OBC Development of the UVA Hypersonic ReEntry Deployable Glider Experiment; HEDGE: Admiring the Relationship Between NSF Funding and College Social Science Programs

Aerospace engineering research can be extremely expensive to conduct at the undergraduate level. Especially in the realm of hypersonic testing, the majority of research is conducted at the graduate level, or for private institutions due to the high barrier of entry. The UVA HEDGE program offers an alternative, cheaper, way to conduct hypersonic testing at the undergraduate level by utilizing the cubesat network. The technical portion of this thesis outlines the creation and maintenance of the UVA HEDGE vehicle, specifically noting the work done for the on board computer. The remaining portions of the thesis serve to investigate the current state of university research, and how interactions with the NSF have altered the educational landscape. Specifically, the thesis examines the relationship between NSF funding and the social sciences at the collegate level. By examining specific instances of universities interacting with the NSF over the past seventy years, such as the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, and admiring both NSF and university released data, overall trends of research funding and department enrollment are able to be linked. In doing so, a basis for understanding the complex network of research funding in the United States can be solidified and built off of in the future.

School of Engineering and Applied Science

Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science

Technical Advisors: Chloe Dedic, Yixin Sun

STS Advisor: William Stafford

Technical Team Members: Amy Paz-Cuervo, Brandol Galicia, Morgan Myers, Timothee Kambouris