2026 Symposium

The 2026 COSGC Undergraduate Space Research Symposium was held on April 25th, 2026 at Red Rocks Community College Lakewood Campus.

Agenda for 2026 Symposium

2026 Research Symposium Winners

GRAND PRIZE: University of Colorado - Integrated Rover鈥揌DM鈥揕unaSat听Testing in a Lunar Regolith Analog Environment -听E. Herzog,听J.听Leites,听E.听Taylor,听N.听Starkey,听S.听Donthula,听A.听Shalev听Merin


Session A: University of Colorado - Your Orthopedic Dynamic Alignment 鈥撎A. Anand, C. Bowen, M. Gutke, J. Hickman, and L. Toth

Session B: Pueblo Community College - Development of Autonomous Octopod Programming 鈥撎M. Troyer

Session C: Pikes Peak State College - 2nd听Eye in the Sky听鈥听T. Hartzell, and A. Peruzzi

Session D: Community College of Aurora - The Efficacy of Reclaimed Water on Spinach Growth in Lunar Regolith 鈥撎M. Osborne, M. Angell, P. M. Matthews, and G.听Hutauruk

Session E: Red Rocks Community College / Arapahoe Community College - Cold Welding and Data Protection in Suborbital Flight 鈥撎K. Shirley, A. Zollinger, D. Baker, M. Morgan, C. Foland, E. Eastman, A. Zeller, X. Lees, A. Castaneda, S.听Kennett, and Y. Mehta

Grand Prize Poster: University of Northern Colorado - P-17:听Winds of Change: Investigating Variability in Quasars with Outflows 鈥撎M. Carrasco, and M.听Lazarova

Best Demosat Poster: Red Rocks Community College - P-11:听Exploration of High-Altitude Chemistry using an听Ozonesonde, Turbine, and UV-Degradable Polymers 鈥撎K. Dickson, M. Telford, A. Martin, J. Baldwin, D. Benson, J. Ferrell, C. Holman, H.听Ozaslan, L. Coto, F. Champlin, and T. Micciche-Hall

Best Wearables Poster: University of Colorado - P-03:听Monitoring听Dynamic Posture Changes Through Inertial Measurement Units -听A. Anand, C. Bowen, M. Gutke, J. Hickman, and L. Toth

Best Robotics Poster: Front Range Community College - P-22:听Development of a Six-Legged Autonomous Robot for Rough Terrain Navigation听鈥听R. Ganey, A. Garcia, and S. Rangel

Best Research Poster Session A: Red Rocks Community College - P-14:听鈥淢artians and Moon Bugs:鈥 Progress Report on Extracting DNA from Lunar and Martian Regolith 鈥撎V. Pinto, E.听Vencer, R. Axtell-Aretz, M. Telford, A. Martin, A. Garza, W. Taylor, L. Albert, and T. Williams

Best Research Poster Session B: University of Colorado - P-20:听PULSAR: Suborbital Flight Validation of听LunaSat听V8 and Deployment Systems for Distributed Lunar Science Missions 鈥撎L. Bassett, M. Menzies, F. Radebaugh, J. Gabbard, J. Doyle, J. Diamond, C. Preedom, and the GLEE Team听

Front Range Community College - Six-Legged Autonomous Robot for Rough Terrain Navigation

PAPERS:听

Session A:

ProjectSchool

The Climate Adaptation and Resilience Monitoring Alliance: New Technologies for Ecological Monitoring in a Rapidly Changing EnvironmentM. Thomas, K. Gill, A. Anderson, C. Koch, K. Pena, U. Mandavilli, C. Dwyer, N. Quirk, and T. Pachuda

CU

CU

CU

Your Orthopedic Dynamic AlignmentA. Anand, C. Bowen, M. Gutke, J. Hickman, and L. Toth

CU

Session B:

ProjectSchool

PCC

Integrated Rover鈥揌DM鈥揕unaSat Testing in a Lunar Regolith Analog Environment E. Herzog, J. Leites, E. Taylor, N. Starkey, S. Donthula, A. Shalev Merin

CU

Rover on The Red HorizonE. Callahan, J. Bossert, C. Auer, J. Taylor, and M. Schnese

UCCS

Use of Spine Articulation in Aerospace Robotics with Monocular SLAM Navigation M. Stembridge, D. Thornton, R. Sauzameda-Carbajal, B. Carpenter, and L. Tarpey

PCC

Session C:听

ProjectSchool

2nd Eye in the SkyT. Hartzell, and A. Peruzzi

PPSC

Atmospheric Impact on Solar Cell Efficiency J. Lee, I. Thyer, G. Yannotta, M. Avdyunin, and C. Somayajula

CU

DemoSat: Team Hot AirA. Church, S. Weatherby, and N. Jacobs

PPSC

SPARC: Space Particle and Radiation CounterS. Barrionuevo, M. Olson, S. Santosh, and L. Tisher

CU

Session D:听

Project听School

UCCS

Space Fried Rice 2025-26: Monitoring Rice Growth in Lunar RegolithW. Taylor, G. Dreeszen, G. Perez-Soler, A. Garza, F. Champlin, S. Selph, N. Smith, M. Telford, M. Heng, and R. Axtell-Aretz

RRCC

Optimizing Buoyant Airborne Turbines for Maximum Performance in Limited SpaceC. Gagliano, K. Karges, J. Knott, O. Knott, and M. Lott

