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When was a student studying physics many years ago, she didn’t have access to programs that could support her budding scientific career. So for the last two decades, she’s been working hard to change that for students in New Hampshire; it has resulted in an incredibly positive influence on an entire generation of young scientists while simultaneously helping to grow the state’s technological workforce.

Galvin, a 91��Ƭ�� research professor of physics who has led numerous space science missions, has served as the director for the for the past 14 years (and assistant director for the prior 11 years) — a program to which she remains deeply committed because it helps to move the next generation forward, she says.

The N.H. Space Grant Consortium was recently awarded $800,000 for the first year of its four-year grant cycle, which totals $3.4 million. This funding supports impactful research, education, and outreach events, but despite Space Grant's name, it’s not solely focused on the cosmos. “Part of NASA’s mission is helping to improve life here on Earth, and Space Grant contributes to that,” Galvin notes. “NASA is actually part of everyone’s life — you don’t need to be an astronaut to benefit from its work.”

Space Grant is a bi-partisan Congressional program administered through NASA, and there’s a program in all 50 U.S. states, along with Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. 91��Ƭ�� is one of only 24 institutions that holds the triple designation as a Land, Sea, and Space Grant university.

The funding awarded to N.H. Space Grant doesn’t just stay at 91��Ƭ�� — it funnels out to the rest of the Granite State and benefits a wide swath of students and citizens. A portion of it is distributed to other institutions, including Dartmouth College, Plymouth University, the N.H. Community College system; the funding also help support K-12 educational programs at the Mount Washington Observatory and the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center (MSDC); and the remainder provides some funding for public outreach events like the New England Fall Astronomy Festival and the MSDC Aerospace Festival. 

Stephanie Black, a 91��Ƭ�� Ph.D. student studying physics, is one of four N.H. Space Grant Fellows for the summer of 2025

 

Back at 91��Ƭ��, this year’s funding is providing some support for the 91��Ƭ�� Tech Camp — which offers a week of STEM-based educational programs for students in grades 5-12 — as well as competitive summer fellowships for four 91��Ƭ�� graduate students. One of those four, Stephanie Black, is a Ph.D. student studying physics with a minor in college teaching. Black’s research is focused on the Polar Cap Boundaries, which are regions on Earth that are crucial to helping scientists understand space weather that can impact satellite communications, GPS, power grids and other infrastructure. She’s also working on developing an instrument that will take measurements while aboard sounding rocket missions. The Space Grant fellowship this summer is allowing her to pursue both efforts, and she was able to attend a professional conference where she presented her research to colleagues in this field of study.

“Fellowships like those offered by Space Grant are important because they provide students like me with the time and flexibility to conduct meaningful research and make progress on science questions and topics,” Black says. “Supporting student research is important because it empowers us to contribute to our respective fields, collaborate with other scientists, and demonstrate why science and the research we do matters.” 

N.H. Space Grant supports outreach activities across the state, like those for the 2024 total solar eclipse.

Lorna Ellis, an information technologist in the 91��Ƭ�� Space Science Center and associate director for N.H. Space Grant Consortium, received one of the program’s fellowships in 2003. “That experience was really helpful for me — I had felt unwelcome in computer science when I was young and was trying to find my way back in,” she explains. “This fellowship helped me feel like I belonged in science; it was a validation of my decision to change careers and pursue this line of work.”

Galvin exudes pride for all the students that N.H. Space Grant has supported, as she notes the variety of career tracks they’ve taken.

“All the students we’ve supported over the years have made contributions to the STEM fields in the U.S., including right here in New Hampshire,” Galvin says. “They’ve helped to create that technology base that makes the U.S. really shine on the world stage — through our innovation, technology, science and engineering. These students are building our nation, helping us become more economically vibrant, and contributing to our drive to explore and improve our world through science.