This week nearly 450 high school, undergraduate, and graduate students across the United States began internships at NASA. From NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, to NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Science in New York, New York, our interns play a crucial role in supporting NASA’s vision to explore the secrets of the universe for the benefit of all.
To commemorate the first week of our Fall 2023 internship session, we’ve put together this social media toolkit to help interns celebrate their new jobs.
Graphics
Our graphic designers compiled a collection of visuals for you to use that pull inspiration from some of NASA’s most iconic recent recordings. Feel free to use them!
Accessibility
We encourage you to utilize the provided alt text (alternative text) to make the graphics as accessible as possible—after all, there is space for everyone at NASA.
Hashtags Excited to share about NASA internships? Use our official hashtags (#NASAInterns and/or #ArtemisGeneration) for a chance to be amplified from our accounts.
Alt Text: A model aircraft is tested within an aeronautics testing chamber. The brightly colored image includes sharply contrasting reds and oranges upon dark blues. Text on the image reads, “I accepted a NASA Internship #NASAInterns.” Credit: NASA/Greg Lee
Alt Text: A compiled graphic of the metallic-white Orion spacecraft and orange-white Space Launch System with Earth’s Moon partially obscured by shadow in the background. Text on the image reads, “I accepted a NASA Internship #NASAInterns.” Credit: NASA/Greg Lee
Alt Text: An animated .gif of the Moon with its shadow receding. As the Moon brightens, text on screen reads, “I accepted a NASA Internship.” The screen fades to black and text reads, “I am the #ArtemisGeneration” with the iconic red, white, and blue NASA meatball logo beside the text. Credit: NASA/Greg Lee
Alt Text: An animated .gif of the Artemis I launch around the Moon. As the Space Launch System (SLS) lifts off the pad, text reads, “I accepted a NASA Internship.” As SLS reaches into the sky, it drowns out the screen in bright white flames. The screen fades to white and text reads, “I am the #ArtemisGeneration” with the iconic red, white, and blue NASA meatball logo beside the text. Credit: NASA/Greg Lee
Social Media Ideas
Interested in using some of the visuals we’ve created but don’t know where to start? Consider posts on any of these topics.
What mission, project, or directorate will you be supporting?
Looking to start your career at NASA as an intern but don’t know where to begin? NASA offers multiple paths to become a NASA intern, and many of them have unique opportunities and are available to different types of students. We’ve put together this handy breakdown to help you get started with your application.
NASA OSTEM Internships
Alt Text: Two female interns wearing blue NASA flight suits stand smiling with their hands behind their backs. Behind them, a large multirotor aircraft sits idle on the runway. The distance clear blue sky makes up the top of the image. Credit: NASA/Angelique Herring
NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement (OSTEM) paid internships allow both high school and college-level students to contribute to agency projects under the guidance of a NASA mentor. With roles in nearly every mission at every center across the United States, these positions are the most popular and numerous of NASA’s internships.
NASA JPL Internships
Former NASA JPL intern and current NASA astronaut Jessia Watkins poses in the control room at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Watkins smiles and wears her iconic blue astronaut flight suit. A large projection of the Earth is seen in the background among computer screens. Credit: Credits: NASA/Bill Ingalls
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s internships put you right in the action with the scientists and engineers who’ve helped make JPL the leading center for robotic exploration of the solar system. With programs as varied as the places we explore, this internship offers opportunities across the STEM spectrum for undergrads, graduate students, post doctorate students, and faculty at NASA JPL in Pasadena, California.
NASA Pathways Internships
Former NASA intern Naia Butler-Craig works to assemble a CubeSat in her laboratory. Wearing cleanroom attire she pays close attention to different cabling while assembling the small cube-shaped satellite. Credit: NASA/ Bridget Caswell
The Pathways Internship Program was established to build out the future of the federal workforce. Specializing in multi-semester experiences, the Pathways Internship Program prepares you for a career at NASA and offers a direct pipeline to full-time employment at NASA upon graduation.
These highly competitive roles allow interns the opportunity to kickstart their career by transitioning their internship into a full-time role as a government employee after meeting the program’s requirements.
