Howdy!  My name is Andrew Perrone, and I’ll be working with you during your visit to the Johnson Space Center.  This will be my second time to help with the Aerospace Scholars program; my last time was the program’s first season.  I had a great time working with my team then, and I know this summer will be just as much fun (if not better).

I’m currently on my third co-op tour, which means that I have been going back and forth between school, at Texas A&M University, and work at the Johnson Space Center.  (By the way, I’m from Texas.)  At A&M I am working towards my Bachelor degree in Economics, and although that’s not an engineering or engineering-related major, I’ve learned a lot about the space program over my three tours (or sessions) at NASA.  I’m currently working as a budget analyst for the Space and Life Sciences Directorate.  In this capacity I track money moving into and out of my division, making sure we have enough to get us through the year, and working with my JSC counterparts who actually bind the government, by contract, with another agency or outside business for delivery (to us) of a service or good.  Most of my work this summer has been helping the Space Medicine part of Space and Life Sciences, which funds medical and scientific research on ground, in orbit, and other health-related tasks, like providing medical care for the astronauts here.

At Texas A&M, I am a senior who will graduate in just a few short months – this December, 2001!  In college I’ve been involved with, first and foremost, the Texas A&M Singing Cadets, which is an all-male (though not all-military, or cadet, as the name implies), choir that represents A&M at a number of functions and travels around the state, country, and sometimes the world to perform a great variety of music and spread “the Aggie spirit.”  A couple of our highlights have been singing for the opening of the George Bush Presidential Library (George #41, not the current prez, of course), which allowed us to sing for all the living Presidents and First Ladies and even some celebrities, and singing in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.

I’ve also been involved with a student-run lecture series, which plans lectures (or discussions) of various U.S. foreign policy or international topics and then invites world leaders and experts to come and address the students and community members about the topic.  This past spring we were lucky enough to get former President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev to come!

This Bio is getting lengthy, so I’ll cut it off and just say that I really look forward to getting to know all of you and working with you on this interesting project.  If you have any questions about college or working at NASA or whatever, please feel free to email me.