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NASA’s Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC) is back, challenging students to design, build, and race human-powered rovers across simulated extraterrestrial terrain. With creativity, engineering, and teamwork at the core, HERC inspires the next generation of explorers who may one day help humanity reach Mars.

In 2024, the U.S. invested over $30 billion in Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs). These labs are pushing the boundaries in energy, computing, and health, underscoring the government’s role in shaping America’s research future.

And finally, let’s revisit Einstein’s thought experiments that reshaped physics. From free-falling elevators to rockets in deep space, his playful imagination turned gravity into the curvature of spacetime—a leap that still guides our understanding of black holes and the expanding universe today.

Upcoming Opportunities

🚀 Take on NASA’s Human Exploration Rover Challenge

The Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC) invites student teams worldwide to design and build human-powered or remote-controlled rovers capable of navigating simulated lunar terrain while completing mission tasks. Over nine months, participants engage in hands-on engineering, work through NASA-style design reviews, and present their final rover at an exciting competition in Huntsville, Alabama. The challenge mirrors NASA’s own engineering design lifecycle, preparing students for future STEM careers through mentorship and real-world problem solving.

📅 Program Details

• Event Dates: April 9–11, 2026

• Location: U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Huntsville, AL

• Duration: 9-month design and build cycle

• Apply Here: [Website]

✅ Eligibility

• Open to U.S. and international middle school, high school, college, and university teams

• Includes informal education institutions serving grades 6–12

• Teams must pass design and readiness reviews to compete at the final event

⚠️ Bonus Opportunities You Should Know

• 🧪 NSF REU Summer Research Programs: List of funded undergrad research programs. (Search here)

• 🎓 Zintellect: List of scholarships, research fellowships, and internship opportunities funded by the U.S. government or private sector. (Search here)

• 💰 NASA OSTEM Internships: List of NASA Internships for high school and undergraduate STEM students. (More info)

• 🪖 Department of Defense (DoD) SMART Scholarship: $30,000-$46,000 scholarship awarded to top STEM students. (Link)

🌍 International Opportunities

• 🧲 Pathways to Science: List of upcoming internships, scholarships, and research programs hosted by any country [open to international students]. (Search here)

• 🔬 Amgen Scholars Program: Prestigious summer research program for undergraduate students in the U.S., Europe, or Asia. (More info)

• ⚛️ European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN): Search for any upcoming internships related to chemistry, physics, engineering, or data science! (Link here)

• 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Intrax Global Internships: STEM-focused internship program for international students hosted by the U.S. Department of State. (More info)

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Scientist’s Scroll

📊 R&D Spending at FFRDCs Surpasses $31 Billion in 2024

Federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs) reported $31.7 billion in R&D expenditures in FY 2024, a $2.4 billion increase from FY 2023. Much of this growth came from the Idaho National Laboratory’s revised reporting methods, which alone added nearly $1 billion to its totals.

Federal funding accounted for 98.5% of all expenditures, with the Department of Energy (57.3%), Department of Defense (21.1%), NASA (9.6%), and Health and Human Services (4.0%) providing the majority. The largest performers included Sandia National Laboratories ($4.6B), Los Alamos National Laboratory ($4.0B), and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory ($2.6B).

Overall, R&D spending at FFRDCs has grown steadily from $17.7 billion in 2014 to $31.7 billion in 2024, averaging 3.3% annual growth in constant dollars—reflecting their critical role in advancing national research priorities.

🔗 Read the full article here —>

Tip of the Day

🔗 Network Smarter: Use LinkedIn’s 1st, 2nd, 3rd Connection Feature

That little “1st, 2nd, 3rd” label next to someone’s name isn’t just decoration—it’s your roadmap to smarter networking. Here’s how to make it work for you:

• ✨ 1st = Direct Access: These are your current connections. You can message them freely, ask questions, and build stronger relationships.

• ✨ 2nd = Warm Introductions: You share a mutual connection. Instead of cold-messaging, ask your shared contact for an intro because people are far more likely to respond when trust is borrowed.

• ✨ 3rd = Target Mapping: These are outside your extended circle, but they show you which industries, companies, or groups you should join to expand your reach strategically.

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Today’s Theme: Throwback Thursday

🌌 Einstein’s Leap: Thought Experiments That Shaped Relativity

In the early 1900s, Albert Einstein reimagined gravity not as a mysterious force but as a feature of space and time itself. His journey began with the equivalence of inertial and gravitational mass—the insight that free fall feels like weightlessness. From there, he imagined rockets accelerating in space, realizing that gravity and acceleration are indistinguishable.

The final leap came when he explored rotating systems, discovering that extreme motion warped geometry itself. After years of refinement, these insights crystallized into general relativity, the theory that gravity is the curvature of spacetime.

More than a century later, Einstein’s thought experiments remain a masterclass in creativity, reshaping physics and still guiding our exploration of black holes, cosmic expansion, and the universe itself.

🔗 Read the full article here —>

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