NASA Fellowships
Former NASA intern and current NASA technologist Nithin Abraham uses sterile gloves in a clean container environment to study a simple sample in NASA’s Goddard Space Center’s laboratory. Wearing professional attire, she looks focused while using a small tweezer-like tool to interact with small science components. Credit: NASA/Pat Izzo
NASA Fellowships allow graduate-level students to pursue research projects in response to the agency’s current research priorities. Fellowship opportunities are focused on innovation and generate measurable research results that contribute to NASA’s current and future science and technology goals—these prestigious positions enhance graduate learning and development.
NASA SkillBridge Internships
Former U.S. Air Force Colonel select, and current NASA astronaut Raja Chari poses beside a NASA science aircraft on the runway. Wearing his iconic blue astronaut flight suit an American flag patch is seen on his left shoulder. In the background there are clear blue skies. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Across the agency, veterans deliver subject matter expertise, years of on-the-job training, and advanced skills in everything from information technology to transportation logistics and from supply-chain management to public relations. Our SkillBridge program with the Department of Defense helps to transition veterans into NASA internships that they can later use to springboard to a full-time NASA position.
To search for SkillBridge roles, follow this link and search “NASA” in the keywords box.
NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars (NCAS)
A group of NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars sits in the control room at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center. Each of the scholars is at a computer working on a live simulation of mission control. The diverse group of interns wear business casual attire. Credit: NASA
NASA offers the Community College Aerospace Scholars program for community college students to get hands-on preparation for a NASA internship. Although not an internship program itself, students participating in an NCAS activity can expect to advance their capabilities in STEM, helping to prepare them for better representation and service in STEM fields. NCAS has three missions designed to challenge and build student knowledge and skills by focusing on NASA’s mission goals, collaboration, and career pathways.
International Internships
Three international NASA interns from the United Arab Emirates pose together outside of the large Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel, located at the NASA Ames Research Center. Wearing business casual attire, the trio smiles in front of the massive white building housing the wind tunnel. Credit: NASA / Eric James
NASA seeks to better prepare all students to work in a global environment and on multicultural, international missions. NASA offers international internships through collaborations with our international partners. These roles offer work experience comparable to traditional NASA internships and align with NASA’s three annual internship sessions.
Do you have a question about NASA’s internships that wasn’t answered here? Send us an email and we’ll do our best to answer your question.
National Intern Day is July 27! We’ve put together this social media toolkit to help you celebrate NASA internships this #NationalInternDay. Whether you’re an intern, former intern, intern mentor, or just work with some incredible NASA interns—this toolkit is for you!
Graphics
Our graphic designers compiled a collection of visuals for you to use that pull inspiration from some of NASA’s most iconic recent recordings. Feel free to use them!
Accessibility
We encourage you to utilize the provided alt text (alternative text) to make the graphics as accessible as possible—after all, there is space for everyone at NASA.
Hashtags Excited to share about NASA internships? Use our official hashtags (#NASAInterns and/or #ArtemisGeneration) for a chance to be amplified from our accounts.
Alt Text: NASA’s Orion spacecraft atop the Space Launch System ascends from its launch pad while overlaid text reads “There’s space for me at NASA.” As the massive rocket approaches the top of the screen its bright exhaust turns the entire screen white. Once the screen is white it transitions to an empty background with text stating “Happy #NationalInternDay” with an animated red, white, and blue NASA meatball logo below the text. Credit: NASA/Greg Lee
Alt Text: Saturn and its rings with the Sun in the background. Overlaid text reads “There’s space for me at NASA.” As the graphic zooms out from Saturn an additional line below the original text states “Happy #NationalInternDay” with an animated red, white, and blue NASA meatball logo below the text. Credit: NASA/Greg Lee
Alt Text: The Earth’s upper atmosphere at night as seen from the International Space Station, overlaid text reads “There’s space for me at NASA.” As the Space Station nears the Earth’s daylight side the Sun’s bright light drowns out the entire image in blue then white. Once the screen is white it transitions to an empty background with text stating “Happy #NationalInternDay” with an animated red, white, and blue NASA meatball logo below the text. Credit: NASA/Greg Lee
Alt Text: The Earth’s horizon during the day as recorded from the International Space Station. White wispy clouds, blue oceans, and light brown land are seen beyond the horizon with overlaid text stating “There’s space for me at NASA.” The original text fades away and is replaced with text reading “Happy #NationalInternDay” with an animated red, white, and blue NASA meatball logo below the text. Credit: NASA/Greg Lee
Social Media Ideas
Interested in using some of the visuals we’ve created but don’t know where to start? Consider posts on any of these topics.
