By Chris Estrada
The second floor hallway of the Egan Research Center is narrow and lined with wood grain doors. Students walking down the hallway might not realize those doors open up to Northeastern’s own space lab, also known as the Center for Advanced Microgravity Materials Processing (CAMMP).
Established in 1997 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the lab is one of 12 space research development centers at college campuses across the country. It develops materials and technology for use in NASA’s space missions and for commercial products such as gasoline or the colors in ball caps.
“The reason Northeastern got chosen [for a lab] was partly because I wrote a grant and was lucky enough to get it,” said Dr. Albert Sacco, director of CAMMP and former payload specialist for the Columbia space shuttle. “The university leadership provided 5,000 square feet of lab space, which was one of the requirements that NASA had.”
Sacco said NASA chose Northeastern because they didn’t have a Research Partnership Center (RPC) located in the Northeast at the time.
RPCs, such as CAMMP, can be found across the country at many top schools, and each of them focus on a different topic; the University of Maryland’s RPC focuses on creating satellite and hybrid communication systems for missions, while Auburn University in Alabama creates power systems and storage as well as long-term electronics for both NASA and for commercial purposes.
Sacco, also a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, has been the leader of Northeastern’s program since its inception eight years ago and under his guidance, CAMMP has become a steady creator of new technology to help astronauts in the United States.
Sacco said one of the biggest contributions CAMMP has made deals with zeolite materials found in many commercial products, which are more utilized on the Earth than in space, Sacco said.
While most applications of zeolite materials are Earth-bound, Sacco and his team of international, professional and student researchers are trying to find ways to make them useful in space, as well.
To help accomplish this, Sacco said the center uses “state-of-the-art everything.”
“We have a state-of-the-art scanning electron microscope, we have state-of-the-art atomic force microscopes … we have all the basic chemical stuff you could imagine, our own automated X-ray system, a crystal X-ray system … we have probably the most well-equipped lab in general in the entire university here,” Sacco said. “We’re still on the leading edge, and we’ve also flown a lot of flight hardware.”
CAMMP has created mostly “furnaces,” which Sacco said are ways to heat up solutions to grow crystals and the mixing vessels they come in.
Manning the equipment is the international team of professional scientists, as well as a mix of graduate and undergraduate students from around the world. Sacco said he believes in the philosophy of going out to find the best men and women for the job, regardless of where they are.
Examples of stateside and global teamwork can be found anywhere inside the program.
“I am continuing my study here, following three years of similar research in China,” said Zhaoxia Ji, a graduate student from Shanghai. “At that time, I thought it was time to push higher. I searched Northeastern and CAMMP on the Internet, and discovered that they emphasized zeolite research. That’s why I’m here.”
Ji is working on a project involving a certain zeolite called ETS-10. Her work on the project helped her earn a master’s degree in 2004. She said she plans to use her experience and newfound knowledge in Shanghai when her CAMMP tenure is complete in a few years.
“Photocatalysis can be applied to environmental work, such as waste water treatment, and in China, the water isn’t so clean,” Ji said. “I can apply what I learned here to China.”
Siricharn Jirapongphan, a graduate student from Thailand, said he hopes to apply his work to his country’s growing nanotechnology center in the future. He said he focuses on technology, which, if successful, can make cancer drugs even more effective with less side effects.
“If we can figure out how to get the separation process down, we can solve this mystery and figure out how not to have as many effects with the drugs,” Jirapongphan said.
Mike Walters, a graduate student from Philadelphia, is focusing on a new type of zeolite that has never been synthesized. He said his hope is that with the help of Ji and Jirapongphan, his research will enable a light source that doesn’t involve a lightbulb.
“If we choose projects that benefit the whole scientific community, and not just NASA, our research will have more of an effect,” Walters said.
Sacco said the goal of the lab is to create technology that “can change the way you and me live.”
“The center serves Northeastern by being at the leading edge of science and technology … it pushes us and pulls us, and it trains our students in the technology of the future – not the past,” Sacco said. “It’s a tremendous opportunity. I can learn from the students and vice versa, and we can move forward together. To be successful, you have to be dynamic and flexible, and I guarantee CAMMP will be that way.”
