Second-year graduate student Andrea Hoe grew up designing and building projects with her father in their backyard. She also loved spending time with her family surveying the night sky. As a young child, she wanted to be an astronaut. So, it’s no wonder that the young woman, who is passionate about her aerospace engineering research, recently earned one of 60 National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) awards presented to university students across the United States this year.
When she first started thinking about a career in design while in high school, her father suggested space architecture—a field that combines her love of both science and design—“and it clicked,” she says. Those interests brought her first to the University’s School of Architecture, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture in 2023.
Doctoral student Andrea Hoe examines one of several compressed regolith cylinders she is testing.
Now, Hoe is a graduate research assistant in Assistant Professor Yeqing Wang’s Composite Materials Lab in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. (ECS). She first contacted Wang in spring 2022 regarding her interest in research on lunar regolith, the dry, loose soil found on the Moon. Wang encouraged her to apply for an undergraduate research grant from the Syracuse Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Engagement (SOURCE). She was awarded a grant, and, with Wang as her sponsor, began working in his lab that summer.
After Hoe completed her undergraduate degree, Wang encouraged her to pursue graduate studies at ECS, starting as a master’s student in the mechanical and aerospace engineering program. That allowed her to continue her work on lunar regolith composites.
Based on her excellent academic record and outstanding research experience, Wang says, he offered her a graduate research assistant position, a role that covers tuition, living expenses and insurance. The position was co-sponsored by Jensen Zhang, executive director of the Syracuse Center of Excellence and professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. In addition to researching lunar regolith composites, Hoe has collaborated with Zhang and Wang on developing metal-organic-framework materials and devices for air purification applications. In fall 2023, Wang encouraged Hoe to apply to pursue a doctoral degree.
The NASA award was presented for Hoe’s proposal, “Lunar Regolith Composites with Carbon Nanotubes for Space Habitation Applications,” with Wang serving as principal investigator. The recognition provides her with a prestigious designation as a NASA Space Technology graduate research fellow, Wang says.
In her research, Hoe uses urea and carbon nanotube additives and integrates them into the lunar regolith material with an acidic solution, then compresses the composite cylinder that forms from the substances to test how varied compositions affect its strength. The lunar regolith and urea can be sourced on site in space, a factor that significantly reduces the payload required to transport the materials from Earth to space.
Soon, Hoe will add experiments that examine the impact of lunar freeze/thaw cycles on the composite and test mechanical strength to gauge fabrication ability. Ultimately, she wants to identify an optimum formulation of the composite that is sufficiently strong and remotely mixable so it can be extruded from 3D printers to form lunar habitats. NASA believes the technology will permit structures to be built in outer space for use by humans on the moon and Mars, Hoe says, and its Marshall Space Flight Center is conducting regolith research for that purpose. She also believes the push for space exploration now being made by several companies will create a need for the habitats.
Regolith material, like what is found on the Moon, is used in Yeqing Wang’s Composite Materials lab.
Hoe has already sketched some designs for those space pods, envisioning small, connected, 3D-printed modules. Her ideas are partially inspired by biomimicry and her work with School of Architecture Assistant Professor Nina Wilson. Biomimicry design takes its cues from nature, such as the way ants or bees build colonies.
Hoe believes her dual perspectives and the expertise she is developing will be particularly appealing to employers in the future. “We see the architecture aspect, the engineering aspect and the commercialization aspect to space structures. What we don’t commonly see right now is an architect who also has an engineering degree. That’s where I hope to fit in and meet the industry—between the architectural side that considers design for human comfort and the engineering side that incorporates the practicality of how to fabricate the structures. I am hoping that by the time I’ve completed my doctorate there will be more opportunities for space architects, and NASA is definitely where I want to be,” she says.
Wang says the NASA award “provides an exciting opportunity to collaborate closely with our NASA partners on researching composite material systems for space habitation. It also acknowledges our talented graduate student for her pioneering research in lunar regolith composites and allows her to continue pursuing her dream of materials research for space habitation.”
Hoe prepares to test a compressed regolith cylinder to assess the strength of the material.
The student researcher has a history of out-of-the-box pursuits and believes that motivation and persistence can pay off. She is accustomed to others thinking that her goals may be unattainable, but most people have a positive reaction to her research, she says.
And though she began regolith design and testing in an engineering lab as an undergraduate, moving from an architectural focus to an engineering one has had its challenges, Hoe admits.
“It’s been a difficult transition from architecture to engineering since I’ve had to catch up on engineering requirements,” she says, though with her professor’s support and her passion for the work, she knows her goals are achievable. Her three engineering-oriented summer internships have provided learning experiences that have helped her understand how her strong design focus will assist her in engineering work, given current industry norms.
“I was able to demonstrate that an architecture background is useful in many projects and there were times engineering team members changed their opinions based on my contributions,” she says. “That’s why I encourage others to be passionate about something and to not give up on their dreams, even if others are not supportive.”
