Students

The Eclipse Ballooning Project is a student-driven effort. Over the past three years, Montana State University students, under guidance from MSU faculty, have designed, constructed and implemented the high-altitude balloon system that will capture video and photos of the Aug. 21 eclipse.

Current (summer 2017) students who are on the MSU Eclipse Ballooning Project Team:

Name
Major / affiliated department
Casey Coffman
Computer Engineering
Darcy Collins
Physics - MSU Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) summer program
Trevor Gahl
Computer Engineering
Uciel Garcia
Computer Engineering
Steven Hamby
Computer Engineering
Keaton Harmon
Mechanical Engineering
Garret Hilton
Computer Engineering
Katie Lee
Physics
Carter McIver
Mechanical Engineering
Micaela Moreni
Mechanical Engineering
David Rodriguez
Physics - Bridges Program
Tristan Running Crane
Computer Engineering
David Schwehr
Computer Science
Sara Stafford
Electrical Engineering
Skylar Tamke
Computer Engineering

 

Many other students were involved with the project before graduating and leaving MSU.

Faculty advisors

Many faculty and staff at Montana State University have provided ideas, organizational infrastructure and expertise to help make the project a reality. The main faculty currently include:

Angela Des Jardins - Director of the Montana Space Grant Consortium at MSU; assistant research professor in the Department of Physics in MSU’s College of Letters and Science.

Randy Larimer - Deputy director of the Montana Space Grant Consortium; adjunct instructor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Berk Knighton - Associate research professor, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry.