Digital Commons Network^™

2026 18th Annual Student Center For Science Engagement Research Symposium, Student Center For Science Engagement

Student Center for Science Engagement Research Symposium

Student presentations in Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Earth Science, Environmental Science, Computer Science, Mathematics, & Psychology

Looming Between Shaft Looms And A Tc2 Jacquard Loom - A Serendipitous Expedition With Live Weaving, Pei-Ying Lin, Alex Mclean, Helen Milne, Femke Vorselen, Kristina Andersen

Textile Intersections Conference Series

This paper describes an artistic exploration of the potential for more lively engagements with a TC2 digital Jacquard loom. We listened to the loom to enable control of every warp thread in real time, allowing live manipulation of the patterns. This exposed us to the cognitive challenge of designing live for 2 to the power of 1320 warp possibilities. To address this, we made a customised TC2 control software interface, LOOMIMG, that implements traditional shaft loom logic as a digital, interactive weaving draft. Our tests with two experienced weavers suggest that this facilitates not only a creative space that is …

Textile Intersections 2026: Material Intelligence Exhibition Catalogue, Afroditi Psarra, Liza Stark, Sasha De Koninck, Larissa Kunstel-Tabet, Katharina Sand

Textile Intersections Conference Series

Catalogue of the Textile Intersections 2026 exhibition, Material Intelligence, presenting textile design research that explores intelligence through material behaviour, textile structures, more-than-human agency, material cycles, computation, craft and material commons.

Breaking The Silence - Moving Beyond Lecture Hall Echo Chambers In Nursing Education, Joshua Michael Kies, Elizabeth Faye Snyder, Cyndi Faudree

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Nursing student silence in higher education undermines active learning and critical thinking development. This literature review examines participation barriers, engagement strategies, and approaches to fostering inclusive discussion environments. Research identifies multiple contributing factors: fear of negative evaluation, cultural differences in communication styles, insufficient content knowledge, and technological challenges in virtual settings. The Student Engagement in Digital Learning Framework reveals four key dimensions—emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and social—that interact to create barriers or facilitators to student voice. Evidence-based solutions include extending wait times to 10-15 seconds for cognitive processing, implementing culturally responsive pedagogies, providing multimodal participation formats, and scaffolding discussions to build …

Can Ai-Generated Music Interventions Improve Health Outcomes? A Systematic Review, Nguyen Thi Khanh, Huu-Thanh Nguyen, Vi Do Pham Nhat, Carmen Wing Han Chan

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Music interventions are effective for physical, psychological, cognitive and social well-being [1-3]. Artificial Intelligence (AI) can generate personalised therapeutic music instantly, creating a novel, accessible intervention. However, the effectiveness of these AI-generated interventions has not been systematically reviewed [4, 5]. This systematic review aimed to evaluate the efficacy of AI-generated music interventions for improving health outcomes.

A systematic search was conducted across eight electronic databases (Cochrane, Medline, APA PsycINFO, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library) from inception to September 2025. After screening, eight studies (N=1,267 participants) met the inclusion criteria, comprising four randomised controlled trials (RCTs) …

Ai, The Liberal Arts, And Indigenous Languages: Forming Code Into Language, Christina Graebner

Summer Research Showcase

During the Summer, Spanish Professor Adam Coon and I worked on creating an annotated biography on AI and Indigenous languages for the Digital Well at the UMN Morris Library. Through this project, we have dived into conversations and research focusing on using AI as a translator. In recent years, the conversation around AI has created a surge of studies and research around the relationship between Indigenous languages and artificial intelligence. AI will only continue to expand, and it creates new ways to open communication but creates new ethical guidelines needed to be followed. Our project gathers research articles, podcasts, and …

Operational Resilience In Cubesat Tracking Operations Through Complementary Architectures At Dss-17, Andrea Togni, Emily Walter, Chloe Hart, Ryan Collins, Noah Patrick, Christo Smith, Nathan Fite, Benjamin Malphrus, Marc Sanchez-Net

Small Satellite Conference

Loss of phase-locked loop (PLL) lock during CubeSat tracking can simultaneously eliminate both telemetry and Doppler observables, leaving operators blind during critical mission phases. While closed-loop receivers provide high-precision tracking under nominal conditions, they remain vulnerable to low signal-to-noise ratio, rapid Doppler dynamics, oscillator instability, and modeling errors. This single-point failure mode reduces operator situational awareness precisely when it is most needed. This work presents a dual-acquisition architecture that eliminates single point failure in CubeSat ground tracking. Implemented at DSS-17, Morehead State University's 21-meter deep-space antenna, the system pairs a conventional closed-loop modem with a parallel open-loop receiver implemented on …

