Whereas grocery customers in North Carolina and all through the nation are involved about iceberg lettuce being contaminated with cyclospora, NC State College pupil Sawyer Exum is targeted on how two different types of lettuce, Outredgeous and Dragoon, can tolerate excessive quantities of ammonium as a nitrogen supply in hydroponic techniques in outer house.
© North Carolina State UnviersityAstronauts from Crew 11 with NC State pupil Sawyer Exum on the Kennedy Area Heart.
Exum, a organic and agricultural engineering know-how main, spent this summer season tackling the problem of rising out-of-this-world leafy greens throughout an internship at NASA, working alongside scientists and specialists researching house crop manufacturing underneath simulated Worldwide Area Station (ISS) situations. One of many crops they’re finding out is Outredgeous lettuce, a vibrant crimson, sweet-tasting selection that made historical past in 2015 as the primary plant grown and eaten by astronauts aboard the ISS.
© North Carolina State UnviersitySawyer Exum organising the pH management system for an lively analysis experiment created to check if the Outredgeous number of lettuce can keep pH in a hydroponic system utilizing solely plant nitrogen uptake.
“I handle hydroponic techniques in simulated Worldwide Area Station situations by elevating carbon dioxide ranges to round 3,000 elements per million,” Exum says. “My duties embrace monitoring pH, electrical conductivity and temperature; planting and harvesting; information evaluation; calibrating sensors; troubleshooting points with the pH management system by discovering any bugs with the code or updating the automation with modifications when wanted; fixing frayed wires or cleansing sensor electrodes when obligatory; and dealing with lab tools like spectrophotometers to find out concentrations of chemical compounds in a nutrient resolution like ammonium or nitrate.”
His work with lettuce has opened up a world of potentialities for Exum to discover new strategies for hydroponic techniques.
“I am finding out how pH management impacts lettuce’s capacity to tolerate ammonium as a nitrogen supply in hydroponics,” he says. “The objective is to indicate that, with correct pH management, vegetation can thrive on ammonium. One other vital challenge I am contributing to makes use of plant nitrogen uptake to manage pH with out using acid or base in hydroponics.”
It seems ammonium will be sourced from waste streams like urine, making it precious for sustainable house agriculture. Functions from house crop manufacturing analysis might additionally cut back prices and enhance effectivity for agriculture on Earth.
The expertise has additionally ignited new ambitions for Exum. Whereas working on-site at NASA’s Area Programs Processing Facility in Florida close to Cape Canaveral, he bought to satisfy astronauts from Crew-11 and Artemis 2. Now, his long-term objectives embrace being an astronaut.
“I need to push the boundaries of science and know-how with utilized analysis,” Exum says. “If that path results in turning into an astronaut, that might be unbelievable. Being right here and dealing with NASA analysis scientists who’re open to having conversations has made that objective really feel extra attainable.”
© North Carolina State UnviersityScientists with Sawyer Exum in entrance of the Ohalo III system on the NASA Kennedy Area Heart. Left to proper: Oscar Monje, analysis scientist, Stephen Robinson, astronaut and professor at UC Davis, Sawyer Exum, summer season intern, and Gioia Massa, challenge scientist.
Constructing a path for exploration
Rising up in Alamance County, North Carolina, Sawyer Exum was the primary 10-year-old within the state to earn a scuba diving certification. A naturally curious child, he liked science and math as a result of these topics defined how and why issues work. He was additionally in a Spanish immersion program from kindergarten by means of eighth grade and attributes his love of studying to his mother being a instructor and his dad being a photographer.
Exum was a sophomore in highschool when the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted conventional education for college kids world wide. The sudden shift to studying and socializing on-line had a profound influence on him.
“I grew to become disengaged and struggled to remain ,” Exum remembers. “That feeling lasted by means of my senior 12 months of highschool. After graduating, I wasn’t certain what I wished to do. So, as an alternative of leaping straight into school at NC State, I did an immersion program in Hawaii.”
Via Pacific Discovery, an experiential schooling program, Exum lived and labored on a sustainable farm in Hawaii, the place he was launched to permaculture, an agricultural method targeted on designing techniques that work with nature.
“That have sparked my curiosity in vegetation and environmental techniques, and I have not been in a position to shake it since,” he says. “It made me understand I used to be serious about agriculture, vegetation and environmental techniques.”
Exum went on to enroll at NC State in January 2023 as an exploratory pupil. He initially determined to pursue enterprise as a result of it appeared sensible, however he did not benefit from the courses and started to really feel the identical disengagement he had in highschool.
“After finishing my first 12 months, I thought of not returning. However I had a dialog with a pal and determined to provide school one other shot,” he remembers. “I mirrored on my Hawaii expertise and explored majors extra severely. That led me to organic and agricultural engineering know-how in CALS, which mixed my pursuits in agriculture, science, math and hands-on purposes.
“Since then, I’ve gained precious classroom expertise and began doing undergraduate analysis. I’ve additionally explored robotics, plant pathology, laptop imaginative and prescient, and controls engineering.”
Pursuing high-impact experiences
As Exum’s love of studying returned, he wasted zero time discovering alternatives to do analysis and get hands-on experiences. In the summertime of 2025, he interned at Altria, the place he did pathology analysis specializing in tobacco and soilborne fungi. He later noticed a posting about NASA’s house crop manufacturing internship.
“The applying interval had closed, however the alternative caught in my thoughts. Once I noticed it open once more on Christmas Day, I utilized,” he says. “A number of months later, I used to be invited to interview, and I obtained the official supply two months after that.”
Exum believes experiences exterior of the classroom show you how to turn into a extra important thinker with the power to make extra connections between what you study and what you do.
When he hasn’t been working within the state-of-the-art labs at NASA’s Area Programs Processing Facility, Exum has loved time with different interns, going to the seashore and scuba diving on the weekends. For him, it is all concerning the expertise.
“Do not be afraid to achieve out to folks,” he says. “Ask questions, present curiosity, and join with folks doing work you care about. That initiative can open doorways to many alternatives, together with actually fascinating internships.”
Supply: North Carolina State University
