Legislative Spouses Luncheon -- 'It IS Rocket Science'

Utah State University’s First Lady Joyce Albrecht hosted a luncheon in Salt Lake City for legislative spouses and partners in late February. The event provided an opportunity to highlight student and program accomplishments at Utah State University.

Anniversaries provided a foundation for the activities — the Space Dynamics Laboratory is celebrating 50 years, and USU’s Undergraduate Research Program is celebrating its 35th year. Both programs provided opportunities for USU students to be in the spotlight.

The theme for the day was “It IS Rocket Science.”

Douglas Lemon, SDL director, shared a 50-year overview of the organization. A USU alum, Lemon told the gathering that as an undergraduate physics major at USU, he never dreamed he would someday lead the very institution he admired.

Fittingly, the celebration of Undergraduate Research’s 35th anniversary focused on student projects directly tied to space and SDL. Justin Koeln, a junior in mechanical engineering from Maryland and head of the Get Away Special Team, compared boiling water on earth to the same task in space.

“It’s not quite as easy as making pasta,” he said, “but it’s important to know how to boil as it can have tremendous effects in space, particularly in terms of health and safety.”

Koeln was joined by sophomore Erik Stromberg, who works on CubeSAT, an even smaller satellite than the one he worked on as a first-year student. Stromberg held a model of the satellite in his hand as he demonstrated to the attendees how tiny the model mechanism could be and still be effective.

Joyce Kinkead, who oversees undergraduate research at USU, introduced the students, noting that since the formation of USU’s program, nearly 1,000 students have been supported financially while becoming involved in research.

“The synergy between SDL and undergraduate research means that our students get real experiences with real impact,” said Kinkead.

Music at the Legislative Spouses Luncheon was provided by USU students. A string quartet performed with members Mariska Romney, violin; Nicole Watts, violin; Sabrina Romney, viola; and Alisa Larsen, cello.

Student research hosts at the luncheon included Sean Bedingfield, Douglas Holt, Dustin Jones, MaKenzie Martin Taylor and Darcy Stewart.

Following the luncheon, Stromberg and Koeln, along with SDL’s Lemon, joined USU faculty members Jan Sojka and Charles Swenson at the state capitol to be honored. The group and USU engineering programs were acknowledged by the Senate and House of Representatives. A citation was read acknowledging the work that SDL and USU have done, including sending more student experiments into space than any other university in the world.