STEM Center Hub (CSH-009)

Summary 🟡 ✓

Owner Unit: College of Science and Health
Sub-unit: Centers and Institutes
Content Type: center
Campus/Location: Lincoln Park (McGowan South, Suite 403)
Last Verified: August 19, 2026

Description & capabilities

CSH hub supporting faculty and staff STEM outreach, cross-department collaboration, and field-instrumentation pedagogy. Public contact Bernhard Beck-Winchatz coordinates STEM Center activities including high-altitude ballooning (weather-balloon payloads, helium fill, student-built experiments in STEM 240) and NASA/space-science education. Illinois Space Grant (EXT-028) funded a solar telescope for the astrophysics major; 2024 eclipse coverage also names payload cameras/spectroscopic apparatus, helium tanks, and 3D-printed cases made at the Idea Realization Lab.

Access status

Level: yellow (Negotiated Access)
Rationale: STEM Center Hub coordinates outreach and field-instrumentation projects; ballooning and NASA/space-science programs require faculty sponsorship and project affiliation.
Access URL: csh.depaul.edu/academics/centers-and-institutes/stem/about
Contact name: Bernhard Beck-Winchatz
Contact email: bbeckwin@depaul.edu
Verification date: 2026-05-30
Source URLs:
csh.depaul.edu/academics/centers-and-institutes/stem/about
www.depaul.edu/faculty/bernhard-beck-winchatz

Verification

Status: confirmed (✓)
Confidence: 88/100
Rationale: Official CSH STEM Center page with Beck-Winchatz as published hub contact; ballooning instrumentation documented in faculty profile, catalog STEM 240, PUB-006, and 2024 eclipse news.
Last verified: 2026-08-19
Evidence:
STEM Center Hub about page with published address and contact (May 2026)
Beck-Winchatz faculty profile documents high-altitude ballooning programs
DePaul News 2024 eclipse HAB (payloads, helium tanks, ISGC-funded solar telescope, IRL cases) — sources/inbox/2026-08-19-astro-user-facilities/source_snapshot/captured/news-solarscience.html (depaul/SRC-001590)
Catalog STEM 240 Science at the Edge of Space (weather balloon to 100,000 ft) — sources/inbox/2026-08-19-astro-user-facilities/source_snapshot/captured/catalog-stem.html (depaul/SRC-001591)

Equipment

Find this resource from the Equipment catalog or site search (e.g. “3D printers”, “laser cutter”, “NMR”).

Category	Specific equipment
High-altitude ballooning	High-altitude / weather-balloon launch program (student payloads to ~100,000 ft; STEM 240); Balloon payload packages (recording instruments, cameras, spectroscopic apparatus; eclipse 2024); Helium for balloon fill (eclipse launch used helium tanks)
Astronomical telescopes	Solar telescope purchased with Illinois Space Grant Consortium funding (astrophysics major; named in 2024 eclipse coverage)
Spectrometers	Classroom astronomy and infrared spectroscopy education modules

Related equipment categories

Taxonomy bridges to related capability elsewhere on campus (search these terms or open the catalog anchors):

Equipment access (via linked resources)

Resource	Notes
EXT-028	Illinois Space Grant funds DePaul ballooning / solar-telescope hardware; consortium is not the lab that stores the gear
CDM-001	IRL 3D-printed camera/payload cases for the 2024 eclipse balloon (DePaul News)
CSH-011	Potosnak Lab high-altitude balloon field-instrumentation packages (environmental sensing)
CSH-005	Physics & Astrophysics home department for ballooning faculty

Source: STEM Center Hub; Beck-Winchatz faculty profile; DePaul News eclipse balloon (2026-08-19). Last verified: July 29, 2026.

Contacts (resource-level)

Last verified: May 30, 2026.

People & contacts

Named contacts from the people registry when publicly documented.

Bernhard Beck-Winchatz (Director) — bbeckwin@depaul.edu · Profile
Eric Landahl (Affiliated faculty) — Profile
Mark J. Potosnak (Affiliated faculty) — mpotosnak@depaul.edu · Profile

Source URL

Official links and email are listed under Contacts above.

Documented Relationships

STEM outreach and field-instrumentation hub in McGowan (CSH-003); connects physics/astrophysics ballooning (CSH-005) with environmental-science sensing (CSH-011 Potosnak Lab collaborations).

Linked Relationship IDs

Documented connections

Generated from publication↔resource and person↔publication registries. Superscript numbers open Sources below. Multiple sources on one claim are grouped as ^1,4. Grant links are listed on publication and grant pages.

Publications

Effectiveness of a high-altitude balloon project compared to conventional environmental science laboratory projects (2013) — documented, demonstrates capability · DOI¹
A high-altitude balloon platform for determining exchange of carbon dioxide over agricultural landscapes (2016) — documented, demonstrates capability · DOI²
Examining COVID-19 Long-Haulers Along Gender, Race Stress and Social Support (2022) — supporting, mentions · DOI³
Edge Growth Form of European Buckthorn Increases Isoprene Emissions From Urban F (2021) — supporting, mentions · DOI⁴
Tropospheric Sounding with Low-Cost Particulate Matter Sensors (2021) — supporting, mentions · DOI⁵
Tropospheric Sounding with Low-Cost Particulate Matter Sensors (2017) — supporting, mentions · DOI⁶

People on linked publications

Mark J. Potosnak (coauthor; PUB-006)⁷
Bernhard Beck-Winchatz (coauthor; PUB-006)⁸

Sources

Beck-Winchatz faculty profile documents DePaul high-altitude ballooning programs; STEM Center Hub about page lists Beck-Winchatz as published contact (Suite 403, McGowan) for STEM outreach and field-instrumentation coordination. Archived source retained by Resource Map maintainers. View current source
Methods document DePaul HAB CO2 payload (LICOR LI-820/840, Arduino, HOBO U12) flown over Illinois farmland. Archived source retained by Resource Map maintainers. View current source
gazetteer hit in OA full text. Archived source retained by Resource Map maintainers. View current source
gazetteer hit in OA full text. Archived source retained by Resource Map maintainers. View current source
gazetteer hit in OA full text. Archived source retained by Resource Map maintainers. View current source
gazetteer hit in OA full text. Archived source retained by Resource Map maintainers. View current source
CSH physics faculty publications list and Potosnak research page cite Potosnak and Beck-Winchatz (2013) AHAC proceedings on high-altitude ballooning. Archived source retained by Resource Map maintainers. View current source
CSH physics faculty publication list cites Beck-Winchatz, B. and Potosnak, M. J. (2013) Proceedings of the 4th Annual Academic High-Altitude Conference. Archived source retained by Resource Map maintainers. View current source

Notes

Center-level resource for STEM Hub coordination and Beck-Winchatz ballooning/space-grant instrumentation thread.