Nina Patel...

Hi, hello, howdy, and what's up?! If you've ventured this far to find out what it's like to be a NASA co-op then you're almost there! That's exactly what I did when I was trying to get co-op position at NASA: surf this website day and night, get in touch with co-ops after reading their biographies, ask them what it's like working for NASA in Houston, etc. The responses were always positive (i.e. this is the BEST job on the planet). Now, after experiencing it myself, I can tell you the same!

A'ITE, enough preachin': time for a little bit about myself. I was born in Los Angeles, California; lived in India for 12 years, went to school over there and have landed back in US as a senior at Penn State University (a.k.a. Happy Valley - w00t!). I'm majoring in Computer Science and like many of the other co-ops here, being part of NASA has been my dream since.. since.. I don't remember when. I certainly didn't know I would be this lucky and fortunate to pursue such rare dream but hey, that's what they call "dream come true". :-D

So, by taking my example (and the example of many others here at JSC) you now know it's possible to pursue your dream to work for NASA! You see, not to preach again, but NASA is addictive, once you're part of it, you can't get away from it nor stop talking about it either. The co-op saying goes: "it's not a job, it's a lifestyle".

Besides co-oping at NASA, my other hobbies are ice skating, adventurous sports and outings, tennis, salsa dancing, computers, reading Dan Brown, John Grisham, others (ask me about it and we'll spend some time discussing it), board games, chess, traveling (planning to study abroad my last semester at Penn State ... aiming at Singapore), meeting people of different cultures, exploring different cuisine; these are a few - the list goes on.

Now this is the story of how my life got turned upside down and I'd like to take a minute, you just sit right there, and I'll tell you how I became part of NASA and wear lots of space flare:

Life as a co-op

Me working on the DMT (Dexterous Manipulator Trainer)

Rewinddd-dddd-dddd!

Afternoon of Sept 24, 2002 was the day of Penn State University 's Fall Career Fair for technical co-ops/internships and full-time jobs. Being a Computer Science major I fell in that category and decided to locate myself a decent co-op opportunity. NASA/JSC comes to Penn State every fall semester to recruit a few co-ops. There I saw Johnson Space Center's booth: recruiters collecting student resumes, smiling faces, everyone dressed to impress and trying to get an interview. I stood in line doing the same. Talked with the recruiter (no, it wasn't Bob Musgrove), gave my resume, asked lots of questions, showed my interest, etc. Then got out of the line, roamed around through other booths.. eventually circling back to NASA table. I chatted with the recruiter again just to show my face once more and said "I will see you at the interview tomorrow". He smiled and I left.

I went home, turned the co-op website inside-out for couple of hours, told my roommate to get off the phone as NASA will be calling me to setup an interview. I didn't receive any response until at least 10 PM at night (patience is a virtue). About 10:15 PM the phone rang: "This is Bob Musgrove from NASA/JSC, we would like to interview you for the co-op position at NASA". I could barely sleep that night before the big interview (it's good to get a good night's rest before you interview; maybe even a good breakfast). I had my interview at 8 AM in the morning. Bob is awesome.. we just talked and talked and talked, it didn't feel like an interview at all - we simply chatted. I kept in touch with him for next month through emails. Nov 28th , 2002 , I come home from classes in the evening, listened to my voice message "Hi Nina, this is Bob Musgrove from NASA/JSC, would like to talk to you about co-oping at NASA, give me call back". It was after hours, so I couldn't call him. I waaaaiiiited a whole day and I called him early next morning. Bob: "Nina, we have a co-op position for you, would you like to take it".. and well, the rest is history.

As Bob says, that's my little story of how I took my first baby step into NASA heading towards the Milky Way... and here's what has transpired since (I'm finishing my 4th rotation as I write this):

In Historic Mission Control

First/Second Co-op Tour; Spr/Sum '03 (SF3)

I did two tours back-to-back in the Habitability and Human Factors Branch for Space and Life Science Directorate! I was part of Graphical Research Analysis Facility during this co-op tour, where I got to work on a project for ongoing research in Augmented Reality.

Augmented Reality is a technique that allows the user to see the real world with virtual objects or graphics superimposed over real world environment. This technology is planned to be applied on SPDM (Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator) robotic arm with its potential to reduce the amount of time to perform certain robotic tasks, increase accuracy and visibility as graphical overlay will provide extra information and actual location of the target.

For this project I got my hands on programming in C++ to write to Augmented Reality (AR) software, debug the open source C based library for AR called AR toolkit, got involved in lots of detailed rotations and transformation techniques of different co-ordinate systems (one of the fundamental areas in computer vision), graphics, camera calibration technique s, etc. Even got my hands on actual robotic arm while testing our software. It was an excellent experience.

