The Brevard Technical Journal

NASA SHARP internship program benefits local students
Contributing to live NASA projects inspires young participants to redirect education and careers

By Anne Straub
Brevard Technical Journal

In an ongoing effort at Kennedy Space Center, engineers are proposing the use of satellites in place of the current radar system to track space vehicles. As part of the Space-based Telemetry and Range Safety project, NASA tests the proposed system on jets in California.

They compile data, which then is examined to determine the effectiveness of satellites for tracking. Part of that data analysis was done by over the summer by Katherine Perakis during an eight-week stint at KSC. The rest of the work will have to be done by NASA, however. Perakis is too busy completing her senior year at Merritt Island High School.

Perakis was one of 14 Brevard County students who participated in the NASA SHARP program over the summer. The eight-week internship offers paid work experience at a NASA center to qualified students.

Applicants are chosen on the basis of their academic record, an essay and teacher recommendation, followed by an interview. The program is open to all students, but particularly encourages applications from students underrepresented in mathematics, engineering, geography, science and technology fields. Those include women, African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, Pacific Islanders and the disabled.

"If they can come here and experience an internship, it hopefully would raise the numbers in employment in those areas," said Karroll Purer, NASA education specialist and program manager for NASA SHARP.

"It puts a bug in their hat. They get excited and they want to come back," Purer said of program participants. Some students get their degrees, then return to a NASA center and serve as mentors for NASA SHARP students, she said.

Each student is assigned to a mentor who helps the student adjust to the work environment, lays out a project and supervises the student through the assignment. Mentor Eduardo Lopez Del Castillo is a regular volunteer, using the program to help young people make career decisions and fulfill NASA's mission to inspire the next generation. "I take that pretty seriously," he said.

Students come to the space center eager to learn, said Erik Denson, a lead engineer who has served as a mentor for nine years. They're also able to contribute. "The kids are really top-notch," he said. "Obviously, with the age of computers, they come in much more computer literate. They're able to be productive right away."

On Kevin Smith's first day of work, his mentor asked him and a student partner to take apart a computer and put it back together. They finished the task and were ready for more work. "I guess he was surprised we did it that fast," said Smith, a senior at Cocoa Beach High School.

Smith worked in information technology security at KSC and learned how the agency scans networks for hacking attempts. His research paper and presentation - a requirement for all NASA SHARP students - covered how organizations can avoid being fooled by email frauds that introduce viruses into computer networks.

For many students, experiencing the environment proved a large benefit to the experience. "It showed me an actual workplace," said Michael Davis. The Titusville High School senior was surprised by how much he enjoyed the summer. "I thought it was going to be work, work, work all the time. But I actually learned to have fun up there."

Davis worked on the ecological image archival system, creating a database to store and categorize images.

The program aims to help students decide on a career path. Robbie Stokes, a junior at Titusville High School, already knew he'd like a career at KSC. He worked in the electrical division of shuttle processing, testing reconstruction proposals for the effort to return the shuttle to flight. "It opened my eyes to different fields I could work in," Stokes said. He had wanted to be an electrical engineer, but found he'd rather be more hands-on. He's now leaning toward mechanical engineering.

NASA SHARP also helped Natasha Gray hone her career plans. She spent the summer creating a reference library for electrical engineers working on uses for and ways to charge nickel hydrogen batteries. The work was a great experience, but confirmed that she's more interested in liberal arts than in technology. The Rockledge High School senior hopes to become a lawyer.

Ashley Player's work experience included a dose of practice in communications. The Rockledge High School junior worked on the portal for the Space Station Processing Facility. The portal compiles frequently used web sites for easier access. Player surveyed the engineers to find out what sites they used often, developed the portal, then went around to the workers individually to show them how to use it.

Not all Brevard participants worked at the space center. Rockledge High School junior Kelly Patterson worked for Sandia National Labs in New Mexico. Her mentor was working on developing thin-film battery electrolytes for lithium ion batteries. Thinner, more efficient electrolytes would have a variety of benefits, including lighter cell phones and faster computers.

Patterson used a glove box - a sealed box that's accessible by placing hands in gloves to mix chemicals in the enclosed, inert atmosphere. "My mentor basically said, here's the periodic table, here are some chemicals - go for it," said Patterson, who had never taken a chemistry class.

In practice, she got more guidance than that, but was surprised to see how much science she got to experience. Her group was trying to create a compound that was theoretically shown to work but had never been made. While they were trying to figure out how to make the electrolyte, Patterson's attempt was a hit. "That was really exciting," she said. She's adding a chemical engineering minor to her career plans.

Her experience is not unusual in the program. "The opportunity the kids have is tremendous," said Raul Montes, science department chairman and physics teacher at Cocoa High School. He also coordinates the NASA SHARP program for the company that subcontracts for NASA's education arm.

"They work hand-in-hand with researchers. I was a little envious," he said.

Other Brevard students who participated in NASA SHARP this year:

Jacqueline Henkel, West Shore High School.
Hailey Loomis, Cocoa Beach High School.
Cristina Lopez Del Castillo, Melbourne Central Catholic.
Luis Quiles, Eau Gallie High School.
Heather Sarkees, Eau Gallie High School.
Robin Shaw, West Shore High School.
Andrea Smith, Satellite High School.