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.