Current Intern
How has your NASA internship impacted you so far?
What is a favorite memory you’ve made during your internship?
Is there anything you are looking forward to during your internship?
Former Intern
How did your NASA internship change your life and/or career?
What was your internship experience like?
What piece of advice would you share with new interns?
Intern Mentor
What has it been like supporting interns?
How has working with interns affected you and/or your mission?
What have you learned from your interns?
Intern Colleague
How has working with interns affected you and/or your mission?
What advice, if any, do you have for interns?
What is a positive memory you have had with a NASA intern?
National Intern Day is celebrated annually to recognize and highlight the contributions of interns throughout different industries and fields of work. At every NASA center across the country, interns play a critical role in our mission success.
The work of interns at NASA reaches far and wide. Whether they’re contributing to our social media presence, supporting an engineering project that will one day return humanity to the Moon, or even chronicling NASA’s rich history, our interns’ contributions make us proud.
Looking to join in the celebration this National Intern Day? Here are six ways for interns, mentors, and past interns to celebrate NASA internships.
1. Meet the NASA Administrator
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson poses in a selfie with a group of interns at an Intern Q&A session. Nelson wears a blue suit and the group of interns wear business casual attire. All are smiling. Credit: NASA/Bill Nelson
The interns of today are the #ArtemisGeneration leaders of tomorrow.
Our interns had the chance to start celebrating National Intern Week early! We hosted a special Q&A session for our interns to meet and ask questions of Administrator Bill Nelson, Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, and Associate Administrator Bob Cabana on Wednesday, July 19.
2. Use Our Celebration Toolkit
Former NASA intern Jasmine Hopkins poses to take a selfie with someone wearing an example space suit. The Spacesuit is bright white with a metallic reflective finish on its bubble-like visor, upon its chest the iconic meatball NASA logo is prominent. Jasmine is wearing a business professional dress and smiles at the camera. Credit: NASA/Mark Knopp
Are you loving your NASA internship experience? Were you a former intern who now works at NASA full-time? Have you mentored interns and enriched the lives of others?
Check out our Celebration Toolkit which will be released right here on our blog. It includes custom-made visuals you can use on social media in celebration of #NationalInternDay and to share how your NASA internship impacted your life and career.
3. Join Our AMA (Ask Me Anything)
A group of interns stands together smiling inside NASA’s Goddard Research Center’s multimedia studio. In the center of the image a highchair is elevated on a platform with a collection of interns standing around it. In the background a hexagonal decorative wallcovering has the iconic red NASA worm logo jutting out from it. The group of interns are all wearing business casual attire. Credit: NASA/Wade Sisler
“What’s it like being a NASA intern? What is the day-to-day of an intern at NASA? What are some of the coolest things interns get to see during their internship? How do you become a NASA intern?”
People have questions—we’ve got the answers! Join in our Reddit Ask Me Anything on r/NASA and r/Internships to have your questions answered live by current interns, former interns, and mentors.
4. Have a Networking and Career Guidance Discussion
Students and young professionals discuss their projects at the Earth Science Applications Showcase Wednesday, August 1, 2018 at NASA Headquarters in DC. Three interns and young professional in business attire speak to one another about their research. Besides them is a large poster with Earth data. In the background more interns and young professional speak. Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani
Now is a great time to ask your mentor for career advice! Build a sturdy foundation to launch your future career post-internship with networking skills and advice gained from a more experienced mentor. From “which NASA centers specialize in your field of study” to “what type of resume is best for applying for a full-time position after your internship concludes,” your mentor may just have the advice you’re looking for.
