Vanessa Aponte...
Hello everyone. My name is Vanessa Aponte and I am probably one of the oldest
Coops around here! I am currently working at the Biological
Systems Office under the Space Life Sciences Directorate, while doing my
Ph.D. in Aerospace
Engineering Sciences at the University
of Colorado at Boulder. While chilly Colorado is my adoptive home, I am
originally from the sunny island of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean. Both my Bachelors
and Masters in Chemical Engineering are from the University of Puerto Rico,
the latter being the cradle of my wonderful experience with NASA.
I began my interaction with NASA through my Masters project, which was sponsored
by a Kennedy Space Center grant. I worked with a system that could process
astronaut's urine and remove the sodium chloride from it, so that the effluent
could be fed to bioreactors and subsequently to plants in a biomass production
chamber to create food. This type of process is intended for long-term space
travel, such as the one we would face when going to Mars. Astronauts could
further treat the effluents from the equipment (electrodialysis cells) to
recover salt and consume it as part of their diet..YUM!! Nothing is thrown
to waste when traveling so far!
 After my Masters, I was granted a fellowship from the National Consortium
for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering (GEM) to develop my career
within the space program and fund my doctorate in Aerospace Engineering Sciences.
It was then when I officially started working for NASA at Dryden
Flight Research Center in Edwards, California at the Propulsion and Performance Branch. While
working at Dryden, I was able to work in the design of a platform to test
a hydrogen gas sensor aimed towards the application in vehicles such as the
X-43. For the first time I was exposed to NASA flight and research protocols.
It was a great learning and exciting experience! The following summer I returned
to do a second tour at Dryden at the Controls and Dynamics Branch. This time
around I worked in the development of a mathematical model of the dynamics
of an autonomous vehicle used in ground operations along with manned aircraft.
So all those long hours of Matlab programming in school, finally paid off!
Some of the cool things that I had a chance to experience at Dryden were basically being around awesome planes (F-15, F-18, F-117, F-22, B2, and the rare SR-71) and have the chance to see Endeavor land and be piggy-back-ridden back to KSC. The Coops have always been known for their enthusiasm, so we could not be left behind in welcoming (stalking!!) the crew of STS-111 to their favorite Mexican restaurant "Domingo's" (a few hours after landing), basically the only Mexican restaurant around in the desert!
And finally this year, I had the opportunity to land a graduate Coop spot
at Johnson Space Center-where I've always dreamed of working!! Basically
my doctoral research goes hand in hand with the interests of the space program,
so the Biological Systems Office evaluated my application, and now I'm working
on developing a biosensor to detect immune system response in astronauts.
Cool deal huh? Not only am I advancing towards my Ph.D., but I am acquiring
awesome experience in how things are done in the space program, learning
hundreds of acronyms, meeting astronauts and also meeting the key-people
that were at the core of NASA in its beginnings (Gene Kranz, Chris Kraft,
John Young.etc). Another of the greatest things of working here is that you're
exposed to a variety of interesting research and above all, the people that
are behind it are enthusiastic about explaining what they're doing and have
no problems in showing you their work. There are many people willing to help
and they let you pick on their brains-funniest of all-they encourage you
to do so!!
 You might be asking yourself.but, is there any fun outside of work? PLENTY!!!
I have started flying lessons at a local airport, I like to go running around
JSC along with the deer, I practice kickboxing at the Gilruth gym and I
enjoy plenty of good food (Houston is known to have an avalanche of good
restaurants!).not to mention that I love going to the beach at Galveston,
and also enjoy teaching myself the guitar.
So, in a nutshell.the space program is a great place to be at if you want to have a good balance between hands-on experience of the theory you've learned in school, and fun life after work. This is a unique working environment and the people that make it happen are basically good to the core and willing to make your stay down here as interesting and productive as they possibly can.
If you have any questions, just shoot me an email! vanessa.aponte@colorado.edu
Best of luck in following your dreams! Once you experience NASA, you will not want to go anywhere else.
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