First Generation Of Project A.S.P.I.R.E. – A 1u Cubesat Mission For Technology Demonstration And Student Involvement In New Zealand, Shuanghui Zhao, Shunxing Shi, Kristen Lian, Rose Peens-Hough, Arami Peens-Hough, Changrui Wang, Joowon Hwang, Jerry Sun, Edward Sun

Small Satellite Conference

MOTIVATION

A feasibility study conducted at an Auckland secondary school in December 2024 found strong interest in satellite-related learning. Following an outreach presentation, 63 students (Majority aged 15 - 18) completed a questionnaire, with an average interest rating of 4.86/5. The most popular subjects were Orbital Physics, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, and Electrical Engineering (fig. 1).

Beyond Parametric Adaptation: Periodic Redesign For Reaction Wheel Degradation In Precision Pointing Cubesats, Bruno Ingrao

Small Satellite Conference

CubeSat missions increasingly require sustained science-grade precision pointing over long durations. Although sub-arcsecond line-of-sight (LoS) stability is achievable, maintaining this performance is challenged by nonlinear, speed-dependent, and time-varying reaction wheel behavior. As actuator degradation progresses from beginning-of-life (BOL) to end-of-life (EOL), model-plant mismatch can lead to significant pointing degradation and potential loss of mission capability. This work investigates the limitations of fixed-gain and parametric adaptive control under degraded actuator conditions and proposes a periodic identification and controller redesign framework. The approach detects persistent model mismatch using innovation-based consistency and performance metrics, triggers on-orbit identification, and updates the actuator model using …

Radma: Resource-Aware, Dynamic Deployment Of Ml Architectures On An Edge Tpu In Space, Robert Rathert

Small Satellite Conference

As the number of Space Vehicles (SVs) orbiting Earth grows, downlink bitrate bottlenecks necessitate a shift to Orbital Edge Computing (OEC). Size, Weight, and Power, and Cost (SWaP-C) limit onboard Machine Learning (ML) autonomy, and State-of-the-Art (SotA) systems deploy static ML models that do not adapt to dynamic orbit conditions. This work proposes and evaluates RADMA, a resource-aware framework that selects Neural Network (NN) models in response to changing latency and energy constraints. We quantify the performance of RADMA on an open-hardware picosatellite payload that hosts a Google Coral Edge Tensor Processing Unit (TPU). Orbit simulation and modeling predict processing …

Validated Lie Group Variational Integrator-Based Simulator For Passive Magnetic Attitude Control Of The Gasrats Cubesat, Truman T. Abbe

Small Satellite Conference

Passive magnetic attitude control (PMAC) systems are selected for integration in CubeSat designs on account of their simplicity and lack of power consumption. These systems function by simultaneously dissipating a satellite’s rotational kinetic energy as heat and orienting it according to the Earth’s magnetic field. This process is critical for establishing steady-state attitude, a stable rotational state required for conducting mission operations and enabling downlink to ground stations. Comprehensive attitude simulations are necessary for confirming the reliability of a PMAC system to provide timely attitude convergence for a wide range of deployment velocities and orientations. An attitude damping phase precedes …

Lightweight Open Source On-Spacecraft Machine Learning With Mlpack And F Prime, Ryan R. Curtin, Scott M. Gilliland, Sterling L. Peet

Small Satellite Conference

Onboard machine learning is an increasingly important topic in spaceflight systems, as machine learning and AI models are increasingly used for data processing, anomaly detection, attitude control systems, and other predictive applications. However, successfully deploying a machine learning model in a spaceflight computing environment is fraught with difficulty, as spaceflight computing environments are low-resource, but typical machine learning software solutions are implemented in languages like Python, which require an interpreter and other heavyweight dependencies. It is therefore virtually mandatory for any on-spacecraft machine learning to be written with lightweight toolkits that minimize dependencies and resource usage.