5. Share Your Internship Accomplishments
An intern wears an augmented reality headset outside while testing out the technology. In the background other interns use similar headsets in the large open and rocky area, it is dark outside. The intern at the center of the image gestures with their hand interacting with the AR interface which is only visible to them. Credit: NASA/James Blair
Did you help prepare plans for future cultivation of vegetables in space, design a new computer method to streamline a process supporting the Artemis Program, archive historical NASA documents, or maybe even create a collection of spicy space memes that the public was enamored with? Share your successes and accomplishments as a NASA intern with the world using #NASAIntern and #ArtemisGeneration.
6. Apply for a NASA Internship
Two NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars sit at a desk and work on projects on laptops sitting in front of them. The duo wears casual attire and have NASA lanyards on. In the background a display of a NASA spacesuit is out of focus. Credit: NASA/Robert Markowitz
Now that you’ve seen the behind-the-scenes fun of a NASA internship, we hope you’ll consider becoming a NASA intern yourself — or, if you’re already part of the team, continuing your internship for an additional session. As a friendly reminder: our Spring 2024 OSTEM Internship applications close on August, 31. 2023.
Erica Kriner as a child, posing in front of an abstract art mural that consists of NASA, Apollo, and other space-related items.
“Failure is not an option.” Erica Kriner thought that this quote was a motto that she could live by. She then learned that the quote is a little misleading. “Failure is inevitable; what defines your character is what you do after it happens,” Kriner said.
NASA Fellowship
Erica Kriner recently graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Geography with minors in Sustainability and Anthropology. She is also a former Audio Storytelling NASA intern with a Fellowship from the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. Her primary duty as an intern was to help with scripting and producing NASA’s Curious Universe which is a podcast where she told stories about science and the people behind it at NASA.
NASA Fellowships are competitive awards to support independently conceived or designed research, or senior design projects by highly qualified faculty, undergraduate, and graduate students, in disciplines needed to help advance NASA’s missions. This gives them the opportunity to directly contribute to advancements in STEM-related areas of study. The Fellowship opportunities are focused on innovation and generating measurable research results that contribute to NASA’s current and future science and technology goals.
DEVELOP Program
Kriner was also a part of NASA’s DEVELOP Program which conducts feasibility studies that bridge the gap between Earth science information and society. These projects help both participants and partners learn more about using geospatial information. Three times a year, participants apply through a competitive application process. Those selected conduct 10-week research projects in interdisciplinary teams of 4-5 people. They work closely with DEVELOP science advisors and mentors to apply Earth observations address to real-world problems. Through this process, participants build both research and science communication skills. These skills and project experience help set them up for success in the workforce.
In Defeat, I am Defiant.
It’s difficult for Kriner to put into words what it means not just to have this internship but even just to be at NASA. She feels like every decision she has made for her future has not just been for herself.
Those decisions have been for her family: her mother, who raised her young and single, and who had to drop out of college and donate plasma every week just to pay the bills; her grandparents, who opened their home to them and who supported Erica unconditionally, even after she had to come home from college and was at her lowest point. “I’m not just building my legacy here; I’m also continuing their legacies of tenacity, compassion, and resilience. Everything I do is because of them and for them.” Kriner said.
“From the vantage point of hindsight, I can say with certainty that the moments that felt like failure were the moments that made this path possible. I wouldn’t be at NASA if it weren’t for those initial failures.”
Succeed with NASA like Erica has and apply to be an intern at our website today! Also, feel free to check out Margarita Bassil, a NASA intern who also interpreted her mistakes as lessons to become successful at NASA.
Shayla Wilhelm standing in front of the Crawler Transporter.
If you can dream it, you can do it. Shayla Wilhelm saw the frothy sea of the Milky Way as she grew up in a small town in New York. Using a telescope, Wilhelm saw stars and planets shining everywhere across the sky. After realizing how much she loved what she saw in the sky, she ended up seeing a future in aerospace engineering.
