Dive into your creative stream
Internships - Blog Posts
Ok why is it so hard to find internships for me. Like I'm supposed to find one for one of my classes and then I don't have to do anything schoolwork wise, but literally all of them are 18+ (I'm a highschool student) or their applications closed in like January for this coming year 😭 and there very little opportunities in the field I want to pursue anyways it makes me so mad
Wait...
Is ThIs ThE aCtUaL UNERI cOmErCiAl?!
Me: *In the mirror, pretending to be a model in a shampoo commercial.*
Friend 1: Okay, now left, right, and...
Friend 2: ArE yOu TiReD oF dRy, UnRuLy HaIr?
Soaring into Aerospace: NASA Interns Take Flight at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh
Sustainable Aviation Ambassadors Alex Kehler, Bianca Legeza-Narvaez, Evan Gotchel, and Janki Patel pose in front of the NASA Pavilion at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh.
It’s that time of year again–EAA AirVenture Oshkosh is underway!
Boasting more than 650,000 visitors annually, EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, or “Oshkosh” for short, is an airshow and fly-in held by the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA). Each year, flight enthusiasts and professionals from around the world converge on Oshkosh, Wisconsin, to engage with industry-leading organizations and businesses and celebrate past, present, and future innovation in aviation.
This year, four NASA interns with the Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration (EPFD) project count themselves among those 650,000+ visitors, having the unique opportunity to get firsthand experience with all things aerospace at Oshkosh.
Alex Kehler, Bianca Legeza-Narvaez, Evan Gotchel, and Janki Patel are Sustainable Aviation Ambassadors supporting the EPFD project, which conducts tests of hybrid electric aircraft that use electric aircraft propulsion technologies to enable a new generation of electric-powered aircraft. The focus of Alex, Bianca, Evan, and Janki’s internships cover everything from strategic communications to engineering, and they typically do their work using a laptop. But at Oshkosh, they have a special, more hands-on task: data collection.
“At Oshkosh, I am doing some data collection to better estimate how we can be prepared in the future,” said Janki, an Aerospace Engineering major from the University of Michigan. “Coming to Oshkosh has been an amazing experience… I can walk around and see people passionate about the work they do.”
The NASA Pavilion at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh is full of interactive exhibits and activities for visitors to engage with. NASA Interns Alex, Bianca, Evan, and Janki are collecting data in the pavilion to help improve future exhibits at Oshkosh.
In addition to gathering data to help inform future NASA exhibits and activities at Oshkosh, the interns also have the opportunity to engage with visitors and share their passion for aviation with other aero enthusiasts. For Evan, who is receiving his Master's in Aerospace Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, “being able to be here and talk with people who are both young and old who are interested in what the future of flight could be has been so incredible.”
Alex, Evan, Bianca, and Janki pose in front of NASA’s Super Guppy, a specialized aircraft used to transport oversized cargo.
At Oshkosh, one memory in particular stands out for Alex, Bianca, Evan, and Janki: seeing NASA’s famous Super Guppy in person. With a unique hinged nose and a cargo area that's 25 feet in diameter and 111 feet long, the Super Guppy can carry oversized cargo that is impossible to transport with other cargo aircraft.
“We had a very lucky experience… We were able to not only see the Super Guppy, we got to get up close when it landed,” said Bianca, who is receiving her Master's in Business Administration with a specialization in Strategic Communications from Bowling Green State University. “From a learning experience, it gave me a way better basis on cargo aircraft and how they operate.”
For Alex, who is receiving his Master's in Aeronautical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, it was exciting to see the Super Guppy’s older technology integrated with newer technologies up close. “There have been a lot of good memories, but I think the best one was the Super Guppy. It was cool to see this combination of 60’s and 70’s technology with this upgraded plane.”
Evan and Janki pose for a photo while walking around EAA AirVenture Oshkosh.
With Oshkosh coming to a close this Sunday, July 30, Alex, Bianca, Evan, and Janki also reflected on advice they have for future NASA interns on how they can get the most out of their internship: be curious and explore, connect with people who work in the field you’re interested in, and don’t be afraid to ask questions.
