Student Spotlights
Celebrating Excellence and Innovation
Welcome to the Student Spotlight, a dedicated space celebrating the remarkable achievements of students engaged with the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium. Here, we feature the stories, projects, and accomplishments of those who are shaping the future of aerospace and STEM fields. This page serves as a testament to the hard work, creativity, and impact our students have within the scientific community and beyond.
Hannah Jones
Hannah Jones is an Master of Science student in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and an intern at NASA Langley Research Center. She is conducting research on an new manufacturing process for composite materials called OATMEAL (Out-of-autoclave Amorphous/semi-crystalline Thermoplastic Materials for Energy-Efficient Aerospace-grade Laminates). Her work focuses on testing and characterizing materials to help determine which parametes improve performance of the resulting material.
Chase Golden
Chase Golden is an recent graduate of the University of Arkansas with a degree in Chemical Engineering. This summer, he will be working with a team of mentors at NASA Ames Research Center on a variety of Mars life support projects, including carbon dioxide management and water purification systems. His work will contribute to the development of technologies that support sustainable human exploration of Mars.
Hudson Reeves
Hudson Reeves is an rising Junior in Electrical Engineering at UAFS/UARK. He had been working with the Simulation and Graphics Branch for robotics at Johnson Space Center as an intern. His project involves using JSC's premier simulation framework tricks to create an example of Trick-Unreal Simulations. Throughout his internship, Hudson has contributed to other projects, including developing a feature for an internal plugin and creating a how to guide that was published on Trick's GitHub documentation.
2026 Autonomous Vehicle Challenge
The Arkansas Space Grant Consortium is proud to recognize the outstanding teams that competed in the 2026 Autonomous Vehicle Challenge (AVC). Students put their engineering, programming, problem-solving, and teamwork skills to the test as they designed, built, and operated autonomous vehicles.
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Congratulations to all of the participating teams for their hard work, creativity, and dedication throughout the 2026 Autonomous Vehicle Challenge. The AVC provides students with a hands-on opportunity to apply STEM concepts to real-world engineering challenges while developing skills in collaboration, innovation, and autonomous systems.
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1st Place — UAFS
“Lords of the Spheres”
Best Presentation
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2nd Place — UCA
“Ball-e”
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3rd Place — UCA
“WonkyBot”
Best Notebook
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Tie for 4th Place
ATU — “A.T.O.M.”
UAF — “Autonomous Hogs”
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UAF — “Autonomous Hogs”
Left to right: David Jensen, Will Draving, Christian Morton, Brody McKenzie.
ATU "A.T.O.M"
Left to Right: Hugo Montoya, Thomas Dodds, Jacob Weidenfeller, Reco Dickerson, Adrian Tate, Melbim Sanchez, Jose Villalpando(sited), Rafael Raya
UAFS Team - "Lords of the Spheres"
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UCA Team Ball-E
Left to Right: Eric LeJune, Caleb Young , Michalina Shulz, and Elizabeth Lopez
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UCA Team WonkyBot
Left to Right: Edward Fields, Matthew Garrett, and Lillian Slaton
Nominate a Star: Spotlight Submission
Know a student making waves in aerospace or STEM? Nominate them for our Student Spotlight! It's a fantastic way to celebrate their hard work and achievements, inspiring others in the process. Share their story with us, and let's highlight the stars of tomorrow, today.