Four UIC engineering undergraduates spent their spring-semester break free falling and gathering data on board a NASA KC-135A jetliner—a military version of Boeing's 707—flying half loops more than thirty thousand feet above the Gulf of Mexico. The plane is specially modified to create short weightless periods of up to twenty-five seconds. The four students—Jose Carreon, Julie Schaefer, James Knight, and Biljana Zdravevski—ranked in the top 10 percent academically in their engineering majors.

The students worked in pairs on the flights, each lasting about two hours during which up to fifty microgravity-inducing, parabolic arcs were flown. During a weightless period, the plane dives about fifteen thousand feet at a forty-five degree angle before again climbing for another run.

"We hoped to get between five and ten good sets of data, which is enough to answer questions posed in the research project," said Constantine Megaridis, professor and associate department head of mechanical and industrial engineering. He served as the team's faculty adviser.

The team's research centered on fluid dynamics and how droplets behave when stretched. The microgravity created in flight allowed the team to film the movement of suspended droplets of water mixed with varying amounts of glycerin to alter viscosity, or resistance to flow. Data gathered helped answer questions posed in the team's NASA research proposal.

"The droplets deform when stretched and do things we can understand with the help of models and equations," said Megaridis. "The findings can have implications for an assortment of practical applications, such as the formulation of pesticide and paint sprays."

The project proposal, equipment design, planning, and task assignments were done entirely by the students as part of a nine-month independent study course. Megaridis met with the team once a week, but he otherwise took a hands-off approach.

This was the third consecutive year that UIC student engineers had won NASA's approval to participate in the Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program. UIC is the only Chicago-area school to fly in the program to date.