Meet Ryan Hannahoe!

In 1997, Ryan Hannahoe met Public Affairs Officer Don Savage at NASA Headquarters.  Savage gave him a book about the Next Generation Space Telescope.  Little did Ryan know that he would be working on the education and public outreach for that telescope almost a decade and a half later.

Photo credit:  NASA/Chris Gunn.  NASA intern Ryan Hannahoe, left, and Radford Perry, contamination control engineer at NASA, examine a primary mirror segment for the James Webb Space Telescopoe at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

This is Ryan’s second summer interning with the education, public outreach and public affairs team for the James Webb Space Telescope.  Having had a successful first summer where he was awarded a John Mather Nobel Scholarship, Ryan was invited back to continue educating teachers and the public about the enormous space telescope and the science it will do. 

Photo credit:  Montana State University/Kelly Gorham.  Ryan Hannahoe helps a student at the James Webb Space Telescope booth during Astronomy Day at the Museum of the Rockies.

Ryan says it is great to come back to Goddard for a second summer, because he is able to jump right into his work since the first week.  He has been sharing hands-on JWST activities with visitors at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, developing JWST-related education and outreach content, helping to train teachers, and working with several public outreach events.  He also has had the exciting opportunity to talk with prominent space science figures about JWST.

Ryan thinks that all interested should apply for NASA internships.  He encourages potential interns to talk with the people working on the missions that they find exciting.  Ryan also suggests forming a relationship with your state’s Space Grant, because they can be a great source of opportunities and funding for students.

Meet the Communications Interns!

Hello, I’m Katrina Jackson, and I am interning in the Office of Communications at Goddard.  I am a graduate student at the University of North Dakota working on a master’s in space studies.  My career interests are in doing outreach and informal education through multimedia, so it is a real treat that I get to work in communications at Goddard this summer.  Eventually I would like to get into television and work on science-related programs.  I have had other great internships, such as working in astronomy education at the National Air and Space Museum downtown, and I hope this will be my best summer yet.  Keep an eye out for Goddard stories written by me, and for upcoming blog entries written by more Goddard interns! 

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Hello World!  I’m Becky Strauss, one of the graduate interns in the Office of Communications, AKA Code 130.  This summer, I am working with the Planetary Science team to write articles and update press materials for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO).  You might have seen me around campus tailing Grace or Katrina with a camera in hand – I’m Felipe’s semi-official photographer.

When I’m not masquerading as a science writer or shutterbug, I’m working on my master’s degree in geophysics at the University of Minnesota.  My research focuses on changes in the Earth’s magnetic field over geologic timescales, as recorded in cave materials like stalagmites.

I look forward to meeting more of you over the course of the summer!

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My name is Grace Montalvo and I’m a returning intern here at the Office of Communications. I’m a senior undergrad, with a marketing and arts background, from the University of Puerto Rico. I love drinking coffee and going out with friends. Drawing and painting are my passions. 

What I enjoy the most about being in the Office of Communications is being in touch with all the great science that goes on here at Goddard Space Flight Center. Also, I love interacting with people, which is a very important factor when you work in such an environment.

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Hey everyone, I’m Felipe!  On the most unexpected day you can see me around Goddard.  I’m always traveling around.  My hobbies are taking over people’s desks and hanging out with interns.  They are way too cool!


From left to right:  Katrina, Felipe, Grace, and Becky

Meet Ben Coleman!

When I arrived at NASA Goddard earlier this summer, I was unsure what to expect – I anticipated that being a summer high school intern might mean entail the more mundane things in the lab or doing tasks that nobody else wanted to do. However, it did not turn out that way at all. I was given lots of opportunities to do really meaningful work and to learn a great deal, and I also had the chance to meet many leading scientists and engineers and hear from them about their careers and the exciting endeavors they are involved in.

cryogenic pipes with frost and mistThis summer I worked in the Cryogenics and Fluids Branch, specifically on the cryogenic system of the Primordial Inflation Explorer (PIXIE), a mission in the concept phase, which will study the gravity waves and polarizations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). The detectors and instrument on the spacecraft need to be very cold in order to function, nearly 100° mK and 3° K respectively, requiring an efficient, low cost, powerful cryogenic system. For those of you non-geeks out there… 3° K is -454° F – really, really COLD! 

Using an extensive model on AutoCad and a program called Thermal Desktop, I was able to run thermal analyses and tests to see which parameters and characteristics of the spacecraft were optimal for the cryogenic system. However, I also had to take into account the proposed budget and the other vital systems of the spacecraft.

To learn the cryogenic cooling methods, I spent time in the cryo lab to assist in experiments involving the cooling methods. This way, I was able to do some hands-on work, and learn many amazing things in the process. It is not every day that you cool something down to as low as 30° mK!


Ben Coleman working in the Cryogenic Lab. Credit: Ben Coleman

My experiences being an analyst and performing tasks in the lab, as well as my interactions with exceptional scientists and engineers here at Goddard have inspired me to pursue more research in the future.