Oxygen in Space
“If astronauts on the moon can harness the oxygen under their feet, sustaining a human presence on the moon may not be so difficult after all,” Wilhelm said. Currently, Wilhelm is a junior at the Florida Institute of Technology where she is majoring in Aerospace Engineering. As a former NASA intern at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, she worked on the Molten Regolith Electrolysis (MRE) Project.
The purpose of the MRE Project is to create oxygen on the Moon and to use it in astronaut tanks. By taking the soil on the Moon, Wilhelm would then melt it and run an electric current through it. This would split apart the metal oxides into molten metal and oxygen. After this process, the metal would then sink, allowing the oxygen to be separated, harvested, and eventually purified and distributed.
This process is potentially an important step in setting up long-term research centers on the moon and beyond.
Internship Takeaway
As an intern, Wilhelm had a very hard time to describe an “average” day while at NASA. While she spent every single day differently, she is grateful that her days as an intern was always a unique experience. From staying in the lab and analyzing data, to working in the machine shop and getting her hands dirty, Wilhelm would always be excited and feel lucky enough to take on these new and innovative tasks every single day. Wilhelm also got the opportunity to expand upon her software skills, improve her technical writing, and more.
Have you ever dreamed of working with NASA? Check out our website for more opportunities and information. Also, feel free to read more exciting stories such as Andrew Hoang, another former NASA intern who worked on parachute landings!
Women’s History Month is a time to highlight and celebrate the extraordinary women whose legacies empower women today in the pursuit of their dreams.
Sofia Williams is a fourth year biomedical engineering student at the University of Texas and a NASA engineering pathways intern at Johnson Space Center. Photo Credits: NASA, Sofia Williams
“It wasn’t always this easy for women to learn STEM and be respected in this field, so I am eternally grateful to the women that paved the way for me to have a career at NASA,” Fourth Year Biomedical Engineering student Sofia Williams said.
Williams views this month of remembrance as a time to not only highlight the trailblazing women from the past who broke ground for females at NASA, but also reflect on the women at NASA today who are tirelessly working to mold the next generation. Throughout her time at NASA, Williams has met countless women who have helped shape her own development. However, the woman who Williams admires the most at NASA is her internship mentor, Brandale McMahan.
“Brandale is in charge of leading the xEMU suit tests and is a highly critical part of verifying that our suits will be ready for our upcoming Artemis missions,” Williams said. “Every day that I worked with her, I was in awe of how she commanded the tests and led our team with ease and grace. She has always welcomed me at NASA and made me feel like my voice was heard and skills were valued. I hope to one day lead teams and advance projects like Brandale does.”
NASA internships provide an avenue for students to learn from professionals in their chosen field and to gain confidence in their own abilities. One of the key elements of NASA internships is the practice of mentorship. Mentors challenge interns in their projects while offering them instruction, encouragement, and support throughout their NASA journeys.
Sofia Williams holding a Space Shuttle EVA (Extravehicular Activity) glove used by NASA on Campus. Photo Credits: Sofia Williams
“Brandale has significantly influenced my decision to pursue a career at NASA because she helped me to believe that I am capable of being successful here. I was unsure of whether I belonged or could keep up, but after the lessons she taught me and guidance she offered, I know that I will go on to achieve great things.”
Mentors instill self-confidence in their interns by assuring them that their contributions, skills, and perspectives are worth sharing. They play a key role in overcoming imposter syndrome and helping students discover their passions. These inspiring female mentors are not only making history through their own careers and contributions, but molding the next generation of women at NASA by providing direction and encouragement to students.
Sofia in an ISS Airlock Vacuum Chamber. These vacuum chambers are used to certify the suits and other hardware for space. Photo Credits: Sofia Williams
“Being a female at NASA during the Artemis era is empowering and inspirational. For the first time in history, we are planning to send women farther than they have ever gone, and women are a part of the process every step of the way,” Williams said. “It is so inspiring to see what women can do when they come together at NASA for a common goal, and I feel so grateful to be a part of it. Having the opportunity to be mentored by such incredible women and work alongside them on projects has been one of my favorite parts of my time on the Artemis spacesuit team. I know young girls and women from all across the world will be watching history unfold during the Artemis missions and feel empowered to set their goals to the moon as well.”