We demonstrate a solution …

Uncertainty Quantification And Platform Scattering For The Cimr Reflector Antenna, Tonny Rubaek, Pasquale Giuseppe Nicolaci, Cecilia Cappellin

Small Satellite Conference

The Copernicus Microwave Imaging Radiometer (CIMR) employs a 7.1 m conical scanning mesh reflector antenna rotating at 7.8 rpm that operates from L to Ka band. Demanding radiometric accuracies and sensitivities at few tenths of a Kelvin at high spatial resolution are targeted for the instrument. These require a high accuracy in the characterization and modelling of the antenna pattern over 4π, considering any nearby scattering structure, and/or any potential multipath due to the antenna installation on the S/C, as well as the quantification of the uncertainty on the beam efficiency (BE) arising (from possible in-orbit random variations in the …

Sar Disksat Demonstration Mission For Constellation In Vleo, Hirobumi Saito, Mitsuteru Kaneoka

Small Satellite Conference

We proposed a novel concept of quasi-two-dimensional SAR (synthetic aperture radar) satellites, SAR DiskSats, in 2023 at this conference. This year, in 2026, the demonstration missions of SAR DiskSats are authorized by the Japanese government as a Space Strategy Fund’s Mission. This paper describes the concept and the mission scenario of the demonstration mission in 2028 and 2030. The SAR DiskSat features a deployable passive slot array antenna that can be compactly folded within the quasi-two-dimensional satellite body. This configuration allows for flexible solar cell sheets to be installed on the backside of the antenna, as the antennas do not …

Design Mechanism Framework For Autonomous Small Satellite Constellations – A Newspace Outlook, Mohammed Irfan Rashed

Small Satellite Conference

The increasing deployment of small satellite constellations is driving a transition from isolated spacecraft missions toward distributed and coordinated space operations. However, as constellation size and mission complexity grow, traditional ground-centric operational approaches become difficult to scale due to communication limitations, delayed decision-making, and increased operational workload. While autonomy has been widely explored through onboard algorithms and artificial intelligence techniques, there remains limited focus on how autonomy should be integrated into the systems engineering architecture of constellation missions. This paper presents a Design Mechanism Framework (DMF) for autonomous small satellite constellations that embeds autonomy directly into mission architecture, operational logic, …

Reacquiring Satellites After Unknown Maneuvers In Sensor Blind Spots: A Physics-Informed Behavioral Framework For Closed-Loop Custody Recovery, Naushad Rahman, Niha Agarwalla, Hardik Patel

Small Satellite Conference

Operational problem

After a maneuver during a sensor blind spot, a pre­-gap catalog state may no longer be operationally sufficient. A null look at GS2 must become evidence for where the object could be­ – and where to task next – before access expires.

Leveraging Persistent L-Band Leo-To-Geo Relays For The Orchestration Of High-Bandwidth Optical Inter-Satellite Links, Jonathan Maier, Skylar A. Cox

Small Satellite Conference

As the already tremendous demand for data transfer in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) grows, Free-Space Optical (FSO) communication has emerged as a critical capability due to high data rates and inherent resilience attributes. However, the operational complexity of FSO, specifically the Pointing, Acquisition, and Tracking (PAT) process, requires significant operational planning. The narrow beamwidth of optical terminals requires precise spatial coordination, resulting in latency during link establishment, heavy reliance on scheduled ground-based commanding, and an impediment to agile, responsive, and ad hoc operations.

This paper presents a novel orchestration architecture utilizing Viasat’s L-band space relay network as a persistent, always-on …

Metadata-Conditioned Dark-Frame Modelling And Hsdr-Scanfusion Denoising: A Physics-Informed Independent Tool For Low-Cost Hyperspectral Small-Satellite Calibration, Nooh Adnan, Kyaw Thiha, Raffael Gil Dela Cruz, Li Cheng Zheng, Faijul Amin, Areeba Khan, Sameha Tasnim, Sung Jegal, Yunhan Bao, Iliya Shofman

Small Satellite Conference

Hyperspectral imaging in the shortwave-infrared spectrum is valuable for orbital Earth observation, but its use on low-cost, resource-constrained small satellites is limited by thermally dependent dark current, fixed-pattern noise, and intermittent access to matched calibration frames. Traditional mitigation through active cooling, shutters, or frequent dark-frame acquisition can be difficult to accommodate within small-satellite mass, power, volume, and operations budgets. This paper presents a physics-informed independent calibration tool that reconstructs condition-matched dark response from acquisition metadata rather than relying on hardware-heavy calibration at every operating point. The framework combines a stochastic dark-noise simulator, a metadata-conditioned neural dark operator that predicts spectral-spatial …

