A sustainable human presence on Mars might one day be possible, thanks to the efforts of researchers like Georgia Tech alum Joshua Crawford.
Crawford, who earned his BS in chemical engineering from Tech in 2023, recently received a NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Fellowship. Worth $84,000 over four years, the fellowship will aid Crawford’s research as a chemical engineering doctoral student at Columbia University.
During his undergraduate studies, Crawford interned at NASA’s Langley Research Center, where he worked on technology involving turning rocky moon material into metals for infrastructure development.
He learned about the NASA fellowship after reaching out to his former manager there for funding or collaboration opportunities.
“Not many chemical engineers get this particular award,” said Crawford, who’s long had an interest in the many innovations coming out of the space program.
Mission to Mars
His winning research proposal is related to making space missions to Mars possible by using resources such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and water ice that are already abundant on the planet.
Specifically, Crawford is studying solid-state protonic ceramic electrolysis cells (PCECs), which can convert CO2 and water into valuable resources such carbon monoxide, hydrogen, methane, and oxygen.
He is focused on improving catalysts that can help speed up the chemical reactions inside these cells. He aims to design better catalysts by tuning their composition, size, shape, and arrangement.
“The goal is to enhance the technology for turning Mars' resources into usable materials, helping future space missions by reducing costs and increasing capabilities,” Crawford said.
At Columbia University, he is a lab member of Assistant Professor Juliana Carneiro, who previously worked as a postdoctoral researcher with Professor Christopher W. Jones of Georgia Tech’s School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE).
Family of Engineers
A native of Alpharetta, Georgia, Crawford is the son of an industrial engineer mother and electrical engineer father. His older brother and sister both graduated from Georgia Tech: Jacques with an electrical engineering degree and Kaylyn in biomedical engineering.
During his own studies at Georgia Tech, Crawford was involved with ChBE’s Student Ambassadors, who provide prospective students with tours and information about the chemical engineering program. He also served as a peer mentor in Georgia Tech’s Center for Engineering Education and Diversity (CEED).
Winner of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Outstanding Senior Award, Crawford also won a President’s Undergraduate Research Award (PURA).
“Georgia Tech provided me with great networking and career opportunities,” said Crawford, who is open to pursuing an academic career or working in government or industry research fields. “It was great interacting with ChBE’s faculty. They’re a large part of the reason I got interested in research and pursued a PhD.”