KGLP Podcasts

KGLP Station Manager Rachel Kaub speaks with Eddie Scott Yazzie, Media Relations Representative for the Navajo Nation Special Diabetes Project (http://nnsdp.org/) about events coming up July 25th through early August, 2015, including a half-marathon in Chinle, AZ on July 25th, and The Run for a Healthier and Stronger Navajo Nation, taking place across tribal lands from July 25th through August 1st.  Discussion of nutrition, activities, and healthy living is featured.

KGLP Station Manager Rachel Kaub speaks with Joyce Greer and Bev Crowe of Gallup's Relay for Life, which happens from 6pm Friday, June 12th through the Saturday morning of June 13, 2015.  This is a major fundraising event for the American Cancer Society and a celebration of those surviving cancer, an event marking hope for those dealing with the many types of this disease.

KGLP Station Manager Rachel Kaub speaks with Ken Collins, Director of Gallup's branch office of the San Juan Center for Independence, about the "Fight or Flight" response in those living with Brain Injury, and an upcoming June 12, 2015 event in association with Gallup's Relay for Life.

KGLP Station Manager Rachel Kaub speaks with Leaf Ashley, whose students are to perform in a "Belly Dance Showcase" on Saturday, June 6, 2015 at El Morro Theatre in downtown Gallup, 7pm, with doors open at 6:30...

KGLP Station Manager Rachel Kaub speaks with Bill Bright of Gallup Solar, Habitat for Humanity, and the new Sustainable Gallup Board, which incorporates discussions of recycling, alternative energy, and water conservation in Gallup and McKinley County, new Mexico.  The board meets at 3pm on the first Monday of each month in the Gallup Mayor's conference room, at City Hall.

KGLP Station Manager, Rachel Kaub, spoke with NTU student Jaron Edsitty about his NASA work on a lunar satellite, and also spoke with his instructor, Scott Halliday, about the digital manufacturing program at NTU.

Full Story:

Navajo Tech student earns praise for his model of NASA satellite, watches it launch into space

CROWNPOINT, NM (January 7, 2014) – As NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) launched into space for a 100-day scientific mission last September, Navajo Technical University (NTU) digital manufacturing major Jaron Edsitty watched in awe from the Wallops VIP launch section after spending the past two years modeling the satellite as a NASA intern.

Edsitty was assigned the project in 2011 through an internship with NASA’s Ames Research Center that required him to model a rough PDF file of the satellite utilizing reverse engineering software and machinery at Navajo Technical University’s main campus in Crownpoint.

"When he started out all he was given was a 3D PDF file of the satellite," explained Gregory Dodge, instructor and advisor at NTU. "It wasn't much to work with, but Jaron was able to use Pro E software to create every component of the satellite from that single file.”

During his first summer working on the model, Edsitty spent much of the eight week internship forming triangulations in Pro E to create a file readable by NTU’s Z corp 310 printer to produce the model through a process of rapid prototyping. Because Edsitty had to create the figure from scratch, the model was never completed, and so Edsitty worked on his own time to modify his files to include more detail and information.

As Edsitty was doing this, NTU obtained a newer 3D printer in the Z corp 650, which allowed Edsitty to refine his project for NASA by incorporating color and detailed parts such as solar panel cells and bolt holes within the satellite’s structure. The progress of the work allowed NASA to extend the internship into 2013, and eventually earned him an invite to present his model at the Wallops Visitor Center for the LADEE launch on September 7, 2013.

The launch drew close to 1,500 VIP guests, including NASA astronauts Charlie Duke and John Grunsfeld, who invited Edsitty to watch the launch with NASA Ames site director Dr. Pete Worden and other VIPs.

“Many of the engineers and technicians that worked on the actual LADEE satellite were commending Jaron and Navajo Tech because they said it was the most accurate model anyone had ever created,” said Dodge. “It was a good experience for Jaron to interact in that setting, but it was also good for the school because people got to see what we’re capable of doing.”

Being able to work for an agency such as NASA was something Edsitty never thought he was capable of accomplishing, but after working on the LADEE satellite model, he realized that there’s so much more on his horizon.

“This is something I never expected to be doing,” said Edsitty, who originates from Window Rock, Ariz. “One astronaut I met said that NASA has a job waiting for me once I graduate, and it got me thinking about what I’m doing. I came to college to benefit my family and with work like this I’m making an positive influence on my daughter and my younger siblings.”

“Seeing what one person can do can influence people and let them know that anything is possible,” continued Edsitty. “It’s important to let them know that there’s more out there. That’s the main reason I went to school and that’s the main reason I try to excel.”

Navajo Technical University has placed a student for an internship at each of NASA’s sites throughout the country. NTU’s digital manufacturing program in information technology offers a Bachelor of Applied Science degree and provides training in laser scanning, 3D modeling, and rapid prototyping.

For more information about Navajo Technical University’s digital manufacturing program, contact H. Scott Halliday at hhalliday@navajotech.edu or call 505.786.4100.

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http://www.navajotech.edu/

KGLP Station Manager Rachel Kaub visits Navajo Technical University's Culinary Arts Program, the only tribal college or university in the U.S. accredited through the American Culinary Federation (ACF), and the only university or college in New Mexico accredited through the ACF.

KGLP Station Manager Rachel Kaub speaks with Dr. Eileen Barrett (a board member for Gallup Public Radio), who recently returned from Sierra Leone, where she was one of the physicians treating Ebola patients.

KGLP Station Manager Rachel Kaub visited the New Mexico Pueblo of Acoma on June 30, 2014, where FCC chair Tom Wheeler and Senator Tom Udall conferred with tribal leaders on the national need to expand tribal broadband.

 - the FCC page on Tribal internet expansion may be found at:

https://www.fcc.gov/…/native-nations-consultation-and-policy

KGLP Station Manager Rachel Kaub speaks with UNM-Gallup Professor Martin Link, recipient of The Richard A. Bice Award for Archaeological Achievement. This prestigious award for excellence in the field of archaeology was presented at the annual Archaeological Society of New Mexico meeting in Taos, New Mexico during the weekend of May 1 & 2. The plaque reads "For his 55 years of service to, and being the initial creator of the Plateau Sciences Society. Martin's leadership over the years and his relationship with the Navajo Tribe has resulted in the Navajo Tribal Council approval of the Navajo rendition of the Federal Antiquities Act of 1906. Martin was instrumental in the establishment of the Kinlichee Tribal Park and supervised the excavation and restoration of this 12th century Anasazi/Ancestral Pueblo site. Martin's long association with the Plateau Sciences Society and dedication to the field of archaeology has, over the years, been enormously beneficial to the Archaeological Society of New Mexico." Professor Link will speak about his career, Plateau Science Society's (PSS) May 16th Native and Xeric Plant Sale (9am til 3pm at Gallup's Holiday Nursery) and the PSS meeting this Sunday, May 17, 2:30pm at Red Mesa Center, east of Octavia Fellin Public Library in Gallup, NM.