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Welcome to a daily drop from That Black Chemist!

NASA is calling on college students nationwide to shape the future of space exploration through the NASA SUITS Challenge. Teams will design next-gen user interfaces for astronauts’ spacesuits—tools essential for Artemis missions to the Moon and, eventually, Mars. With proposals due this fall, students have a chance to directly impact how future crews explore other worlds.

Meanwhile, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has awarded over $3.3 million across 13 states to tackle the cybersecurity workforce shortage. With more than 514,000 open jobs in the U.S., these initiatives will build local alliances, create training programs, and provide hands-on learning opportunities to prepare the next generation of cyber defenders.

Thanks for tuning in for another exciting week of posts from That Black Chemist!

Upcoming Opportunities

🌌 NASA SUITS Design Challenge

NASA’s Spacesuit User Interface Technologies for Students (SUITS) invites college teams nationwide to design next-generation user interface solutions for Artemis astronauts. Participants help shape how explorers will navigate, communicate, and conduct science on the Moon and Mars. Selected teams will test their designs at Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX, working alongside NASA engineers to revolutionize the spaceflight experience.

📅 Program Details

• Proposal Deadline: October 30, 2025

• Program Dates: Academic Year 2025–2026

• Location: Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX

• Format: Team-based design challenge, with testing at NASA facilities

• Register Here: [Website]

✅ Eligibility

• Open to U.S. college and university students

• Multidisciplinary teams encouraged (engineering, computer science, design, etc.)

⚠️ 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)

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Scientist’s Scroll

🛡️ NIST Invests $3.3M in Cybersecurity Workforce

To tackle the U.S. shortage of cybersecurity professionals, NIST has awarded 17 cooperative agreements to organizations across 13 states. Each award, about $200,000, supports Regional Alliances and Multistakeholder Partnerships to Stimulate (RAMPS) projects.

These initiatives will align local workforce needs with the NICE Workforce Framework for Cybersecurity, focusing on education, training, and hands-on experiences such as internships, apprenticeships, boot camps, and hackathons.

With these new awards, there are now 47 RAMPS communities in 25 states, bringing together schools, nonprofits, and industry to build a pipeline of skilled cybersecurity talent for the nation’s economy and digital infrastructure.

🔗 Read the full article here —>

Let Me Help You!

How an Ivy League Scientist Organizes His Schedule

As a former PhD chemist with a 3.8 GPA, intellect and hard work aren’t enough to stay on top of current deadlines—you need a system in place to anticipate future assignments and deadlines.

That’s why I’ve released a downloadable template of my academic schedule I used to stay on top of my courses each semester and score top of my class repeatedly in courses like Organic Chemistry, Classical Mechanics, and Calculus 3!

For a small cost of $2—less than your daily coffee—you can access an academic tool that’ll flip your 3.0 to a 4.0 and save you tens of hours in missed assignments and poor exam grades.

Click Here to Access My Superstar Schedule!

Click Here to Access My 4.0 STEM Guide!

Confused About Class? Click Here to Book a Tutoring Session with Me!

Tip of the Day

✅ Work Smarter, Not Just Harder

Not all tasks move you closer to your goals—some just keep you busy. Here’s how to tell the difference and maximize your impact:

• Busy Work = Motion Without Progress: Endless emails, unneeded meetings, or low-value checklists may look productive but don’t create real results.

• Meaningful Work = High-Impact Actions: Projects that advance your skills, move deadlines forward, or directly support long-term goals.

• Ask: “Does this matter?”: Before diving in, check if the task contributes to outcomes that actually matter. If not, deprioritize.

• Batch & Automate: Group small tasks together or find tools to handle them so your time goes to work that counts.

⚖️ Focus on outcomes over output because true efficiency comes from spending time where it makes the biggest difference.

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Today’s Theme: Fact or Fiction Friday

Congratulations on making it through the work week! Ready to test your science savvy?

👇🏾 Vote if you think the statement below is fact or fiction and tell us why in the comments!

Statement: Gregor Mendel was the first geneticist that experimented with pea pods.

Imagine Solving HW Problems 10x Quicker

From my experience studying PhD quantum mechanics, I learned that Chat GPT is not enough for me to independently study STEM subjects like biology, chemistry, physics, and math because:

• Chat GPT 5.0 (newest version) limits your free daily conversations.

• The website/app routinely shuts down due to maintenance or high traffic.

• Chat GPT fails to derive or calculate long proofs in math-heavy problems consistently.

That’s why my successful followers and I switched over to 24houranswer’s Homework Library! 

• The Homework Library provides lifetime access to over 37k+ pages (and growing) of assignments, lab reports, summaries, projects, and syntax in all major college STEM subjects.

Rather than paying $40/hr for one tutoring session or $20/month for Chat GPT 5.0+, maximize your time, savings, and learning by purchasing the Homework Library here at $59 (50% discount) for lifetime access!

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📔 Still Confused About Class? Click Here to Book a Tutoring Session with Me!

📩 Share this post with a friend and let me know via email ([email protected]) to get 50% off on your tutoring session, call, or premium content purchase!

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