The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is happy to announce Dr. Constance Meadors as the new director of the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium (ASGC) and NASA Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) program.
"I am only the third director since the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium began in 1991," she said. "I think it's a wonderful opportunity. My NASA experience started here at UA Little Rock conducting hybrid rocket research as a graduate student. Immediately upon entering the program, I was identified as the recipient of a NASA fellowship. That was the first time I became involved in NASA, and it was beyond anything I imagined as a young African American female from a small town. It feels like I have come full circle in coming back to the place where it all started."
ASGC partners with 17 four-year universities and colleges across Arkansas, dedicated to advancing space science education, research, and public outreach. The ASGC recently partnered with six higher education institutions in Arkansas to provide funding and solar eclipse glasses for free STEM festivals where the public could watch the solar eclipse and learn about STEM activities in Arkansas. ASGC employees spent April 8 at Winthrop Rockefeller Institute, where NASA scientists, partnering researchers, and citizen scientists spent the day conducting research experiments for the total solar eclipse.
"This was ground zero for NASA research in Arkansas," Meadors said. "We had research teams launching balloons, and we completed several workshops, including one workshop where we taught citizen scientists how to use their phones to collect data during the eclipse. We had scientists join us from Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, and North and South Carolina."
Meadors joined UA Little Rock in 2023 as the associate director of ASGC, and she brings a diverse wealth of space research and NASA experience. In the Office of STEM Engagement, she served as the first Minority Serving Institution (MSI) STEM Engagement Liaison-Faculty Fellow for NASA Intergovernmental Personnel Assignees (IPA). The NASA EPSCoR advisory council was established and led by her.
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