The world’s first National Indigenous Space Academy (NISA) has welcomed another Griffith University student into its ranks as the program ramps up for its second year.
Currently completing a Bachelor of Science Advanced: Wildlife Biology and Applied Mathematics, Jordan McGrath will soon join four other interns from across Australia at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the US, where he’ll be developing models to assist in improving space-based animal tracking technology.
With the program coordinated by Monash University, the interns will first attend a Space Boot Camp in Melbourne, where they’ll learn key fundamentals of aerodynamics, robotics, astrophysics, planetary science, engineering, computer and earth sciences and of course all about NASA’s space exploration missions.
They’ll then be immersed in a 10-week program in California with mentorship providing guidance, support, networking opportunities, outreach and celebration of Indigenous culture.
Mr McGrath said he was looking forward to exploring new avenues and building his capability.
“In my placement I’ll be learning about the limits of technology in spatial resolution and how applying knowledge of species movement will help to increase its ability to track small migratory animals from space,” he said.
“This will complement the work I’ve already been doing using mathematics to inform conservation decisions around wildlife decisions, such as identifying which areas should be protected to have the most positive impact.
“We’ll be using biological understanding coupled with technical skills to improve satellite-based approaches so researchers can receive more accurate data while decreasing the weight of tracking devices, which would then allow tracking of more species at higher resolutions across a larger scale.
“It will be a very big step up for me, but it’ll be a learning opportunity that’s sure to benefit me and my future projects.”
Originally applying for the opportunity in 2023, Mr McGrath narrowly missed out on a place, but was asked to apply again this year as NASA now had projects closely related to his degree and expertise.
As luck would have it though, he met 2023 NISA intern and fellow Griffith student Cedar Lett when they were both New Colombo Plan Scholars – coincidentally studying at the same language school in Japan, at the same time.
“It’s been very comforting to know someone who’s already done the NISA program,” Mr McGrath said.
“Cedar gave me a lot of the answers I needed before I even thought to ask them.”
While on a similar path, the two scholars have taken different avenues with Ms Lett’s time in the program focusing more on microbiology.
“I got to test International Space Station microbes to see if they’d gone through any changes or if they’d survived the journey back to Earth,” she said.
“We also looked at sterility and making sure we’re not spreading earth microbes into other planets’ environments.”
Studying clinical science at Griffith, Ms Lett already had some experience with microbiology, but had to learn new research techniques, conduct experiments and do many replicates to ensure the validity of her results.
“It gave me a comprehensive understanding of research processes and taught me valuable skills – not only practical, but also in communication and problem solving.
“It was a pretty rigorous 10 weeks and it sometimes became challenging to balance everything, but it showed me what I am capable of.
“Just being on the campus, seeing all the incredible facilities and being able to work with the NASA researchers was incredibly inspiring.
“I feel incredibly lucky and honoured to have had such an opportunity, and so proud to represent indigenous Australians.
“It’s not every day you get to intern at a NASA facility surrounded by incredible people who want to support you and help you reach your potential, so to Jordan and anyone else thinking of applying in the future, I just say go for it, and soak up every morsel of information made available to you.”
