REU OMPS 2012
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Derek Morris Jr. s
 
 
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Analyzing Long-Term Drought Effects on Land Surface Temperature and Vegetation Using National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration Satellite's Data

Summer 2016

URL:http://nia.ecsu.edu/reuomps2016/teams/terascan/

Team Members: Cornelius Holness, Derek Morris, Daquan Rascoe,

Mentor:Andrew Brumfield

Analyzing the effects of Drought in the Northeastern North Carolina area with NOAA satellite products to determine a correlation between Land Surface Temperature and Vegetation. The Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) data sets for summer 2002 -2013, provided by the State Climate Office of North Carolina NC CRONOS database, provided evidence that since 2007 the northern coastal plain of North Carolina has been experiencing a long-term summer drought. Summer is defined as the months between late June to late September.

Utilizing Elizabeth City State University's (ECSU) 1.5m L-band SeaSpace ground station the team received live Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) imagery from NOAA polar orbiting satellites each day for the month of June. The primary goal of this research was to observe the correlation between land surface temperature (LST) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) due to long-term drought using NOAA satellite data. In the month of June 2016, the team collected imagery data through the SeaSpace© TeraScan® system and produced LST and NDVI. Various GPS locations were selected in Northeastern North Carolina of different biomes such as swamp lands, grasslands, and farmlands. The team collected and utilized data in the areas of Camden County, Gates County, Pasquotank County, and Perquimans County. Using the SeaSpace Graphical User Interface (GUI) Teravision®, The data points of each product at the various biome locations were analyzed for daily and weekly averages.

Using the GPS locations found in United States Geological Survey (USGS) of the swamps lands, grasslands, and farmlands were entered and saved as survey points in TeraVision's GUI. All of the passes in the month of June that were received and processed into LST and NDVI products at the direct broadcast ground station at ECSU were loaded into TeraVision. The values were then extracted from each of the points and evaluated by their biome specific location for LST and NDVI. With Excel the team conducted analysis for daily trends, regional trends, biome trends, and weekly trends.

Research Experience for Undergraduates at Elizabeth City State University in Elizabeth City, North Carolina
Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets in Ocean, Marine, and Polar Science
2016

Team Members: Steffi Walthall (SCAD), Derek Morris (ECSU)

Mentor: Dr. Darnell Johnson

Link: http://nia.ecsu.edu/pimers/msp/msp2016/

The PiMERS Middle School Program

Pathways in Mathematics Education and Remote Sensing (PiMERS) Middle School Program
Pathways in Mathematics Education and Remote Sensing (PiMERS) represents a joint effort between Elizabeth City State University (ECSU) and NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC). In addition The Association of Computer and Information Science/Engineering Departments at Minority Institutions (ADMI) representing 54 MSIs will support this contribution to the NASA national efforts for achieving excellence in STEM education. PiMERS is a two-year project, which contributes to the effective implementation of NASA's educational goals and objectives using NASA's unique assets and capabilities in Mathematics Education and Remote Sensing. In addition PiMERS will provide the opportunity to include the areas of computational chemistry and aviation, through the PiMERS Advisory Board, future strategy sessions and NASA LaRC research seminars.

The 2017 PiMERS Middle School program was initiated on June 13, 2017 by Dr. Linda Hayden. The program was set to run for two weeks for six hours. The students involved in the PiMERS program were chosen beforehand from the surrounding middle schools in the Elizabeth City/Camden area. The students were within the 11-13 age range and were either rising 7th or 8th graders. Teachers from the middle schools were asked to select the most qualified minority students for this program from their classes based on the criteria of overall academic standing, student awards, and pre-established interest in STEM fields. Of over twenty applicants to the program only eleven student-researchers were chosen.


 

NASA Langley Research Center Student Volunteer Research Summer Experience

Summer 2015

Mentor: Dr. Gamaliel "Dan" Cherry, NASA Langley

Abstract

My name is Derek Morris Jr. I am a student at Elizabeth City State University, in Elizabeth City, NC. This upcoming year I will be a senior majoring in Computer Science minor in Mathematics. This summer I was a student volunteer at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA Langley) in the Studio Production. In this internship, I had the opportunity to work with Dr. Gamaliel "Dan" Cherry Glenn, Sweat, and Katrina Young. The projects I took part in were equipment's and schematic, and YOUth Day. There was also training in the workshop Rockets to Race Cars.

One of my projects was to install equipment racks in a new building. The purpose of the racks was to keep the electronic equipment from overheating. The equipment track was meant for a new tri-caster system purchased by Dr. Cherry. The tri-caster is designed to put any background you want when you in a video conference as long as you have a green wall behind you. The tri-caster serves as a recorder and video switching unit.

The next step was to run cabling through the floors. Before the cables were run, the length of the room had to be measured in order to assure that slack would be available. The cable was run through the floor because it was much cleaner and would not pose a tripping hazard.

