A team of physics students at UNC Pembroke won first place for best oral presentation at the 10th annual First Nations Launch National Rocket Competition in Wisconsin.
The NASA-sponsored competition was recently held at Carthage College in Kenosha. The BraveNation Rocket team competed against 20 tribal colleges and universities with an AISES chapter. Students were responsible for the design, construction and launch of a high-powered rocket. Team members designed electronic circuits necessary to measure its speed, acceleration and altitude during its flight.
BraveNation’s seven-foot rocket reached an altitude of 3,700 feet. Team members, led by Dana Lamberton of Red Springs, included Jamal Cromartie of Lumberton, Mariam Gerges of Charlotte, Evert Garcia-Guzman of Zebulon, James Williams of Hope Mills and Malachi Woods of Maxton. Team advisors were professors Tom Dooling and Jose D’Arruda in the Department of Chemistry and Physics.
Lamberton, Cromartie and Woods are enrolled in UNCP’s 3-plus-2 program which gives students the opportunity to earn an applied physics degree from UNCP in three years followed by a degree in electrical or mechanical engineering from N.C. State University.
This is the second consecutive year UNCP has participated in the competition. First Nations Launch is sponsored by NASA’s Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium. The competition provides students with the opportunity to demonstrate engineering and design skills through direct application in high-powered rocketry.
