In summer 2023, I participated in an IINSPIRE-LSAMP collaborative program between DMACC and Iowa State University called RISEUP. This was an opportunity for minority students, like myself, to be introduced to the fundamentals of STEM related research. I worked with Dr. Alina Kirillova’s research team at Iowa State University to study the Mechanical Properties of 3D Printed Porous Polymer Structures. In biomedical applications, there have been a multitude of applications such as drug delivery, tissue regeneration, and patient-specific devices. Due to the porous nature of the human body, we studied the gyroid, which is an inner-connected porous structure. Gyroids were printed of varying unit cell sizes in four different resins. Once printed and cured, the gyroids underwent compression testing using an Instron. These results demonstrate how cell unit size affects the strength of the gyroid. Due to the research I was involved in last summer, and my interest in Astronomy, I am excited into a continuation of that research. This fall, due to the limited research facilities of DMACC, I am completing a literature review surrounding the benefits, challenges, and frontiers of research through incorporation of using 3D printed polymers in space.