2026 Symposium

The 2026 COSGC Undergraduate Space 91Ҹ Symposium was held on April 25th, 2026 at Red Rocks Community College Lakewood Campus.

Agenda for 2026 Symposium

2026 91Ҹ Symposium Winners

GRAND PRIZE: 91Ҹ - Integrated Rover–HDM–LunaSatTesting in a Lunar Regolith Analog Environment -E. Herzog,J.Leites,E.Taylor,N.Starkey,S.Donthula,A.ShalevMerin


Session A: 91Ҹ - Your Orthopedic Dynamic Alignment –A. Anand, C. Bowen, M. Gutke, J. Hickman, and L. Toth

Session B: Pueblo Community College - Development of Autonomous Octopod Programming –M. Troyer

Session C: Pikes Peak State College - 2ndEye in the Sky–T. Hartzell, and A. Peruzzi

Session D: Community College of Aurora - The Efficacy of Reclaimed Water on Spinach Growth in Lunar Regolith –M. Osborne, M. Angell, P. M. Matthews, and G.Hutauruk

Session E: Red Rocks Community College / Arapahoe Community College - Cold Welding and Data Protection in Suborbital Flight –K. Shirley, A. Zollinger, D. Baker, M. Morgan, C. Foland, E. Eastman, A. Zeller, X. Lees, A. Castaneda, S.Kennett, and Y. Mehta

Grand Prize Poster: University of Northern Colorado - P-17:Winds of Change: Investigating Variability in Quasars with Outflows –M. Carrasco, and M.Lazarova

Best Demosat Poster: Red Rocks Community College - P-11:Exploration of High-Altitude Chemistry using anOzonesonde, Turbine, and UV-Degradable Polymers –K. Dickson, M. Telford, A. Martin, J. Baldwin, D. Benson, J. Ferrell, C. Holman, H.Ozaslan, L. Coto, F. Champlin, and T. Micciche-Hall

Best Wearables Poster: 91Ҹ - P-03:MonitoringDynamic Posture Changes Through Inertial Measurement Units -A. Anand, C. Bowen, M. Gutke, J. Hickman, and L. Toth

Best Robotics Poster: Front Range Community College - P-22:Development of a Six-Legged Autonomous Robot for Rough Terrain Navigation–R. Ganey, A. Garcia, and S. Rangel

Best 91Ҹ Poster Session A: Red Rocks Community College - P-14:“Martians and Moon Bugs:” Progress Report on Extracting DNA from Lunar and Martian Regolith –V. Pinto, E.Vencer, R. Axtell-Aretz, M. Telford, A. Martin, A. Garza, W. Taylor, L. Albert, and T. Williams

Best 91Ҹ Poster Session B: 91Ҹ - P-20:PULSAR: Suborbital Flight Validation ofLunaSatV8 and Deployment Systems for Distributed Lunar Science Missions –L. Bassett, M. Menzies, F. Radebaugh, J. Gabbard, J. Doyle, J. Diamond, C. Preedom, and the GLEE Team

Front Range Community College - Six-Legged Autonomous Robot for Rough Terrain Navigation

PAPERS:

Session A:

ProjectSchool

The Climate Adaptation and Resilience Monitoring Alliance: New Technologies for Ecological Monitoring in a Rapidly Changing EnvironmentM. Thomas, K. Gill, A. Anderson, C. Koch, K. Pena, U. Mandavilli, C. Dwyer, N. Quirk, and T. Pachuda

CU

CU

CU

Your Orthopedic Dynamic AlignmentA. Anand, C. Bowen, M. Gutke, J. Hickman, and L. Toth

CU

Session B:

ProjectSchool

PCC

Integrated Rover–HDM–LunaSat Testing in a Lunar Regolith Analog Environment E. Herzog, J. Leites, E. Taylor, N. Starkey, S. Donthula, A. Shalev Merin

CU

Rover on The Red HorizonE. Callahan, J. Bossert, C. Auer, J. Taylor, and M. Schnese

UCCS

Use of Spine Articulation in Aerospace Robotics with Monocular SLAM Navigation M. Stembridge, D. Thornton, R. Sauzameda-Carbajal, B. Carpenter, and L. Tarpey

PCC

Session C:

ProjectSchool

2nd Eye in the SkyT. Hartzell, and A. Peruzzi

PPSC

Atmospheric Impact on Solar Cell Efficiency J. Lee, I. Thyer, G. Yannotta, M. Avdyunin, and C. Somayajula

CU

DemoSat: Team Hot AirA. Church, S. Weatherby, and N. Jacobs

PPSC

SPARC: Space Particle and Radiation CounterS. Barrionuevo, M. Olson, S. Santosh, and L. Tisher

CU

Session D:

ProjectSchool

UCCS

Space Fried Rice 2025-26: Monitoring Rice Growth in Lunar RegolithW. Taylor, G. Dreeszen, G. Perez-Soler, A. Garza, F. Champlin, S. Selph, N. Smith, M. Telford, M. Heng, and R. Axtell-Aretz

RRCC

Optimizing Buoyant Airborne Turbines for Maximum Performance in Limited SpaceC. Gagliano, K. Karges, J. Knott, O. Knott, and M. Lott

