Evan Thomas...

Working at NASA has been a dream of mine ever since I first connected hardware store batteries, switches and lights and started to think about the possibilities of what we can do with the things we create. NASA showed that we could take our imagination and explore the universe.

I am now a graduate student in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder. In Boulder I am the Editor-in-Chief of the Colorado Engineer Magazine and I am a project coordinator for Engineers Without Borders - USA.

When I realized that 17 NASA astronauts, including Scott Carpenter, had graduated from CU-Boulder, I thought about my chances to have a successful career at NASA. When I applied to the JSC Co-Op program as a Junior, the engineering spaces had all been filled, so I instead was about to work in the Education Office on the basis of my undergraduate degree work in Broadcast Journalism. I was assigned to work with Engineering, Education, Public Affairs, Space Center Houston and contractors in developing a mock-up in the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility into a videoconferencing broadcast studio.

I also spent time with other engineers and co-ops to found the Engineers Without Borders - JSC Chapter. I have been involved with EWB-USA for four years. I developed a project to Nepal that was implemented June, 2003, and I am the team lead for the active Muramba, Rwanda project. I traveled to Rwanda in March 2004 for an assessment trip, and lead a rainwater catchment project in May, 2005.