Event-Driven Spacecraft Operations Demonstrated On Mms, Miles Bengtson, Alexander Barrie, Joseph Patton, Liam Greenlee, Paul Wood, Marcus Piquette, Russell Bjella, Matthew Chang, Joshua Paul

Small Satellite Conference

Operations engineers face the challenging task of capturing high-value science data while maintaining spacecraft health and functionality and responding to a dynamic space environment using limited information. This task is becoming increasingly complex as missions involve increasingly large numbers of spacecraft, target more elusive science signatures, and operate under growing budget and staffing constraints. Conventional pre-programmed time-sequence commands become increasingly burdensome for multi-spacecraft missions and are fundamentally incapable of reacting to rare, transient science events in real time.

To address this challenge, we have developed MEDOS: the Module for Event-Driven Operations of Spacecraft. Unlike machine learning and neural-network approaches, MEDOS …

Design And Qualification Of A Compact, Deployable Dual-Monopole Antenna System For Remote Sensing Microsatellites, Alexander J. Murphy, Bryan Johnston-Lemke, Robert E. Zee

Small Satellite Conference

Spacecraft conducting signals intelligence (SIGINT) missions require highly capable radio-frequency (RF) payloads. While the larger 80 kg-class platforms offer increased payload capacities, strict internal volume limitations persist. These constraints sometimes require stowing instruments, such as the dual-monopole Very High Frequency (VHF) antenna presented in this work, directly beneath the solar wings. This requirement has imposed a strict height constraint on the VHF antenna, mandating a highly compact and reliable deployment mechanism that avoids snagging or jamming during deployment. 

This paper presents the mechanism design and qualification test plan of a novel, deployable dual-monopole VHF antenna system designed to increase satellite …

Recovery Of Grus-1e From Magnetic Torquer Loss Using Data-Driven Open-Loop Attitude Steering, Nader Ganaba, Takanori Iwata, Minoru Kurata

Small Satellite Conference

In typical low Earth orbit (LEO) operations, the inability to remove excess angular momentum often leads to the decommissioning of a satellite. This paper presents the on-orbit recovery of GRUS-1E, a hundred kg class Earth observation satellite in Axelspace Corporation’s GRUS-1 constellation. The recovery followed the permanent loss of magnetic torquer commanding capability, which in turn disabled the satellite’s nominal reaction wheel momentum unloading. In addition, the satellite experienced persistent disturbance torques that significantly exceeded the combined contributions predicted by standard models, including gravity gradient, solar radiation pressure, aerodynamic drag, and the estimated residual magnetic dipole moment. The magnitude of …

Odin: Optomechanical Distributed Instrument For Inertial Sensing And Navigation, Mohanad Warrayat, Jackson Dahn, Ramses Miranda, Andrea Nelson, Jeremiah Stoddart, Miguel Dovale, Jose Sanjuan, Felipe Guzman, Daniel Selva

Small Satellite Conference

ODIN (Optomechanical Distributed Instrument for Inertial sensing and Navigation) is a gyroscope-free inertial measurement unit based on a cube of six monolithic fused silica wafers which complete a twelve-axis sensing capability, i.e., three linear, three angular, and six centripetal acceleration measurements. ODIN will fly as a secondary payload on the GRATTIS (Gravitational Reference Advanced Technology Test in Space) mission, slated for launch in February of 2027, led by the University of Florida and funded by the NASA InVEST program. By the end of the GRATTIS mission, it is expected that ODIN will reach an exit TRL-7.

The primary objective of …

Counting My Nutrition (Cmn) Improved Appalachian Third Graders’ Nutrition Knowledge, But Had Little Effect On Food Attitudes And Dietary Intake: A Pilot Study, Julia Peter

Student Research and Creative Activity Expo

This study evaluates whether a 10-week school-based, math-integrated nutrition education curriculum improves the nutrition knowledge, food attitudes, and dietary intake of Appalachian third-graders in order to support their long-term health.

No-Cloning Constraints And Algebraic Structures In Quantum Error-Correcting Codes, Manh Thang Vo, Felix Tuffour, Pooja Kumari, Alfred Adzika

Student Research and Creative Activity Expo

The no-cloning theorem is a fundamental principle of quantum mechanics that prohibits the perfect duplication of arbitrary unknown quantum states, thereby ruling out classical redundancy strategies based on direct replication. As a consequence, quantum error correction must rely on structured encodings rather than duplication. In this work, we investigate how no-cloning constraints naturally lead to algebraic frameworks for quantum error-correcting codes. Quantum information is encoded into subspaces of multi-qubit systems, where protection is achieved through entanglement and syndrome-based measurements. We show that this structure can be effectively realized using algebraic coding theory, where self-orthogonality and duality replace classical redundancy.

