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Scientists receive awards from NASA, European Space Agency

10/03/2007

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Miami scientists honored by NASA and the European Space Agency are: (l-r) Marianne Steele, from NASA Ames Research Center, Prem Kumar (botany), Jack Mullen and Melanie Correll (previous post-doctoral associates, botany), Richard Edelmann (botany), John Kiss (botany) and Enno Brinckmann, ESA project director.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) presented awards to John Kiss, professor of botany at Miami University, and his research team for their outstanding accomplishments in spaceflight research. Honored with Kiss were Richard Edelmann, director of Miami's electron microscopy facility, and Prem Kumar, postdoctoral fellow in botany.

Also honored were Kiss's former post-doctoral associates who had worked with him on space flight research: Melanie Correll, assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering at the University of Florida, and Jack Mullen, research scientist in the department of bioagricultural science and pest management at Colorado State University.

Kiss and his research team investigate the effects of gravity on plants in space. Their research project - code-named "TROPI,' a collaborative project between NASA and ESA - was one of two projects launched on the space shuttle Discovery last year and performed on the International Space Station (ISS). The major goal of TROPI is to determine the effects of gravity on light perception and development in plants to ultimately support long-range space travel such as expeditions to the Moon and Mars.

To date, Kiss and Edelmann have received more than $1 million in external funding to support this spaceflight research.

The awards were presented at a ceremony at Miami Sept. 20 by Mike Eodice, NASA project manager, and Enno Brinckmann, ESA project director based in Germany. TROPI was the first successful experiment to be performed on the ISS in the European Modular Cultivation System, a major scientific research facility developed by ESA, according to Kiss.