NASA'S Gateways to Blue Skies Competition
2025 Competition: AgAir (Aviation Solutions for Agriculture)
Opportunities exist to improve currently deployed systems and/or implement new technologies by modernizing aviation capabilities in agriculture to increase impact, safety, and ease of access to both these enabling systems and the products/services they ensure. The 2025 Blue Skies Competition asks collegiate student teams to conceptualize aviation-related system(s) that can be applied to agriculture by 2035 or sooner with the goal of improving agriculture production, efficiency, environmental impact, and extreme weather/climate resilience.*
*Teams are encouraged to consider high-potential technologies and systems that aren’t currently mainstream or highly regarded as becoming mainstream in the future and imagine beyond applying sensors to aviation systems.
^ Photo by Federico Respini on Unsplash ^
Competition News
Announcing the 2025 Blue Skies Competition!
August 6, 2024 - The 2025 Gateways to Blue Skies Competition: AgAir (Aviation Solutions for Agriculture) is now open! Proposals should focus on ways new or improved aviation solutions could assist the agriculture industry.
2024 Blue Skies Winners Announced!
June 3, 2024 - The California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, team, with their project titled “Aero-Quake Emergency Response Network,” took first place at the third annual Gateways to Blue Skies Competition.
2024 Blue Skies Finalists Announced!
March 26, 2024 - Eight teams have been selected as finalists as part of the 2024 Gateways to Blue Skies Competition. Teams will present their design concepts to a panel of NASA & industry judges at a forum this May at NASA Ames.
GATEWAYS TO BLUE SKIES
Competition Overview
Blue Skies expands engagement between universities and NASA’s University Innovation Project, industry, and government partners by providing an opportunity for multidisciplinary teams of students from all academic levels (i.e., freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, and graduate) and majors to tackle significant challenges and opportunities for the aviation industry through a new project theme each year. The competition is guided by a push toward new technologies as well as environmentally and socially conscious aviation.
Initial participation involves a conceptual study, submission of a 5-7 page proposal and creation of a video summarizing the team’s proposal. Finalist teams (up to 8) write a final research paper, create an infographic summarizing concepts, and present in front of NASA and industry experts at a culminating forum held at a NASA Center at the end of May or early June. Internship opportunities with NASA’s ARMD serve as the competition prize for members of the winning team.
The Gateways to Blue Skies competition is open to full-time or part-time undergraduate and graduate students at an accredited U.S.-based community college, college, or university. Teams may include senior capstone students, clubs, multi-university teams, and/or multidisciplinary teams. Multidisciplinary teams and teams from Minority Serving Institutions are highly encouraged to apply!
UNIVERSITY TEAMS MUST INCLUDE:
- At a minimum, teams must contain one faculty advisor with a college/university affiliation at a lead U.S.-based institution, and 2 U.S. citizen (or lawful permanent resident) students from that lead U.S.-based university who work on the project and present at the culminating Blue Skies Forum.
- Team size is limited to a maximum of 6 student team members.
- A faculty advisor is encouraged to attend the Forum with each team.
SPECIAL ELIGIBILITY CONSIDERATIONS:
- An individual may join more than one team. A faculty advisor may advise more than one team.
- A university may submit more than one proposal.
- Team members may not be a federal employee acting within the scope of employment (this includes co-op students with civil servant status)
- The expectation is that Blue Skies projects are student-led initiatives (i.e., students are doing the work).
- Faculty take on the role as mentors, and if a team is selected as a finalist, help manage any monetary awards sent to the university.
- The expectation is that Blue Skies projects originate in the academic environment, versus from a business or professional endeavor.
SPECIAL NOTES REGARDING FOREIGN NATIONALS:
- Foreign Nationals (FNs) attending the proposing U.S.-based university can participate on a Blue Skies Competition Team, with notable exclusions. Due to NASA security restrictions and policies, FNs will not be able to attend culminating Blue Skies Forum events that take place on-site at a NASA Center (including tours).
- FNs are ineligible for the internship prize. There will be no exceptions to this policy.
- FNs can, however, participate in any portions of the culminating Blue Skies Forum that take place off-Center. Note that Blue Skies Competition forums typically take place at a NASA Center with limited activities off-Center.
FOREIGN UNIVERSITIES: INELIGIBLE
- Eligibility is limited to universities in the United States. Foreign universities are not eligible to participate in the Blue Skies Competition.
Up to 8 finalist teams will be selected to present their 2025 Blue Skies concepts at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in May 2025. Each team will be awarded $8,000 to fund each team’s full forum participation. NOTE: Blue Skies funding may not be used to directly support travel or stipends for federal employees acting within the scope of employment (including co-op students with civil servant status). Awards will be issued following the selection of finalist teams in April 2025.
NASA ARMD is setting aside up to 6 internships for students on teams that advance to the Blue Skies Forum, with first opportunities being presented to members of the winning team. Internships must be taken within the academic year following the Forum.
Selections will be made first to students on the winning team(s) and will be based on the cumulative merit of each student’s individual internship application and availability for fall, spring, or summer internships.
Fall: Late August/early September to mid-December (16 weeks) Spring: Mid-January to early May (16 weeks) Summer: Late-May/early June to August (10 weeks)
ADDITIONAL ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTSNASA internships* have additional eligibility requirements:
- U.S. Citizenship
- Cumulative 3.0 GPA (on a 4.0 scale)
- Undergrad and graduate students must be enrolled full-time in a degree-granting program at an accredited college or university.
- Applicants transitioning between undergraduate and graduate pursuits are eligible IF they have graduated within 6 months.
- *Read full eligibility requirements at the link above.
Mina Cappuccio
Dr. Shanna McClain
Phil Kenul
Starr Ginn
Dr. Marcus Johnson
Jay Stalnacker
Charles Sheehe
Travis Potter
Amy McCluskey
Peggy Cornell
Susan Bayley
Matthew Boucher
Dr. Natasha Neogi
Craig Nickol
Janice Kurbjun Miller
Koushik Datta
Genevieve Ebarle
Shelley Spears
Stacy Dees
Andrew Provenza
Steven Holz
Mani Gavvalapalli
Devin Pugh-Thomas
Jeanne Yu