From Entangled Shifts To Quasi-Cyclic Codes, Manh Thang Vo

Student Research and Creative Activity Expo

Cyclic codes arise naturally as ideals of the commutative ring $F[x]/\langle x^n-1 \rangle$, while a comparable algebraic description for quasi-cyclic (QC) codes has remained elusive. In this work, we introduce a noncommutative framework in which QC codes appear naturally as ideals. By embedding graded polynomial quotient rings into finite Szabo matrix rings, we construct a ring whose left,

Strongly Compact Cardinals May Have Surprising Properties, Mohamed Alfardan

Student Research and Creative Activity Expo

We examine whether certain properties arising from statements equivalent to the Axiom of Choice can be extended to uncountable cardinals. We also examine the relationship between these cardinals and strongly compact cardinals. We end with 3 case scenarios and an open question.

A Proposed Development Process For A Hardware-In-The-Loop Testing System For Cubesat Components, Vahini N. Patel, Victoria Coverstone

Small Satellite Conference

Hardware-in-the-loop testing systems, commonly known as FlatSats, are testbed systems in which spacecraft subsystems, such as the onboard computer (OBC), power system, attitude determination and control system (ADCS), and communications, are laid flat and interconnected as they would be in an actual spacecraft. This arrangement gives easy access to each subsystem, enabling hardware and software testing and troubleshooting without risking fully assembled flight hardware.

FlatSats are widely used throughout the aerospace industry, from government agencies like ESA and NASA to private companies and university research labs, due to their versatility in enabling parallel development. This accelerates timelines and reduces …

Power Simulation Framework For Korucusat-2 Using Freeflyer, Sahil Singh, Annabel Rong, Mukund Karthikeyan

Small Satellite Conference

A FreeFlyer-based power simulation was developed for KORUCUSAT-2, a low Earth orbit CubeSat designed to monitor silicon-anode battery behavior in space. The spacecraft model uses body-mounted solar panels with five modules on each of the +X, -X, +Y, and -Y faces. The simulation integrates orbital propagation, Earth shadowing, Sun-incidence angle, ground-station visibility, mode-dependent subsystem loads, and battery-state propagation to estimate electrical margin. Battery watt-hours and normalized state of charge are updated at each 30 s step so that critical, low-power, operations, and transmission modes can be evaluated against stored-energy limits. The framework provides a traceable prelaunch test bench for power-system …

Multi-Satellite Optical Link Scheduling With Direct Nonlinear Attitude Planning, Leif Nelson, Yung-Jai Pomeroy, Daniel J. Garcia

Small Satellite Conference

The Problem:

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations increasingly rely on Optical Inter-Satellite Links (OISL) to route data across dynamic satellite networks. As satellites move through their orbits, communications continuously change due to line-of-sight constraints, link quality variations, and spacecraft pointing limitations. Traditional routing approaches often consider network optimization separately from spacecraft attitude control, creating a disconnect between planned routes and physically achievable communication links. This work addresses the challenge of simultaneously generating communication routes while validating that satellites can physically point toward their assigned target. The result is an end-to-end framework that integrates network planning, optical link feasibility, and spacecraft …

Design Of A Passive Magnetic Bearing Reaction Wheel For Smallsats And Its Micro-Vibration Performance, Mante Baekeland, Konstantinos Gryllias, Dirk Vandepitte, Cedric Cuypers, Niel Deckers, Tjorven Delabie, René Seiler

Small Satellite Conference

Reaction wheels are a primary source of micro-vibrations aboard satellite platforms, limiting the fine-pointing capability of spacecraft. This paper presents a novel passive magnetic bearing reaction wheel featuring a magnetic–mechanical suspension to reduce operational vibration emissions compared with conventional ball bearing systems. The proposed suspension architecture combines radial permanent magnetic bearings with an axial single-point-contact ball pivot bearing, resulting in a compact, fully passive solution tailored for the SmallSat market. To demonstrate the feasibility of the concept, a hardware prototype was manufactured and tested. Stable operation is achieved across the full operational range up to 4800 rpm. The experimental campaign …