Today we are taking Pi beyond the sky – stop by your nearest bakery or serve up a nice slice as we celebrate Pi Day!
Every year, math enthusiasts around the country celebrate Pi Day on March 14 because the date 3/14 resembles 3.14 – the famous first few digits of pi. At NASA, we celebrate Pi Day every day using the number to explore space!
The use of pi dates to Babylonians about 4,000 years ago, at which “3 times the square of the radius of the circle was used, which returned a value of pi = 3. Egyptian mathematicians approximated pi with a bit more precision at 3.1605, as indicated in the Rhind Papyrus, dating back to 1,650 B.C.
The Greek mathematician Archimedes (287-212 B.C.) used a visually creative approach to approximate pi by using the areas of two polygons.” In 1706, Welsh mathematician, William Jones, introduced the symbol for pi.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
On March 14 (or 3/14) in 1988, physicist Larry Shaw held what is believed to be the first official celebration of Pi at the San Francisco Exploratorium, which of course, included large amounts of pie. The idea quickly gained traction, and in 2009, the U.S. Congress ate up the idea, officially declaring March National Pi Day in hopes that it would cultivate a higher level of excitement for math and science in students. Pi’s bond with the circle makes it accessible for students of all ages.
No matter the size of a circle, it could be a pie or a planet; it is always equal to pi. Pi is used to answer questions about anything circular. Pi is most often rounded to 3.14, but its digits go on forever and don’t appear to repeat.
Fun Fact: Albert Einstein’s birthday and Pi day are celebrated on the same day.
Do you want to celebrate Pi Day every day? The application deadline for summer internships is quickly approaching. Apply by March 18 at NASA Intern.
Shilpa Kancharla working virtually from home during her Space Communications and Navigation Internship Project (SIP) position in the summer of 2021.
From self-driving cars to digital assistants, the future of technology development lies in the role that artificial intelligence (AI) will play to bridge the gap between human and machine. In a specialized area of this growing field, NASA currently is developing cutting-edge cognitive communications tools to utilize AI in space.
Cognitive communications research advances communication capabilities for missions by increasing the autonomy of links, networks, and service scheduling. A cognitive spacecraft can adapt to changing conditions by producing reasonable outcomes in scenarios that extend beyond the pre-programmed knowledge of its original inception.
The development of autonomous spacecraft is essential for NASA as the agency explores deeper areas of the universe than ever before. A cognitive spacecraft learns from previous data collected over time, in turn keeping up with NASA’s technological advancements, to transition toward a decentralized cognitive space communications system. As the system learns from itself with autonomous technologies, the spacecraft or engine can make advancements within itself based on what it learned without human intervention on the ground.
Shilpa Kancharla, a 2021 Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) intern at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, spent her summer working with mentors Dr. Charles Doxley and Dr. Rachel Dudukovich, engineers on the Cognitive Communications project, to create tutorials for the utilization of communications data in various AI systems.
The SCaN Intern Project (SIP) is a ten-week-long internship hosted by Glenn , NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. SIP allows students to gain hands-on experience working with interdisciplinary mentors on real NASA missions in specialized areas of space communications and navigation.
Kancharla, a master’s student at North Carolina State University, spent the summer analyzing various programming tools, specifically tools such as Nengo and Amazon SageMaker, to determine how to add the maximum amount of value to NASA’s existing AI architecture for space communications missions. The first tool Kancharla analyzed was Nengo, a tool that allows for neural network simulation on larger scales.
“Nengo is a Python package that contains functions and other code that help mimic the brain structure for higher processing tasks, like recognition and perception,” Shilpa said. “It’s a step up from other Python packages that are related to AI.”
