On National Intern Day 2022, NASA is celebrating the nearly 2500 interns spread across the agency.
An internship with America’s space agency is an opportunity for students to enrich their professional pursuits while also benefiting NASA’s missions with their unique perspectives and contributions. Broadening their horizons by gaining professional experience in offices, research centers or labs, interns work behind the scenes to aid their mentors and teams on tasks and projects.
As part of the Artemis generation, interns have worked on everything from the Perseverance rover to NASA’s return to the Moon. Every intern has a unique experience, as options to work virtually or in-person provide opportunities for those that may not have had the chance otherwise. Interns can also work in a variety of fields, allowing students to explore different disciplines and program offices.
We asked this year’s Space Tech interns, spread across various programs and centers, from the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program to the Small Satellite Technology program, to tell us a little bit about their experiences with NASA this summer.
“The experiences I have gained while at NASA have opened a world of opportunities for me. I am forever grateful to all that have helped me along my journey.” -Kaitlin Angelini, Fayetteville State University
“My favorite part of being a NASA intern is knowing that contributing my small role will benefit the larger goals of the NASA mission. By utilizing service design techniques to uncover patterns and trends based on data, I can provide insights on improving and redesigning the future of SBIR/STTR services. I am fortunate to work with amazing mentors and fellow interns who share the same common goal.” -Kory Steinberg, University of Maryland, College Park
“Working for NASA has inspired great passion and motivation for my career. From making long-lasting friendships to learning the ins and outs of process improvement, I will be finishing off my internship feeling more inspired and knowledgeable than ever. I hope to come back someday and continue to work with the incredible people of NASA.” -Anna Diaz, Santa Monica College
“During my time at NASA, I have learned so much about not just science and technology, but also how to communicate and work with others. I am grateful for this opportunity because I can meet so many talented and amazing people, while improving my skill sets and knowledge.” -Clarissa Cheung, University of Florida
“It has been incredible working at NASA. It’s been very interesting to study the user experience of entrepreneurial customers and employees of the SBIR/STTR program and employ this valuable information to better serve them. This has taught me to quantitatively and qualitatively analyze data from numerous interviews and surveys to paint a fuller picture of NASA’s SBIR/STTR user experience.” -Theresa Antony, CUNY College of Staten Island
Want to know how to find your place in space? Learn more about NASA’s internship programs at https://intern.nasa.gov/.
Haley Oeur, Space Technology Mission Directorate Communications & Outreach intern
NASA Headquarters