Brian Butcher...
About Me
I am a Computer Science student at Texas Tech University. Go RED RAIDERS! I
haven't
lived in Texas forever. I was born in New York and spent the majority of my life
growing up in Las Vegas. What a culture shock moving to Lubbock, Texas but this
is where I met my loving wife and I am happy in Texas.
The Road to NASA
I can't say that I ever imagined I would work for NASA. I didn't even know what
the co-op program was when I first started school. It wasn't until I attended
the Community College Aerospace Scholars event at JSC that I realized I wanted
to
be a co-op
at NASA. Once I enrolled at TTU I spoke with the co-op department and started
the process. I also took the initiative and became a CAS assistant and spent
two weekends in Houston helping with the event. Eventually all my grades and
hard
work paid off and I received the call saying I am in.
First Tour
|
Inside the SAIL Shuttle Sim |
My first co-op tour was in IT2. This division is responsible for the JSC network.
While I was here I learned things about networking that I never knew existed.
My main project was to evaluate two different network appliances that would accomplish
DHCP authentication. This was new to me because I didnt't even know how DHCP
works. I
was
able
to
spend
a
lot
of
time
in
the network lab configuring the appliances, testing different architectures,
and
learning
the
fundamentals
of networks. I never realized how important everyone at NASA is to the space
program. You always hear about all the cool projects everyone is working on but
what would
happen if the network went down during a shuttle mission. I enjoyed working with
the network infrastructure alot but I think the greatest part was getting to
meet
many
amazing
people. The whole division was great. They
really wanted me to learn as much as I could and were willing to help me with
everything. My mentor and the branch made my job better than it already was.
Tours & Lectures
I would say that at least once a week there is an exciting event planned by the
tours and lectures committee. How does taking an hour of your day and walk to
the next building and hear a great lecture by Gene Kranz or maybe Chris Kraft
sound to you. Well that is what you get to look forward to if you are a co-op.
It is not only lectures but we also get to tour all the hot spots at JSC. We
went to the NBL (training pool) as well as Ellington Field (supper guppy, T-38's).
The list goes on. You never know what you will do the next week.
|
|
 |
The Bad News
Bears Co-op Softball Team
|
Gene Kranz and I at his lecture |
Outside of Work
When your work day is over the fun doesn't stop there. This tour
I had the chance to join one of the co-op softball teams and we had a great time
losing. There are plenty of other sports if softball is not your thing. There
is always someone trying to plan an activity for everyone. I also spent a lot
of time hanging out
with some of the guys in my branch. You definitely don't have to worry about
being bored.
I strongly encourage you to look into the co-op program at NASA. It has really
opened my eyes to new opportunities. If you have any questions feel free to email
me at brian.t.butcher@nasa.gov or
brian.butcher@ttu.edu while I am at
school.
|
|
|
