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Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) provides UMD students of all backgrounds, disciplines, and levels of experience with the opportunity to engage in scaffolded, multidisciplinary team-based projects. 

VIP Team Information

bowden@ssl.umd.edu

VIP Team

Engineering on the Edge of Space

VIP Faculty Mentors:

bowden@ssl.umd.edu

Dr. Mary Bowden

Aerospace Engineering

bowden@ssl.umd.edu

bowden@ssl.umd.edu

Meeting Location, Day & Time:

A. James Clark Hall 2134, Fridays, 5:00pm-7:00pm.

Description:

Design, build, and fly experiments to the Edge of Space using weather balloons and rockets, aiming for high altitudes and meaningful data. Join us in our space engineering adventures and inspire the next generation through exciting outreach activities. This team is focused on designing, building, testing, and flying engineering experiments to the Edge of Space and beyond. Most of our flights are on latex weather balloons which can go up to an altitude of 100,000 ft or above, but we may also fly on high-altitude long-duration NASA balloons and sounding rockets. A common theme in all this research is designing light weight and low-cost experiments that can produce meaningful data and results in flight. We also like to share our enthusiasm for space engineering with kids, so we have a number of ongoing outreach activities that we encourage all participants to get involved in.

Methods:

Electronics, coding, radio communications, construction, 3D printing, project management.

Majors:

Aerospace Engineering
Bioengineering
Chemical Engineering
Civil Engineering
Computer Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Fire Protection Engineering
Materials Science and Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
All Sciences
Journalism
Business

Preferred Interests:

No experience, prior knowledge, or coursework is necessary.

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