Jason Jones may be unsure of exactly what career awaits him after college, but he’s sure it will involve flight.
“Who knows? I may wind up flying the first manned mission to Mars,” he said.
The 17-year-old high school senior from Lumberton spent his fall semester at NASA Stennis Space Center (SSC), honing skills he may need for that mission: conducting research and helping outline the scope of a project that will use satellite images to measure 30 years’ worth of land use changes around Alabama’s Mobile Bay.
Jones participated in NASA’s DEVELOP program, in which student teams research NASA science capabilities and create computer-based visualizations demonstrating their results. He took part in another SSC education program this summer, the NASA Summer High School Apprenticeship Research Program (SHARP). When he learned of DEVELOP’s work with applied sciences and remote sensing, the homeschooled student “thought it was awesome. I went straight to the Web and looked into it.”
Jones is one of many students who annually flow through what the NASA Education Office calls its “education pipeline.” The pipeline is made up of programs that match students and educators in science, engineering and mathematics with NASA resources and facilities. Through NASA Explorer Schools, NASA SHARP, DEVELOP and the Undergraduate Student Researchers Program (USRP), NASA is contributing to students’ education, and hoping some of them come back as employees.
DEVELOP apprenticeships are normally pursued by college students, but Jones had a 4.0 GPA and strong credentials that included his NASA SHARP experience. “I learned a lot through NASA SHARP,” Jones said, “and I’m learning a lot in DEVELOP: professional skills, PowerPoint, time management, computer skills, teamwork. NASA SHARP was an eye-opener to all the opportunities NASA has to offer. NASA’s mission of inspiring the next generation of explorers is very well carried out in NASA SHARP.”
Next fall, he plans to enroll in Pearl River Community College in Poplarville, Miss., and aims to eventually transfer to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida. Though uncertain how his NASA education experiences will fit into his plan, Jones said he was inspired by reading the biography of Col. Rick Husband. Husband died when Space Shuttle Columbia was lost Feb. 1, 2003.
Other students have returned to SSC after positive experiences with apprenticeship programs. When Tasha Payton came to apprentice in 1997, she was certain she wanted to be a microbiologist.
“I had made up my mind that’s what I wanted to be,” said Payton, now a graphic designer with Science Applications International Corp.-Datastar at SSC. “But then a microbiologist visited our class, and I decided there was no way.”
Her guidance counselor at Hancock High School suggested she apply for NASA SHARP at SSC. Through the paid summer apprenticeship, Payton learned to develop a Web page, compile presentations and draw diagrams for NASA’s Education Office.
“NASA SHARP confirmed that graphic design was for me,” Payton said. “Before that, I didn’t think there was an opportunity for me to have a career in the arts.”
Ratessiea Lett, 19 and of Gulfport, studies engineering at Gulf Coast Community College. During a NASA SHARP apprenticeship in summer 2003, Lett drew a lot of maps. “I thought I wanted to go into drafting,” Lett said, “But then I found out there is a need for mechanical design engineers.”
Her USRP project this summer helped steer her toward mechanical engineering. “My main project was working on a map of the liquid oxygen system for the E-1 Test Stand at SSC.
“But the most important thing I learned was to ask questions,” Lett said. “I never wanted to do that before, and I missed out on a lot.” A physical scientist with NASA’s Applied Sciences Directorate (formerly the Earth Science Applications Directorate), Callie Hall of Bay St. Louis was first involved with NASA as a NASA SHARP student in 1991. Later, she worked as an undergraduate co-op student, as a graduate co-op student, then joined NASA full time in 2001. Her work involves studying the bio-optic qualities of the water in the Mississippi River plume as it spills into the Gulf of Mexico. Her early NASA SHARP work with NASA scientist Dr. Marco Giardino helped her learn skills she now uses every day.
“He taught me about image interpretation using aerial photography,” she said. “I learned about remote sensing and all the different applications for it. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. NASA SHARP provided me a career path early on.”
Education Officer Dr. Dewey Herring calls this pipeline of student programs invaluable to meeting NASA’s current and future need for a world-class, diverse work force to accomplish its mission.
“Though the student work experience is largely intended to attract the student to future NASA employment,” Herring said, “it also begins the vital transition of a sense of passion and a wealth of knowledge from senior workers to the new generation of employees so NASA can continue to move steadily forward in the attainment of its highly technical mission.”
“This ‘pipeline’ is part of NASA’s strategic plan, and it works,” said Cheri Miller, a NASA Administrative Operations employee in charge of DEVELOP at SSC. “It makes sense. If you invest that much in a student, you want to be able to reap the benefit of the investment.”
Related Multimedia :
https://www.nasa.gov/centers/stennis/news/newsreleases/2004/STS-04-120-cptn1.html
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