Welcome to the Texas Aerospace Scholars Program and congratulations on your acceptance. You’re going to have a great time here in Houston at the Johnson Space Center, as long as you really, really like heat. OK, so maybe I’m just not used to it yet. I grew up in Florham Park, NJ, which is a two square mile town about forty minutes outside New York City with a significantly cooler climate. But aside from the heat, I love being in Houston. There are lots of interesting people here and tons to do around the Johnson Space Center!

Right now I’m a junior at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN and also a co-op at NASA. This summer is my third work tour with the Johnson Space Center, which makes me almost an old geezer by co-op standards. Most coops complete between three and five tours before graduating college.

Work at JSC is always interesting and exciting. My first tour, I worked in mission operations with the payloads team. I spent most of the tour helping to plan for STS-101 with the team that was responsible for the cargo being transferred to the International Space Station (ISS) on that flight. The highlight of the tour was working the mission from Mission Control on a midnight to 9 AM shift. The hours were tough, but the work was great!

I completed my second tour with the Mechanical and Robotics Systems training branch. My major project was to develop a new PC-based simulator to train flight controllers who were getting ready for the robotic arm to be put on the space station.

Right now, I’m working in the Exploration Office, which is designing futuristic space flight vehicles and missions. Our major study right now involves planning a next-generation mission to the moon.

I’m really excited to be working with y’all this summer, and I look forward to meeting you. See you soon!