This year, three undergraduate research assistants with ESI were recognized with research awards and internships: Kaylin Burrell, Alex Esposito, and Natalie McCourt. UMBC physics undergraduates Burrell and Esposito won Undergraduate Research Awards (URAs) for the 2026-2027 academic year. Sponsored by the UMBC Division of Undergraduate Academic Affairs, the URAs are solicited annually as a medium for motivated undergraduates to participate in research under the supervision of UMBC faculty. UMBC computer science undergraduate McCourt won a competitive NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) internship for summer 2026.
Burrell, under ESI scientist Dr. Brent McBride, will characterize an open-source, handheld remote sensor called the STELLA Q2, for the purpose of knowledge building in remote sensing and expanding citizen science initiatives relative to NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission. Created by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), the STELLA (the Sustainable Technology for Land and Life Assessment) program is designed for middle and high school students to engage with the vegetation science of the LandSat mission. However, these remote sensors also have high compatibility with aerosol, cloud, and ocean measurements from PACE. In her project “Advancing STELLA into a Research-Grade Instrument for Outreach and Remote Sensing with UMBC in Support of NASA’s PACE Science Goals,” Burrell will adapt and calibrate the STELLA Q2 sensor for closer alignment with PACE and will collaborate with ESI and NASA faculty throughout the year.
Esposito, under physics professor and ESI director Dr. J. Vanderlei Martins, will develop a laser tomography system as part of his URA. Martins and ESI faculty have transformed one of the ESI research labs into a cloud chamber, where cloud droplets and ice particles can be generated, controlled, and studied against different variables like temperature, pressure, supersaturation, and convection. Tomography, a technique common in medical fields to see into solid volumes without incisions (i.e., MRI), is gaining in popularity in cloud physics to study droplet growth properties inside the cloud. In his project titled “Cloud Chamber Laser Tomography System,” Esposito will build the instrument to probe simulated clouds in this way and grow ESI’s in-situ capabilities.
McCourt, who won the National Science Foundation (NSF) REU internship, will study ocean fertilization by aerosols using data from NASA’s PACE mission, under the supervision of Drs. Ivona Cetinic and Andrew Sayer (GESTAR II/GSFC). McCourt is part of a cohort of 12 students participating in UMBC’s NSF EXPeriments in Earth and Atmospheric Science (EXPLORE) REU program. Prior to this internship, McCourt led efforts to characterize various Earth surfaces using the multi-angle and polarized measurements of PACE HARP2, under the supervision of ESI's Dr. Brent McBride. This work led to McCourt’s first-author paper, which was published in SPIE in June.
Congratulations to our undergraduate researchers!
Photo: UMBC physics undergraduate Kaylin Burrell measures the irradiance of the Homecoming bonfire scar on the Erickson Field with the STELLA Q2 sensor. (Credit: B. McBride/ESI)Photo: UMBC physics undergraduate Alex Esposito presents research results related to ESI’s cloud chamber at UMBC’s URCAD conference in April 2026. (Credit: B. McBride/ESI)
Photo: UMBC computer science undergraduate Natalie McCourt presents research results related to multi-angle and polarized signals measured by HARP2 over various Earth surfaces at UMBC’s URCAD conference in April 2026. (Credit: B. McBride/ESI)