Hello Texas Aerospace Scholars! My name is Nick Skytland and I’ll be the co-op assistant for the week 4 Blue Team. I’m from Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin and I attend Valparaiso University (located in Northwest Indiana, near Chicago). I am a senior in the Mechanical Engineering program. I chose to study Mechanical Engineering because it was a broad major that could lead me in many different directions. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do after college, but I knew that my math, science and computer skills would lead me to an interesting career.

So far, my career has been interesting. Last summer I interned with General Motors in their design center in Warren, MI. I had the opportunity to work with other students and design a Cadillac sports car. As the summer came to an end, I started my first coop tour at Johnson Space Center in the EVA Crew and Thermal Systems Division. I worked with all the tools that astronauts use in space on EVAs as well as the space suits that they wear in space. My main project involved designing and testing a cooling heat exchanger that will be used to implement a new advanced Mars space suit. The project involved understanding how the suit functioned as well as the physics behind it all.

After spending another semester back at school in Indiana, I am currently working in NASA’s Sonny Carter Training Facility. Better known as the NBL (Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory), this is the place where astronauts train for their EVA missions. As a NBL Flight Lead, I am partly responsible for overseeing the training that takes place at the facility. I get to interact with astronaut’s everyday, as well as work with different components of the Space Shuttle, Space Station and Hubble telescope. I love my job!!!

Outside of work I am involved in a number of activities. I am sports fanatic. I love basketball, soccer, baseball, rock climbing and mountain biking. I also love to run and am member of the NCAA Division I Track and Field and cross-country teams at my University. If I can’t be found participating in one of the above mentioned sports, I am probably volunteering at the Fire Station with Week 5’s coop Chris Nelson or Week 8’s coop Rachel Lehman.

I’m very excited to meet you and I am really looking forward to all the fun we will have during our week here at JSC. Congratulations on your acceptance into the Texas Aerospace Scholars Program.