NASA Awards Enable Research, Technology to Build Future Workforce

NASA has selected 12 United States academic institutions to receive a total of $12 million for space technology development. The funding aims to support deep space exploration priorities while building the agency's future workforce. Administered through the Minority University Research and Education Project Space Technology Artemis Research initiative, the awards provide up to $1 million per institution.

Alicia Baturoni Cortez, the program manager, stated that the investments help schools build infrastructure and skills while closing technology gaps for long-duration space missions. The winning projects cover diverse technical fields. California State University, Sacramento will study multi-robot collaboration using vision-language-action models. Other projects include radiation instrumentation at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, cryogenic regolith properties at the University of Texas, San Antonio, and extreme-environment batteries at the University of New Mexico.

The initiative pairs technological innovation with talent cultivation. By engaging students and faculty in aerospace research, the program helps participating universities expand their capacity to compete for future federal and commercial awards.