KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- Students from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and three Knoxville area high schools earned the opportunity Wednesday to chat with an astronaut at the International Space Station.

The results of the live discussion will be presented at a public event at 5 p.m. Thursday in Dabney-Buehler Hall, Room 300, 1406 Circle Drive, on UT's Knoxville campus. UT Space Institute Director Mark Whorton and Barbara Lewis, NASA Mission Control leader at Johnson Space Center, will present research and answer questions during this time.

Students were chosen to participate in the discussion by submitting entries into NASA's "Amateur Radio on the International Space Station" contest, which highlighted some of the space-related innovations happening at UT. Students were chosen from the Tickle College of Engineering, the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Department of Geography.

NASA chose UT as its winner, which will give the UT Amateur Radio Club time for a personal chat with space station Mission Commander Shane Kimbrough.

"We were obviously thrilled to find out that we had been selected," said Grayson Hawkins, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering who will serve as chairperson for the event. "At the same time, we wanted it to be an educational opportunity as much as something that was just a neat event."

Club members reached out to fellow UT students, as well as students from South Doyle High School, Hardin Valley Academy and L&N Stem Academy in Knoxville. Students from these schools were urged to submit potential questions for the astronauts.

"This is a great opportunity for us, not just for current students at UT, but also for the high school students involved," said Matthew Mench, head of the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering at UT.

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UT, high school students get chance to chat with International Space Station - WVLT