Example of the code Shilpa created in Nengo for the Cognitive Communications project at NASA’s Glenn Research Center
This area of AI, or Cognitive, technology aims to mitigate the increasing communication complexity for mission users. By increasing the effectiveness of cognitive communications technology, NASA could create communications CubeSats with the ability to overcome obstacles, respond to and learn from their environments, and achieve beneficial goals to the completion of their primary missions with minimal to no human interaction, a large step from the existing navigations infrastructure.
The guide Shilpa worked on will instruct users in handling the Nengo programming tool, demonstrate how to create new sections of code, explain what each interface does, and review document variables—all while highlighting the largest benefits Nengo offers as an AI interface.
Shilpa analyzed the effectiveness of a second Python tool, SageMaker, as well.
“SageMaker allows you to develop, train, and deploy machine learning models with data you have in the cloud,” said Shilpa. “It’s not local to your computer; anyone who has access to it with the right credentials can see your work model.”
Python was Shilpa’s programming language of choice because it is the best language for AI and machine learning. The AI-related programming tools that Shilpa investigated will contribute to real NASA missions.
“I hope to compare the Python code that I write independently on my computer for a task to how SageMaker can automate it [for NASA],” Shilpa said. “We basically assess the accuracy of our [AI] model between the code I write and the accuracy that SageMaker obtains.”
Shilpa received an offer to return to NASA GRC SIP for a fall internship and will continue her project work virtually while earning her master’s degree in computer science at North Carolina State University.
Learn more about the NASA SCaN Internship Project here. Read more about NASA’s Cognitive Communication’s project here.
Shilpa Kancharla speaking with former NASA Astronaut Alvin Drew during her virtual 2021 GRC SIP internship.
My name is Marvin Q. Jones, Jr. I am a PhD student majoring in astrophysics at the Indiana University Bloomington. I am currently interning at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and the title of my intern project is “Pulsed Fission Fusion (PuFF) Propulsion System.”
Name: Marvin Q. Jones, Jr. Degree: Astrophysics, PhD student Institution: Indiana University Bloomington NASA Center: Marshall Space Flight Center Project Title: Pulsed Fission Fusion (PuFF) Propulsion System
About my project: PuFF aims to create a propulsion system that will take exploration to new levels with goals of missions to Mars, Alpha Centauri, and other deep space exploration. The PuFF concept makes use of mathematical and physics models in COMSOL to simulate feasibility and efficiency of various components such as the pusher plate nozzle and electromagnetic coil gun. Physically, the system will take in lower energy input, which will lead to a smaller, less expensive (hybrid) propulsion system. Lower energy input will translate into smaller capacitor banks and a smaller overall propulsion system. A smaller system would have far reaching applications toward other projects with NASA.
My journey to NASA and advice to students: I have wanted to work for NASA since the 5th grade when my teacher, Mr. John Evans who currently works for NASA, taught my class to build a Mars terrain, and use LEGOs to build and program our own rovers. My internship strengthened my desire to be a computational astrophysicist for NASA and apply to become an Astronaut. Exploring space vehicle design, physics models, numerical simulation, and applications to space exploration was an experience I will treasure when I hope to someday see Earth from space. This internship helped me realize that my background, my village, and training fully prepared me to do the work.
Growing up in Newport News, VA, and living in Newsome Park, VA, which was where Dorothy Vaughn lived for a period of her life feels like a deeper connection to those formerly Hidden Figures who came before me. North Carolina A&T State University, my undergraduate institution, always taught me to explore, discover, and become anything I thought possible. North Carolina A&T didn’t teach me what to think but how to think, which for any intern is key. Thinking about problems and asking good questions is an artform that every intern at NASA needs in their toolkit.
Credits: Marvin Jones.
I think any student with a curious mind should give the internship program a try. No question I asked was too small or too great, experimentation with ideas was highly encouraged, the ability to contribute and be heard was appreciated, and the skills I gained are unfathomable. I would advise any applicant to assess their current skills and the skills they desire–speak on both as they apply. It is about being teachable just as much as it is about what you contribute. As I stare at the canvas of my future, NASA has given me new skills to curate a masterpiece. To students: explore, discover, and apply!