Third Co-op Tour; Sum '04 (ER2)

I spent my third co-op tour in the Intelligent Systems Branch, which is part of Automated Robotics and Simulation Division. I was involved in two summer projects. First project was evaluation of a rule-based expert system for Human Centered Autonomous and Assistant Systems Testbed ("software agents"). This project is being developed to design and prototype intelligent agents and collaborative work software that will support future mission operations teamwork for problem solving and communication in aerospace work environments where distributed computer and human agents co-operate. My part of the project involved evaluation of Briefing and Response Instruction (BRI) editor prototype for this rule based expert system. To evaluate the BRI editor graphical user interface, I re-implemented a set of existing rules for monitoring the shuttle remote manipulation system (RMS) parameters in real-time. My second project was evaluation of the Specification Toolkit and Requirement Methodology tool (SpecTRM - a tool to organize complex software requirements levels, design, and simulations) as it was planned to be integrated in one of tool suites NASA is developing to support risk decision-making in collaborative design environments for technologists, managers and engineers and test it with real projects and other space flight missions and technologies. This was another great experience.

Me in the space video gateway lab

Fourth Co-op Tour; Fall '04 (EV3)

I decided to do my last co-op tour in Flight Software Branch. All the other NASA branches at JSC are our customers when it comes to sending critical software or certifying hardware using software up in space. In this branch I got involved in one of their really neat projects called Space Video Gateway. This project is the space act agreement between Japanese Space Agency, Discovery Channel, and NASA to downlink high definition television from space to ground where Japan is providing the HD Camera and NASA is going to provide the system to downlink High Definition Television (HDTV) signal and the standard definition television signal.

For this project, I get to play around with NTSC, FireWire, high definition encoder cards, different cameras, IP packetizers/depacketizer cards, integrate all hardware together, design and implement the network communication configuration of how to send the IP data over the network from space to ground, learn about the whole Space Station Operations LAN. This project exposed me to how some mission critical NASA projects work through different phases such as Systems Requirement Review to Preliminary Design Review to Critical Design Review to Implementation to Testing to Certifying a product for the flight. It also exposed me to the vast world of network communications within Computer Science.

Me taking the plunge! :p

Past experiences and this experience have landed me with a full-time job offer here at JSC in Flight Software Branch after I graduate in May '05. Thanks to Bob, Anne, all my mentors, co-op community, my family, friends in Houston/school, instructors at school for making this possible.

As I have said before: co-oping at NASA is an incredible experience for any student - not only do you get to do a space-tacular job, but you are also involved into in a million co-op activities that saturate every evening, weekend, and occasionally work.

Edna and I at the Houston Mueseum of Natural Science

NASA co-ops have many opportunities to become leaders, run several committees at NASA, etc... all of which are an important part of the co-op experience. For example, co-ops run the Tours and Lectures committee, a group that organizes tours of several NASA/JSC facilities for co-ops to give personalized tours of the Mission Control Center, Neutral Buoyancy Lab, Ellington Field, Shuttle Simulators, Space Food Lab, Space Station Mockups... and so on. That same group also finds speakers such as Gene Kranz, Chris Kraft, John Young etc.

We have a housing committee where co-ops go out and find housing for prospective co-ops and keep them in a database, we have Social Committee where co-ops gather and plan the social events for next two weeks, co-op lunches. We have education outreach committee where co-ops go out and volunteer their time talking about space programs to middle/high school kids, participate in career expos, as science fair judges, etc...

Everyone crammed together in front of the X-38.

These are just few perks of being a co-op at NASA. just imagine what would it be like getting to come home after work, watch some TV, workout a bit or read a book and not have to worry about projects or homework for six months! :-D Even if you do decide to take a class at a nearby university, NASA pays for it. Perhaps best of all are the random trips where co-ops go camping, hiking, to beaches, New Orleans, San Antonio, Austin, etc. Co-ops hangout just every weekend, so you'll get a chance to meet other students with different majors from all over the US who are equally motivated about their jobs.

Co-op Fun

After reading this, how could you not want to be a NASA co-op? I highly recommend this program to all prospective co-ops: it's the best way to get your foot into largest space program in existence and come in work everyday thinking: "I have the coolest job on the planet". I hope this is helpful to you and you apply for it. If you ever have any questions about NASA, co-oping in general, Penn State, or anything at all, please e-mail me at nina.h.patel@nasa.gov or nhp105@psu.edu! I'd be glad to answer your questions and talk with you about what I do.

Good Luck!