Four co-founders of AG3 Labs \u2013from left Matt Atkinson, Gavin Gardner, Ryan Atkinson, and Gryson Gardner \u2013 show off the military training drones their company builds at a U.S. Army event at Camp Grayling in Michigan. As a student, Gavin was on a Michigan State team twice selected for participation in NASA\u2019s University Student Research Challenge. His NASA experience served as a foundation for the creation of AG3.<\/div>\n
AG3 Labs<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Five years ago, Gavin Gardner was a Michigan State University engineering student researching next-generation drone technology as part of a NASA grant. Garder expected the research to be demanding \u2013 but he was surprised that navigating the financial side of the work presented an even greater challenge.<\/p>\n
Although Gardner was used to leading fellow students in a lab setting, he and his team were completely new to things like creating budgets, handling large sums of money, and promoting their work for crowdfunding.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why demonstrating both engineering and entrepreneurship skills are major tentpoles of NASA\u2019s University Student Research Challenge (USRC), an initiative that provides grants to teams of college students interested in helping the agency realize its aeronautical research goals.<\/p>\n
\u201cHalf the battle is building your product,\u201d Gardner said recently. \u201cThe other half is selling the product in a way that everyone else can understand what you\u2019re doing and not talking in nerdy, engineering ways.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"NASA](\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/usrc-gardner-ag3-team.jpg\")
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