FRCC

The Efficacy of Reclaimed Water on Spinach Growth in Lunar RegolithM. Osborne, M. Angell, P. M. Matthews, and G. Hutauruk

CCA

Session E:

ProjectSchool

Balancing Motion and Biology: Payload Stabilization and Blood Integrity in Near-Space Flight SiriusR. Buffington, J. David, M. Zubrod, B. Schick, and O. Mackenzie

FRCC

FRCC

Cold Welding and Data Protection in Suborbital Flight K. Shirley, A. Zollinger, D. Baker, M. Morgan, C. Foland, E. Eastman, A. Zeller, X. Lees, A. Castaneda, S. Kennett, and Y. Mehta

RRCC / ACC

POSTERS:

Group 1:

ProjectSchool

CU

P-02: Development of a Head Impact Telemetry System for mTBI/CTE 91Ҹ - A. Silberman, T. Connelly, E. Batdorj, and R. McHale

ACC

P-03: Monitoring Dynamic Posture Changes Through Inertial Measurement Units - A. Anand, C. Bowen, M. Gutke, J. Hickman, and L. Toth

CU

P-04: Solarpunk Parasol: A Sustainable Wearable Platform for Energy Harvesting and Passive Environmental SensingM. H seeb, S. Johnston, R. King, R. Motheral, A. Nakarmi, and M. E. West

Longmont HS

Group 2:

ProjectSchool
P-05: Investigating the Dynamical Nature of Unipedal Balance - K. Villarreal, M. Semak, and A. Ferris

UNC

P-06: Two Men and a Marschine - T. Tatum, and T. Hartzell

PPSC

PCC

P-08: Dune CrawlerF. Camplin, C. Travis, L. Crossett, B. Andrie, L. Winfrey, E. DeWeese, J. Myers, R.B.T. Jenkins, F. Ridgeway, T. Micciche-Hall, N. Aguilera, N. Orndoff, and G.A.P. Soler

RRCC

Group 3:

ProjectSchool

P-09: Optimizing Buoyant Airborne Turbines for Maximum Performance in Limited SpaceC. Gagliano, J. Knott, K. Karges, M. Lott, and O. Knott

FRCC

P-10: Effect of near-space conditions on the survival rate of Juvenile and mature C.elegans - S. BC, A.C. Rodriguez, Q. Dixon, T. Fuller, L. Giardello, A. Ruiz, and B. Wisener

RU

P-11: Exploration of High-Altitude Chemistry using an Ozonesonde, Turbine, and UV-Degradable PolymersK. Dickson, M. Telford, A. Martin, J. Baldwin, D. Benson, J. Ferrell, C. Holman, H. Ozaslan, L. Coto, F. Champlin, and T. Micciche-Hall

RRCC

P-12: Stratospheric Observation of Light And Renewables J. Lee, I. Thyer, G. Yannotta, M. Ardyunin, and C. Somayajula

CU

P-13: JAKE NOT FOUNDD. Ghilia, L. Flannery, A. Jannamon, and J. Coppom

Longmont HS

Group 4:

ProjectSchool

P-14: “Martians and Moon Bugs:” Progress Report on Extracting DNA from Lunar and Martian RegolithV. Pinto, E. Vencer, R. Axtell-Aretz, M. Telford, A. Martin, A. Garza, W. Taylor, L. Albert, and T. Williams

RRCC

P-15: The Great Lunar Expedition for Everyone (GLEE): Distributed Lunar Surface ScienceD. Kroneberger, E. Levin, V. Pathi, A. Joshi, K. Stathopulos, and the GLEE team

CU

P-16: Mission SCOUT: Satellite Collision Observation & Unified TrackingL. Berger, Z. Dyre, L. Leal De Ibarra, W. Jolley, M. Pahade, R. Patel, S. Redhorse, F. Sharman, T. Suxe, and L. Ward

CU

UNC

Group 5:

ProjectSchool

P-18: Housing and Deployment Module Redesign for Distributed Lunar Sensor Deployment in the GLEE MissionP. Mertens, S. Donthula, F. Garza Cancino, M. Alperovich, G. Smith, and E. Letendre

CU

P-19: Cold Welding in Suborbital FlightM. Morgan, E. Eastman, C. Foland, K. Shirley, D. Baker, A. Zeller, X. Lees, A. Zollinger, S. Kennett, Y. Mehta, and A. Castaneda

ACC / RRCC

P-20: PULSAR: Suborbital Flight Validation of LunaSat V8 and Deployment Systems for Distributed Lunar Science MissionsL. Bassett, M. Menzies, F. Radebaugh, J. Gabbard, J. Doyle, J. Diamond, C. Preedom, and the GLEE Team

CU

Group 6:

ProjectSchool

CCA

FRCC

P-23: HARP Robotics Project - S. Garrett, D. Morales, A. Bachtiar, J. Lerch, J. Swain, O. Banks, C. Randolph, and L. Naden

CU

Group 7:

ProjectSchool

P-24: Team Hot AirA. Church, S. Weatherby, N. Jacobs

PPSC

RRCC

P-26: Balancing Motion and BiologyJ. David, O. Mackenzie, R. Buffington, M. Zubrod, and B. Schick

FRCC

P-27: Glowing TardigradesL. Albert, J. Andrews Garcia, and N. Thibodaux

RRCC

2026 Symposium Photo Gallery