Department of Biology

Dean Kiss receives a NASA Honors Award

Posted on October 10, 2019

John Z. Kiss received a NASA Honor Award under the Group Achievement Award category.  This prestigious NASA certificate is awarded to any combination of Government and/or non-Government individuals for an outstanding group accomplishment that has contributed substantially to NASA’s mission.  For a description of the award, see: https://nasapeople.nasa.gov/awards/nasamedals.htm

The award is specifically for: “outstanding contributions to enabling exploration, collaborating with ESA, to complete a series of three plant biology payloads on the ISS.”  It is for our work on the NASA/ESA Seedling Growth Project.  For a description of Seedling Growth-3, see https://www.nasa.gov/ames/research/space-biosciences/seedling-growth-3.

The Seedling Growth (SG) series of plant biology experiments on the ISS was a joint international project between NASA and ESA (2011-2019).  Using the European Modular Cultivation System (EMCS), this international scientific team studied plant growth and development at fractional or reduced gravity levels found on the Moon or Mars. Improving the knowledge base of basic processes of plant biology is important as techniques are developed to use plants in bioregenerative life support systems for future manned missions.