FRCC

The Efficacy of Reclaimed Water on Spinach Growth in Lunar RegolithM. Osborne, M. Angell, P. M. Matthews, and G. Hutauruk

CCA

Session E:听

ProjectSchool

Balancing Motion and Biology: Payload Stabilization and Blood Integrity in Near-Space Flight SiriusR. Buffington, J. David, M. Zubrod, B. Schick, and O. Mackenzie

FRCC

FRCC

Cold Welding and Data Protection in Suborbital Flight K. Shirley, A. Zollinger, D. Baker, M. Morgan, C. Foland, E. Eastman, A. Zeller, X. Lees, A. Castaneda, S. Kennett, and Y. Mehta

RRCC / ACC

POSTERS:

Group 1:

ProjectSchool

CU

P-02: Development of a Head Impact Telemetry System for mTBI/CTE Research - A. Silberman, T. Connelly, E. Batdorj, and R. McHale

ACC

P-03: Monitoring Dynamic Posture Changes Through Inertial Measurement Units - A. Anand, C. Bowen, M. Gutke, J. Hickman, and L. Toth

CU

P-04: Solarpunk Parasol: A Sustainable Wearable Platform for Energy Harvesting and Passive Environmental SensingM. H seeb, S. Johnston, R. King, R. Motheral, A. Nakarmi, and M. E. West

Longmont HS

Group 2:听

ProjectSchool
P-05: Investigating the Dynamical Nature of Unipedal Balance - K. Villarreal, M. Semak, and A. Ferris

UNC

P-06: Two Men and a Marschine - T. Tatum, and T. Hartzell

PPSC

PCC

P-08: Dune CrawlerF. Camplin, C. Travis, L. Crossett, B. Andrie, L. Winfrey, E. DeWeese, J. Myers, R.B.T. Jenkins, F. Ridgeway, T. Micciche-Hall, N. Aguilera, N. Orndoff, and G.A.P. Soler

RRCC

Group 3:

ProjectSchool

P-09: Optimizing Buoyant Airborne Turbines for Maximum Performance in Limited SpaceC. Gagliano, J. Knott, K. Karges, M. Lott, and O. Knott

FRCC

P-10: Effect of near-space conditions on the survival rate of Juvenile and mature C.elegans - S. BC, A.C. Rodriguez, Q. Dixon, T. Fuller, L. Giardello, A. Ruiz, and B. Wisener听

RU

P-11: Exploration of High-Altitude Chemistry using an Ozonesonde, Turbine, and UV-Degradable PolymersK. Dickson, M. Telford, A. Martin, J. Baldwin, D. Benson, J. Ferrell, C. Holman, H. Ozaslan, L. Coto, F. Champlin, and T. Micciche-Hall

RRCC

P-12: Stratospheric Observation of Light And Renewables J. Lee, I. Thyer, G. Yannotta, M. Ardyunin, and C. Somayajula

CU

P-13: JAKE NOT FOUNDD. Ghilia, L. Flannery, A. Jannamon, and J. Coppom

Longmont HS

Group 4:听

ProjectSchool

P-14: 鈥淢artians and Moon Bugs:鈥 Progress Report on Extracting DNA from Lunar and Martian RegolithV. Pinto, E. Vencer, R. Axtell-Aretz, M. Telford, A. Martin, A. Garza, W. Taylor, L. Albert, and T. Williams听

RRCC

P-15: The Great Lunar Expedition for Everyone (GLEE): Distributed Lunar Surface ScienceD. Kroneberger, E. Levin, V. Pathi, A. Joshi, K. Stathopulos, and the GLEE team

CU

P-16: Mission SCOUT: Satellite Collision Observation & Unified TrackingL. Berger, Z. Dyre, L. Leal De Ibarra, W. Jolley, M. Pahade, R. Patel, S. Redhorse, F. Sharman, T. Suxe, and L. Ward

CU

UNC

Group 5:听

ProjectSchool

P-18: Housing and Deployment Module Redesign for Distributed Lunar Sensor Deployment in the GLEE MissionP. Mertens, S. Donthula, F. Garza Cancino, M. Alperovich, G. Smith, and E. Letendre

CU

P-19: Cold Welding in Suborbital FlightM. Morgan, E. Eastman, C. Foland, K. Shirley, D. Baker, A. Zeller, X. Lees, A. Zollinger, S. Kennett, Y. Mehta, and A. Castaneda

ACC / RRCC

P-20: PULSAR: Suborbital Flight Validation of LunaSat V8 and Deployment Systems for Distributed Lunar Science MissionsL. Bassett, M. Menzies, F. Radebaugh, J. Gabbard, J. Doyle, J. Diamond, C. Preedom, and the GLEE Team听

CU

Group 6:听

ProjectSchool

CCA

FRCC

P-23: HARP Robotics Project - S. Garrett, D. Morales, A. Bachtiar, J. Lerch, J. Swain, O. Banks, C. Randolph, and L. Naden

CU

Group 7:听

ProjectSchool

P-24: Team Hot AirA. Church, S. Weatherby, N. Jacobs

PPSC

RRCC

P-26: Balancing Motion and BiologyJ. David, O. Mackenzie, R. Buffington, M. Zubrod, and B. Schick

FRCC

P-27: Glowing TardigradesL. Albert, J. Andrews Garcia, and N. Thibodaux

RRCC

2026 Symposium Photo Gallery