---
title: "Flight, Fall, Float, Freeze"
date: 2025-04-11T05:30:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/flight-fall-float-freeze"
section: Articles
---
# Flight, Fall, Float, Freeze

*April 11, 2025* — by [Ruby Siefken ’26](/author/ruby-siefken-26)


> Terp Engineering Student Takes on Skies and Seas for Arctic Research Project

*IMG 2820 1920x1080 — A seemingly endless expanse of ice passes beneath a military cargo plane from which Nathan Roy '25 launched ice-monitoring buoys during a scientific expedition off the Alaskan coast.*

Nathan Roy ‘25 is nearly hanging out the side door of the Alaska Air National Guard’s C-17, a wall of freezing air turning his cheeks rosy. Thirty thousand feet below, the vast Arctic Ocean churns, tossing floating icebergs through its frigid waves.

Roy pitches his custom-made research buoy out of the plane and it plummets. For a moment, the 15-pound PVC pipe creation tumbles weightlessly, twisting in the icy air as the plane speeds away. Then—snap!—the parachute deploys, flipping the device upright and slowing its descent like a drifting snowflake.

This scene played out last summer in early August—an example of the broad range of unique research opportunities available to University of Maryland students. The buoy will remain in the Arctic Ocean for about a year before its battery expires and it must be replaced. Roy is finishing up his final semester studying [aerospace engineering](https://aero.umd.edu/) at UMD while refining the buoy’s design for future drops. After graduation in May, meanwhile, he’s slated to begin a full-time position with SpaceX.

Since 2023, Roy has been working with UMD Assistant Professor of Art [Cy Keener](https://terp.umd.edu/a-cold-hard-act) on the Arctic sea ice research and design project. The pair has designed and deployed more than 20 iterations of the device—five of which are currently in the Arctic Ocean.

Seeing the impact of Roy’s research is as easy as opening the weather app on your phone, because the buoy's hourly data directly contributes to the weather models that support daily forecasts.



*Guys look out an airplane door — Roy (left) and an Alaska Air National Guard airman prepare to throw a research buoy into the Arctic Ocean.*



**Sidebar note:**

All through April, Maryland Today will celebrate how the University of Maryland is reimagining learning and teaching. Find more stories at [today.umd.edu/topic/we-reimagine-learning](https://today.umd.edu/topic/we-reimagine-learning).





**Topics:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/tags/research)


**Tags:** [Aerospace Engineering](https://today.umd.edu/topic/aerospace-engineering), [Visual Arts](https://today.umd.edu/topic/visual-arts), [Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research), [Arts](https://today.umd.edu/topic/arts)


**Units:** [A. James Clark School of Engineering](https://today.umd.edu/topic/james-clark-school-engineering), [College of Arts and Humanities](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-arts-and-humanities)