For example, I met and talked with people like Dr. Jim Garvin, Goddard’s Chief Scientist, and Dr. John Mather, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics. My interactions and discussions with them and others gave me insights regarding what I may wish to do at college. All the people I have encountered at Goddard, no matter how big the title or how many awards they have, are down to Earth, passionate about their work, and committed to helping the next generation of scientists learn, grow, and gain experience in the real world.

An internship at Goddard is not always about work all the time. Our group of high school interns socialized and went out for lunch many times, and we had a lot of fun together – and some funny moments – including when we were on the verge of being late for a meeting after lunch and had to stop the car and wait for the ‘Goddard Geese’ to cross the road as we arrived on center! It was also great to spend time chatting and joking with many of the scientists here, who are not always as serious as their jobs make them seem to be.

An internship at Goddard this summer was a very unique opportunity in which I learned, contributed, built a new network of friends and colleagues, and was inspired to think about doing some big things. I had such a good time here, and I am looking forward to coming back next summer!

Meet Christine!

As I walked along that sandy beach listening to the wavescrash against the Virginia shore with the sun rising up ahead; I could not helpbut think “Wow! I am getting paid to walk along this beautiful beach with thelove of my life!” The “love of my life” being GROVER, Goddard’s remotelyoperated vehicle for exploration and research.  This day we weretesting the GROVER’s track system which my team and I had poured our hearts andsouls into for the past several weeks preparing for this test at Wallops FlightFacility. I know describing a robot as “the love of my life” is a little silly butthis is how I have come to view all my work at Goddard. I love the work I do atGoddard and I hope to be doing this type of work for all my life.



Christine with her pride and joy GROVER.


However, my walk on the beach with GROVER is just a snapshotof the work and experiences I have had this summer. To be fair I should talkabout all “my loves”.  Yeah, I get around (Center) a lot! As anintern in the Advanced Manufacturing Branch (Code 547) I am responsible forcoordinating the fabrication efforts for four different intern teams. Thisgives me a real education in how things “get done” at Goddard. I also had theopportunity to develop my skills in the area of mechanical design while workingas the mechanical design engineer on a project designing an eletrohydrodynamiccooling loop experiment for an upcoming parabolic test flight. This test flightis jokingly nicknamed “the vomit comet”.  This has been a greatopportunity to gain practical design experience and in Code 547 style “bringingconcepts to flight”.  

However, the people I was able to work with and learn fromthis summer are what have made this experience incredible! I am working withengineers who are doing exactly the job that I want to have one day. Thisexperience has given me great direction as I continue my studies at GeorgiaTech in the fall. My mentor, Mr. Matt Showalter has been able to observe mywork and any challenge I have faced and relate it directly to a lesson in thegrander scheme of how things work at Goddard. This summer I have really felt apart of Goddard’s team. “We are raising a village.” I have heard my mentor saythis phrase many times over my past two summers in the Advanced ManufacturingBranch. Mentors invest so much time and energy in their student interns.Employees at Goddard are always willing to help and truly want you to succeed.Our branch secretary, Carole Rehm and her husband Ken actually opened theirhome to me and one other intern for the summer. The supportiveemployees are what makes Goddard’s intern program great!



Christine in the Utah Desert at a Mars Society Camp.

 

Meet Héctor!

Hi! My name is Héctor L. Davila and I’m from San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico.  I’m passionate for simple things like going to the movies, books, drawing, being with my friends but above all music. I love music.

  

At the Washington Nationals Baseball Park enjoying a good game.


During this summer I’ve been working with different things with Code 152 in the Quality & Assurance Office. Among these are environmental reviews, Databases and even Audits.  For me as a student this is very exciting to do because I can experience how my line of work is aside from what the books say.

What happens during weekends? Oh well, I spent them doing a lot of things. In this summer I’ve been to DC, to the museums, to the malls, movies and even the Linganore Vineyards. Also in UMBC I went to a potluck in where everyone cooked and enjoyed everyone else’s food and company.
My advice to any intern is to enjoy at the maximum this opportunity.  10 weeks pass faster than you think.  Gain experience in your career area, make new friends but overall… HAVE FUN!


Meeting with LEGO Man. He, he! … Amazing, isn’t it? 


Remember the Sky is the LIMIT!!!! … and we’ve been there already!

Dream BIG!

Welcome!



What is said is not as important as how it is said and who says it. That’s why I want you to share with all of us your summer internship experiences. We want to hear about projects you worked on, what your social life was like, what you learned, why you were here, how you discovered this opportunity, and finally how it was to be an intern. 

Your input in this blog will help other students, like you, to take a look and see what other people experienced during this internship. It can also be an ice breaker for students who don’t know what to expect from their upcoming summer internship. People from around the world will see your work here at NASA, while new talent can see how they might fit in here at Goddard. So I invite you to come and share with us and let other students like you know about your experiences at Goddard