Alex advises potential NASA interns to “dream big and shoot for your goals, and divide that up into steps… In the end it will work out.” For Bianca, being open and exploring is key: “take opportunities, even if it’s the complete opposite thing that you were intending to do.”
“Ask questions all the time,” said Evan. “Even outside the internship, always continue asking people about what they are knowledgeable on.” And Janki encourages future interns to “Follow your own path. Get the help of mentors, but still do your own thing.”
Visiting Oshkosh and want to see NASA science in action? Stop by the NASA Pavilion, located at Aviation Gateway Park, and see everything from interactive exhibits on sustainable aviation, Advanced Air Mobility, Quesst, and Artemis to STEM activities–and you may even meet NASA pilots, engineers, and astronauts! At Oshkosh, the sky’s the limit.
Interested in interning with NASA? Head over to NASA’s internship website to learn more about internship opportunities with NASA and find your place in (aero)space.
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!
Next Gen @ NASA: Celebrating National Intern Day
To celebrate National Intern Day, we asked interns to share how they got their internship and their perspective and advice to the next generation of prospective NASA interns.
Meet our interns and check out their suggestions for the next generation.
Sarah Kilpatrick, STDCE-2 Data Intern
Sarah is a summer Surface Tension Driven Convection Experiment Data Intern at NASA. Her inspiration for applying for an internship came from a passion for science from an early age. “I grew up in a family that liked, enjoyed and appreciated science and the fun of it all,” she recalls. “I grew up watching PBS, NOVA, and other science shows, so when I saw NASA had opportunities for students like me, I was very interested.”
Sarah’s advice to the next generation of NASA interns is one of perseverance and resilience.
Nicholas Natsoulas, Attitude Control Engineering Intern
Nicholas is a summer Attitude Control Engineering Intern at NASA. He wants to contribute to scientific innovation and discovery. “Overall, what inspired me to apply and come to work here was to contribute to the scientific exploration of space while learning about unique perspectives and innovative space discoveries.”
Nicholas’s advice for prospective NASA interns is to make the most out of your time here and to be a curious and eager learner.
“Use all the resources that are at your center and ask questions about projects you are working on. Don’t be afraid to talk to your mentor about your plans for the future and ask for any advice you may need, as they are more than willing to help you during your time here,” says Nicholas.
Nicholas and his mentor, Brent Faller, are using software to inform design decisions on a variety of spacecraft.
Nylana Murphy, former Additive Manufacturing Engineering Intern
As an American Indian College Fund ambassador and a Navajo engineer, Nylana Murphy hopes her internship story will inspire others to pursue a career in aerospace.
After attending the American Indian Science Engineering Society Conference, Nylana secured an internship in the additive manufacturing research laboratory at NASA Marshall.
“My internships have helped me get to where I am,” she says, “There is a career for everyone, where their dreams can become reality. Those dreams WILL become a reality.”
You might be wondering: what happens after a NASA internship Here’s what two of our former interns did.
Loral O’Hara, Astronaut, former intern
Lorel interned at NASA JPL in 2003, and at NASA Goddard in 2004. She earned science degrees from both the University of Kansas and Purdue University.
As a research and project engineer, O’Hara reported for duty in August 2017 and completed two years of training as an Astronaut Candidate. She is projected to fly in Soyuz missions as a NASA astronaut soon.
If she could go back in time, Loral says she would tell her younger self to enjoy the opportunities that come her way—and never stop looking for new ones. “Enjoy the whole journey of…figuring out what it is that you like to do and exploring all different kinds of things.”
Jeff Carlson, Assembly, Test, Launch Operations Engineer
The “7 Minutes of Terror” video piqued Jeff Carlson’s interest in working at JPL. He thought, "That's the coolest thing I've ever heard of. I've got to go be a part of that in some way." While interning at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, he worked on Starshade, a sunflower-shaped device used to block starlight in order to reveal planets orbiting a star. Later, he went on to work on the team tasked with assembling and testing the “head” and “neck” (officially called the Remote Sensing Mast) for the Mars 2020 rover.
Want to join us in exploring the secrets of the universe? Visit intern.nasa.gov to learn more about open opportunities and requirements!
Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!
Credits: Isabel Rodriguez, Glenn Research Center intern and Claire O'Shea, Johnson Space Center intern