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‘Team Vanguard’ Takes Top Honors at Texas Space Grant Consortium Contest

Students from the UT Tyler Houston Engineering Center will assist NASA with its “Artemis III” Moon Mission – an effort to send humans back to the moon by 2024 – after taking home top honors from the Texas Space Grant Consortium’s annual Design Challenge.

Team Vanguard received “Top Design” and “Best Poster” honors, as well as second place in “Best Peer Review.” Vanguard members are Monica Louise Monconduit of New Orleans, Louisiana, Zach Butterfras of Deer Park, Amin Marashi of Iran, Michael Mira of Sugar Land and team captain Antonio Mejia Jr. of Galveston. All will graduate from UT Tyler in May 2021. 

The Design Challenge is a unique academic experience offering undergraduate students the opportunity to propose, design and fabricate a novel solution toward solving real innovative research problems of importance to NASA and its future space missions. The team is developing a mechanical subsystem for the new spacesuits to be used in the Artemis III Moon Mission. 

“Artemis III is the Apollo 8 event in history for our generation, and we are ecstatic at the prospects of being part of this achievement and moment,” said Aws Al-Shalash, HEC lecturer and team adviser. “The overall experience provides student team members with an opportunity to engage in scientific research, hands-on design, space-related career opportunities, communication skills and educational outreach.”

Each student was awarded a scholarship in the amount of $1,000. They competed against 20 other collegiate teams from all over Texas, besting UT Austin and Texas A&M University, among others. UT Tyler HEC mechanical engineering students have been consistently participating for the last four years in this NASA competition.

“Our senior design course runs in parallel to the competition, facilitating a seamless interaction of TSGC tag-up deliverables and UT Tyler senior design weekly assignments,” said Dr. Andres Garcia, HEC director. “We see a tremendous benefit in this type of cross-curriculum external competition for our students, promoting innovation, quality and self-esteem on all team members.”

Mira, who transferred to the HEC after graduating from Houston Community College, is excited about this “out of this world” opportunity, noting that participating in events like this one has helped him with both technical and soft skills required to be a successful mechanical engineer.

“UT Tyler has pushed me to my limits and beyond,” Mira said. “I feel I have the capabilities to adapt to any circumstance to achieve success. I have participated in team research, design and manufacturing of top tier mechanisms, and now I get to be a part of something really special by helping NASA.”

Mejia agreed, crediting UT Tyler for enhancing his leadership skills that will help him in his future career in industrial management.

"UT Tyler is already influencing my career in the chemicals industry by challenging my project-management, presentation and team leadership skills, especially when it applies to learning to work with diverse personalities and adjust to multiple communication styles,” he said.

For more information, visit tsgc.utexas.edu/challenge/program.html.

 

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