NASA L’SPACE Academy

Faculty Advisor: Dr. Chris Murphy

Field Site: NASA

Field supervisor: Dagmawi Sirak

Course Description: 

This course aims to bridge school with the workforce and explores the process of transitioning an aerospace mission from conceptualization to implementation through NASA fieldwork. There is an emphasis on communication and interdisciplinary collaboration. Students will work in a team with others from a variety of backgrounds (including mathematics, computer science, and engineering) to learn NASA best practices and produce a technical Preliminary Design Review. Students are sorted into teams and assigned projects based on their respective backgrounds and locations, and are paired with a mentor for the duration of the Academy. The fieldwork is designed to be a student-driven project, where students are trained in critical areas each week during whole cohort sessions with Subject Matter Experts.

Reflection: 

For my Praxis Independent Course, I was a part of the NASA L’SPACE Academy, where I worked with a team of engineers and scientists to design a secondary payload mission into the Venusian atmosphere. Our team was comprised of three divisions – business, science, and engineering – and I worked on the engineering team as a software engineer. This experience was very interesting because although my role focused on software and computing, it didn’t involve any programming. This was different than any experience I’d had up until this point because in classes, the focus was on learning and applying new programming concepts. However for this project, there was a heavy focus on balancing the design and software requirements with the mass, volume, and budget constraints- as well as ensuring we met the scientific objectives.  Another difference I noticed was the interdisciplinary work and communication between members of the team. Because I worked with engineers from diverse backgrounds – including aerospace, mechanical, and electrical, asking about and explaining technical concepts to other members of the team was crucial to ensure we all had a thorough conceptual understanding so we could create a cohesive final product. Working across departments with the Business and Science teams meant that similar communication was needed, which was both new and enjoyable to me. Overall, I had a very positive experience working with my team in the NASA L’SPACE Academy, and I think it was extremely helpful for gaining practical experience and exposure to the aerospace industry.