The next part of the project I worked on was the talk back system. The talk back system is used as a communication link between the control room and the announcer. This allows them to communicate with each other to work out sound issues and the view of the cameras. The system was inoperative when we began. We found that one of the wires had a low signal. It was repaired by removing a portion of the wire reducing the distance that the signal had to travel.

After the completion of the talk back, I then started to work on the schematic for studio B. This schematic was a wiring design for the room showing connections between the equipment. For example: The tri-caster is going into the computer and out a monitor.

The next project was YOUth Day. This is a day that NASA employees bring their youth to the base and spend a day touring and getting an opportunity to participate in activities' on the base with other youth. Part of the project was to get word out through the Langley Research Center (LaRC) advertisements. This is a place to put out information about what is happening, when and where. This was how we gave out information to let the staff and students know how to volunteer their time with tour hosts, information booths, and as greeters/hosts. YOUth Day is a way to inform the youth about NASA. They then pass on what they have learned to others during the school year.

I also had the opportunity to work with some preparation in Rockets to Race. Rockets to Race helps the understanding of the art of science with racing, through taking part in in exercises to help students to pick up a better comprehension of the powers of flight and movement, and figure out how these powers lift planes into the air, and hold racecars tight to the track at astonishing velocities. This was all being done by working with NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson.

An activity that was done in training was Drag Race to Mars Engineering Design Challenge. The purpose of this challenge is to design a capsule to land on Mars, just as NASA engineers have. As the capsule rushes through the atmosphere, it is speeding towards the surface, headed for a crash landing. Students need to use the drag of the atmosphere to slow the capsule down. Using the materials described, they design an apparatus that will create enough drag to allow the capsule to have a soft landing on the surface.

This internship has shown that there your major can be used in a lot of different ways. NASA has proven to me that you will have to be a well-rounded person to work there. This internship will give all majors a better understanding about what they want to do with their future.

Elizabeth City State University Undergrade Research Eperience

Update of the CERSER TeraScan Cateloguing System TeraScan Image Processing Scripts

Mentor: Mr. Jeffery Wood, ECSU

Abstract

The Center of Excellence in Remote Sensing Education and Research (CERSER) on the campus of Elizabeth City State University is currently tasked with the responsibility of receiving remotely sensed data from orbiting National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Polar Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) and the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES). This data is collected by SeaSpace TeraScan systems installed in the CERSER labs in Dixon-Patterson Hall.

In 2005, the processing system underwent a major update due to a migration to a new operating system. A minor update was needed at this time to deal with a second operating system migration and display of the processed images on the CERSER web site. Since then, a second transfer to a new server was made in 2013. The cataloguing system went down at this time and was not repaired due to technical issues with the TeraScan system. The 2014 team corrected issues within the current server directory system and updated the data script to process images from the GOES-13 satellite received by the TeraScan system. Software and languages utilized for this task included ImageMagick, PHP, HTML, Dreamweaver, phpMyAdmin, and MySQL.

Along with this operating system update, a major script development was needed on the TeraScan processing equipment due to an upgrade in hardware. The ground station upgrades included a 3.7m X/L band, a 3.6m C band, and a 5.0m L band dishes, along with accompanying computing hardware. This new script processes both infrared and visible light images received from the GOES-13 satellite into the Tagged Image File (TIFF) Format

Keywords- GOES, TeraScan, ImageMagick, Macintosh OSX, MySQL, PHP, Remote Sensing

http://nia.ecsu.edu/ur/1314/teams/mmt/index.html

Research Experience for Undergraduates at Elizabeth City State University in Elizabeth City, North Carolina Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets in Ocean, Marine, and Polar Science 2012

Mentor: Mr. J'amie Powell, ECSU

Abstract
On February 7, 2012 a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between Elizabeth City State University (ECSU) and Seaspace Corporation. The memorandum lead to the proposed installation of three direct-broadcast satellite receiving ground stations and a training site at ECSU. The receiving stations included a 3.6m X/L band system, a 3.7m C band system, and a 5.0m L band system. The MOU defined that once the installation of the various systems completed, ECSU would in turn provide an east-coast training and data center for Seaspace products. The purpose of this project was to document the installation requirements and internal processes at ECSU for the ground stations, as well as; generate a report of training site physical requirements. Aspects of the MOU including ECSU policy requirements, location engineering findings, location installation requirements, ground station capabilities, and training center needs are addressed.

http://nia.ecsu.edu/ur/1213/teams/seaspace/index.html

Programming the Cloud: From Zero to Hundred for Non-Programmers

Indiana University - Research Experience for Undergraduates

Mentor: Dr. Gregor van Laskewski

Summer 2013

Abstract
This project will be demonstrating that it is possible to use and program a cloud within seven weeks, even though the student has no prior research and programming experience. The student will be faced with identifying what a cloud is as an abstract concept. The student will be exposed to an absolute minimum level in programming needed to program the cloud. Small programming exercises and lessons will be given to not only learn abstractly about the cloud, but will allow the student to experience using the cloud in a production setting. We will demonstrate that the student at the end of this period will be capable of using hundreds of virtual machines and controlling them from a program.

PowerPoint Presentation (PDF)