abilities and just as a student in general, but also help me reach out to the community more and become more involved with the people I interact with on a daily basis," said Abby White, Undergraduate biology student at Harding University.

Enabling student ambassadors to be advocates in sharing information about the eclipse and the science behind it.

Harding University is sponsoring a NASA day on campus April 5, where 15-hundred area school children are coming out to learn about the eclipse and different NASA projects.