From a young age, many are fascinated with the concept of space travel. And Maria del Mar Moreno, a senior computer engineering major from Mexico, is no different. She recently led a team of fellow students in a successful NASA design challenge with a project focused on helping space travelers get a good night sleep. The team brought home several awards — including recognition as the Top Design Team — for their entry on an intelligent lighting system that maintains healthy lighting and regulates the circadian rhythms of users.

Materials Science and Engineering Ph.D. candidate Jessica Rimsza works alongside Dr. Jincheng Du, associate professor of materials science and engineering, researching the reaction mechanisms of water with glass and amorphous materials using computer simulations. Jessica, who previously received the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, earned the 2015 Graduate Excellence in Materials Science Award in Diamond Ranking from the American Ceramic Society, alongside students from John Hopkins University, Pennsylvania State University and Purdue University. The award recognizes up to 10 graduate students nationwide with outstanding achievements in materials science and engineering.

UNT's Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science is known for turning out innovative scientists, engineers and medical professionals. This year's crop of students is no different. Colleen Dai, Shoshana Zhang and Amber Lu (from left) each earned a spot as a regional finalist in the 2015 Siemens Competition for their innovative research efforts. From using matrices to model hypergraphs to breakthroughs in computational and organic chemistry research, this trio of high school-aged students will certainly go far in their studies and careers.