Skye Rosario: Inspiring others to shoot for the Moon

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] - Skye Rosario can't remember exactly where or when her interest in space began.

"The truth is that for as long as I've been able to care about things, I've cared about space," said Rosario, a rising Brown University junior. "It's just so interesting to think about how there's life here on Earth but nowhere else in the solar system as far we know now, and that we're in this infinite universe that may be part of many more universes."

It was that fascination with space, combined with a Pre-College course she took at Brown during her sophomore year of high school, that eventually drew her to College Hill as an undergraduate. The course, called Dynamic Earth, explored the evolution of the planet and the solar system, which deepened her wonder at the cosmos and Earth's place in it. Rosario says she knew then that Brown was where she wanted to be.

Now, as a mechanical engineering concentrator with an emphasis in aerospace applications, Rosario is spending her summer working to make sure other young people might find the same inspiration in the cosmos that she's found.

Working with LunaSCOPE, Brown's NASA-funded lunar science research consortium, Rosario is helping to design and install a lunar science exhibit room at the Rhode Island Museum of Natural History and Planetarium. She's also helping to write and produce a show about the Moon for the museum's planetarium that will premiere in the fall.

Under the direction of Andrea Rajšić, a research scientist and deputy principal investigator with LunaSCOPE, Rosario is trying to pack as much lunar science as she can into one room - and do it in a way that captures the excitement of exploring another world. Her work has been supported by an Undergraduate Teaching and Research Award, which provides funding for Brown students collaborating with Brown faculty on projects during the summer or the academic year.