Southern Nazarene University

BETHANY, Okla. (July 22, 2010) – Erin Heap, a Southern Nazarene University Senior pursuing a bachelors degree in Biology, was selected to be a summer intern at Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. She is one of 6 interns working in the same lab.

Heap began her internship June 7. "I work with my mentor, Dr. Ajitkumar Mulavara Ph.D, on an NSBRI funded project, ‘Development of Countermeasures to Aid Functional Egress from the Crew Exploration Vehicle Following Long-Duration Spaceflight.’ The development of this countermeasure is aimed at enhancing sensorimotor capabilities and facilitating rapid adaptation to Earth's gravity following long-duration space flight,” she says. According to Heap she will also be designing a pilot study to determine how posture affects learning.

“There have been many highlights this summer but the best part is the entire experience of being a part of the physical research and the part I got to play was exciting and challenging because it's not like reading a textbook or taking a test, you're actually doing science with real people and real data,” says Heap.

Heap will give a presentation and write a technical paper to conclude her summer experience, which ends August 6.

SNU is an institutional affiliate of the Oklahoma NASA Space Grant Consortium. The OSGC supports endeavors throughouttheState of Oklahoma that are related to NASA’s mission. This is accomplished through a variety of methods including sponsoring internships for affiliate university students to NASA Centers and other aerospace-related institutions. For more information on OSGC, please visit http://okspacegrant.ou.edu/.

Students interested in participating in the NASA Space Grant program can contact Chris Peterson, cpeterso@snu.edu.

Southern Nazarene University's mission is to transform lives through higher education in Christ-centered community. As a Christian community of scholars, we model the hospitality of grace, the pursuit of truth and the practice of discipleship, all within the Wesleyan-holiness tradition, as we prepare graduates who THINK with clarity, ACT with integrity and SERVE with purpose.