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Dr. George Philippidis Mentoring a Team of 7th Grade Students on NASA’s Student Spaceflight Experiments Program

Dr. George Philippidis, PCGS Associate Dean for Research and Director of the Sustainable Energy concentration, is mentoring a team of 7th graders from the Pine View School for the Gifted in Osprey, FL (Sarasota County). The students have prepared and submitted a proposal for an experiment to be executed by the astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA’s Student Spaceflight Experiments Program. The proposal is entitled “Ability of Microalgae Chlorella Vulgaris to Remove Nitrogen and Phosphorous from Wastewater in Microgravity Conditions” and aims at using algae to purify wastewater on the ISS in order to reuse it for various applications.

To assist the students, Dr. Philippidis has given guidance on how to conduct accurate quantitative analysis of Nitrogen and Phosphorus to determine the effectiveness of algae in microgravity and has provided access to the Biofuels & Bioproducts Lab at the Patel College of Global Sustainability to conduct the tests.

The proposed project was recently selected as one of the 3 finalists by NASA. Congratulations to the students for such an exceptional accomplishment and to Dr. Philippidis for the wonderful guidance to the bright future generation.

Learn more about Dr. George Philippidis here.