Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
[ Music ]
When I first realized I was selected, I was ecstatic.
I was really excited.
I started crying.
I called my family and they all started crying, too.
I was sitting at my computer reading the e-mail,
and I was overwhelmed with joy.
That was like one of the best things
that ever happened to me right there.
So I was really happy; the best birthday present ever.
[ Music ]
The acronym MUST stands for Motivating Undergraduates
in Science and Technology.
The MUST program is a scholarship
and internship program
for underrepresented underserved students.
And without this scholarship,
it would be very hard to pay for school.
The NASA MUST program gives you half your tuition up to $10,000,
and then they also give you a ten-week paid internship.
The purpose of MUST is to increase the number
of underrepresented and underserved students
in NASA related STEM disciplines.
So I'm a chemistry student.
Majoring in electrical engineering.
Electrical engineering was the perfect choice for me.
Studying mechanical engineering.
Majoring in astrophysics.
And I'm a physics major.
I have absolutely loved the NASA MUST program,
and I would suggest it to anyone
and everyone who's in a STEM field.
My favorite thing about this particular scholarship program.
I really like the internship component.
It's the internship experience.
I'm working on the Primordial Inflation Polarization Explorer,
or PIPER project, which is searching for radiation
from the moments immediately following the Big ***.
I'm working on a literature analysis
of psychosocial adaptation in isolated, confined
and extreme environments for long duration missions.
And each summer, I've been at NASA Ames Research Center,
working in the Nanotechnology Branch.
This summer I'm working
in the Airborne Wind Energy System design group.
My role was to make a ground station,
essentially a demonstration unit.
We've gone into the field after we constructed it and got
to test the robot, and now I'm one of few people
that can say they've flown a kite robotically.
I got the experience of working with the Unity game engine
where they're developing a mock-up experience
of the International Space Station.
I worked in the Constellation program, and I focused
on optimizing heavy lift launch vehicles,
the trajectories of them.
I do analysis of electrical parts.
I could perform some external visual inspections,
internal visual inspections.
I've been mentoring Michael for about six weeks now.
I see a lot of myself in him.
I remember being in his position as a summer intern
and just being very excited to learn and work with people
to get real hands-on experience with master work.
We're using a Fiber Bragg Grating to measure stress
and strain on composite materials.
I am testing a material called Aerogel.
It's an extremely lightweight hydrophobic breathable material.
I'm working with stromatolites, which are microbial communities
that are able to take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere
and turn it into calcium carbonate.
People were very welcoming.
I've never come across anyone at NASA who doesn't want
to help out an intern.
And it's sort of like a training ground for us, and for them.
I got to see what my life would be as a professional engineer,
and what it would be like to work for NASA.
For example, back in fiscal year 2010,
almost 38 MUST alumni were hired
as full-time employees with NASA.
The symposiums are great.
This is going to be my third symposium.
This is my fourth one.
And so far every symposium has been really amazing.
I come out feeling really motivated, wanting to go back
to school, do my best.
It's a good opportunity to talk with other students
who have the same goals and interests as I do,
who are interested in NASA, interested in aerospace,
interested in making the world a better place.
I was delighted to find
out there were like-minded individuals like myself.
We're kind of like a family.
These are my peers and my colleagues and the people
that I will continue to work with throughout my career.
Every year we have fantastic motivational speakers.
I now understand that teachers touch eternity
through their students.
Whatever I had to give, my sense of right and wrong,
my *** for learning, my belief in my children,
I gave to my students, and I will always live through them.
Their words, they stick with us for like years.
I am a first generation high school graduate
and a first generation college student who I didn't have anyone
to guide me through the college process and inform me on how
to apply for jobs and internships.
And that's why the MUST program is so important
because they provide me with a mentor
who would give me experience and advice in the corporate world,
as well as working with NASA.
With the mentoring and then obviously the symposium
with these leadership workshops, it's really prepared me
to be really confident in my field.
I was able to really gain valuable technical skills
and experience in the field that I wanted
to pursue for my career.
My participation in the MUST program has helped me develop a
better work ethic.
As a result of this, I have become a much better student,
much better speaker, much better networker due
to my friendships in the MUST program.
These are really friendships I know I'll have for a long time,
so it means a lot to me personally
to be in the MUST program.
It's truly been an amazing experience
between the people I've met
and the professional development that I have received.
It really motivates me
and reminds me why I chose to study STEM.
The NASA MUST program is what keeps me motivated
to continue on pushing through.
I think my family is very proud of me.
This is an opportunity that I probably wouldn't have been able
to receive had it not been for MUST.
I just really enjoy what I do, and I'm really excited
that NASA MUST gives me the opportunity
to be able to pursue it.