CAMPUS FEATURE
FROM CAMPUS TO COSMOS Embry-Riddle’s Role in NASA’s Electric Field Discovery
Anchored in Excellence
At Embry-Riddle’s Daytona Beach Campus, the student-run Sailing Club introduces students to the thrill of sailing. With 18 sailboats and about 24 active members, the club creates camaraderie, teaches sailing skills and offers a perfect balance of outdoor adventure and academic life. For students, it’s more than just a club, it’s a supportive community. This year, three Eagles — Timothy Dolan (’25), Zechariah Frantz (’25) and Paige Arneson (’25) — were named to the prestigious Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association’s All-Academic Team, marking a record achievement for the university. Dolan, an Aerospace Engineering student and club president, credits the Sailing Club for his newfound passion, while Frantz, the co-ed team captain, emphasized the camaraderie that fuels their success. Arneson, a Homeland Security and Intelligence student, found sailing to be the perfect stress reliever. Among 290 honorees, the trio represents the highest number of Eagles ever recognized, standing alongside students from Harvard and the U.S. Naval Academy. Their achievement highlights Embry-Riddle’s unique blend of academic and extracurricular excellence.
NASA/Conceptual Image Lab
A student research team from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Engineering Physics program, working in the university’s Space and Atmospheric Instrumentation Lab (SAIL), collaborated with researchers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) to confirm a significant scientific achievement: the successful measurement of a planet-wide electric field known as the “ambipolar electric field.” Using data collected from NASA’s Endurance mission, launched on May 11, 2022, the student-led SAIL team played a key role in analyzing and validating the findings. The ambipolar electric field above the Earth’s poles, a key driver of the polar wind, pushes a stream of charged particles from the atmosphere into space. The observed polar wind was mysterious, involving supersonic particles traveling without signs of heating. Scientists suspected that an undetected electric field was responsible for this phenomenon. When the Endurance mission launched, it reached an altitude of 477.23 miles before splashing down in the Greenland Sea. During its journey, it measured an electric potential change of just 0.55 volts over 322 miles, a subtle signal captured with the precision of the SAIL-built Sweeping Langmuir Probe.
“A half a volt is almost nothing — it’s only about as strong as a watch battery,” said Glyn Collinson, the principal investigator of Endurance at NASA Goddard. “But that’s just the right amount to explain the polar wind.” Embry-Riddle students, along with teams from other schools, were directly involved in building the instruments and analyzing the data. “There were teams from many countries including Germany, Italy, the UK and Norway, so it was pretty awesome to meet these researchers from around the world and learn about their research,” said Nathan Graves (’20, ’25), who earned his B.S. in Engineering Physics at Embry-Riddle and is now pursuing his Ph.D. in the same field. The discovery underscores how student- driven research can fuel real-world innovation and scientific progress.
DID YOU KNOW?
Polar wind: A wind created by cold air sinking at the pole then speeding along the ice surface towards the edge of the polar cap.
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