OSLN and Ohio State hold Design Challenge finale at Battelle

Shaping the next generation of space industry professionals

By Casey Coughlin, March 5, 2025

As the need for highly skilled and motivated professionals in the space industry becomes increasingly important in Ohio and globally, workforce development initiatives that inspire and help prepare the next generation of these professionals can be highly impactful.

Battelle’s Ohio STEM Learning Network (OSLN) teamed up with the George Washington Carver Science Park at The Ohio State University for the second straight year in hosting a statewide design challenge related to Starlab, a next generation commercial space station being developed by Voyager Technologies.  The culminating event of the three month challenge, a showcase and awards event, was held Tuesday morning in Columbus at the Battelle headquarters.

“You are the next generation of astronauts that are going to go out and do great things,” said former astronaut and current NASA director for space sustainability Alvin Drew in his keynote speech that addressed the students. “Through this challenge, you are laying the foundation for yourselves, and your peers to explore low earth orbit and beyond.”

In September, 115 K-12 schools and over 30,000 students sought to answer the question, “How do we improve the sustainability of life in low-Earth orbit, such as living aboard the Starlab space station? Develop a plan, system or product to positively impact the sustainable use of materials, habitable space and/or energy. Demonstrate how these improvements could translate to more sustainable living on Earth.” (OSLN note: Schools could join the challenge throughout fall semester, up to December 2024). 

“This design challenge is about much more than competition; it’s about innovation, collaboration, and it’s about learning,” said Kelly Gaier Evans, director of the Ohio STEM Learning Network. “These students will be the future of sustainability in space and will change how we will live on Earth.”

To support the challenge, Ohio State also assembled an international network of 42 space professionals in a program called Starlab ExpertLink, wherein panels of these experts remotely assisted, encouraged and gave design feedback to student teams as they developed their solutions.

After developing their designs throughout the school year aided by their teachers and industry experts, the top 21 scoring teams from around the state converged at Battelle’s campus to share their creations and to learn of the three top awards, one at each of the K-5, 6-8 and 9-12 grade levels.

In a surprise announcement, Aaron Weaver, Deputy Chief of Space Technology Projects at NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland offered the top three teams a one-day personalized visit to Glenn in May.

“The work that these students put in, their excitement, their presentation skills were just fantastic to see…This is a great initiative, and these students are on a great path, and my hope is that they find their passion in space technology,” said Weaver.

Many of the best practices of the design challenge collaboration will be distilled into a workshop for teachers led by Ohio State Director of Workforce Development and Student Success Howard Greene. That workshop will be held June 3 at the Battelle Innovation Summit (Ohio STEM Innovation Summit) at the Columbus Convention Center.