Sandeep Yayathi...

Dreams you never thought possible coming true...what Cooping at NASA is all about!

About Me

I will be a 4th year Electrical Engineering student at The Ohio State University. I was born and raised as a Buckeye fan in Columbus, Ohio. I’m a huge college football fan and love my team. Go Bucks! I enjoy playing tennis and volleyball when time allows. Music has also been a big passion of mine for a long time. I enjoy singing in a choral setting and learning the guitar. I also am the President of OSU FIRST Robotics, an undergraduate TA for the FEH program, and an Engineers Council Representative. I graduated in 2003 from Thomas Worthington High School where I first got my start on acquiring a great education and developing my interests in robotics and electrical systems.

Getting to NASA

Unlike some people NASA wasn’t a childhood dream of mine. Don’t get me wrong, I always thought it was amazing just not a realistic goal. Although as it turns out working here has become quite the reality. I have on the other hand loved building and designing things since I was a little kid playing with Lego’s. In high school I got involved with technology and robotics courses where I finally decided I would be an Electrical Engineering major in college. There were probably two key things in College that I feel shaped me into someone to take on this job. One was our first year engineering program. After graduating from this program I returned as an undergraduate teaching assistant. I enjoyed teaching younger students while honing my own skills and developing important communication skills. The other was being a mentor and eventually a leader in our OSU FIRST Robotics Club. I was able to work with high school students in building robots for competition and also developed my leadership skills while managing a number of college mentors.

In fact, it was through FIRST that I met a former OSU NASA co-op that introduced me to this amazing program. After hearing about it I immediately contacted Anne Roemer and sent in my resume. In a couple of weeks (and a couple more e-mails) to my surprise I heard back and was invited to interview in Cleveland. I was so excited about the opportunity that I even got my first speeding ticket on the way to the interview at Case Western! I still remember to this day the moment I got the phone call that opened up a whole new world for me. Needless to say, I accepted, and it was a struggle getting through 9 months before I started the following fall term!

Work

I first started working at JSC Fall of 2005. My first assignment was to the ARSD(Automation Robotics and Simulation Division) and more specifically the Intelligent Systems Branch, better known as ER2. You will learn to love acronyms when you come to work here (notice I said “when” because the next logical step is to apply!). This is where I had the time of my life. I worked on a team comprised of various divisions at JSC on S.C.O.U.T. (Science, Crew, Operations, and Utility Testbed). SCOUT was a rover vehicle designed for terrestrial use and was. Within the first week of my tour I was helping with an emergency design for a back up power system days before leaving for our Desert RATS field test in the Arizona Desert. Did I mention I got to travel with my team to do field operations for a whole week! After returning home I focused all my energy on designing and building circuit boards for remotely power cycling devices on board. My finished project was installed and is currently running in the vehicle!

I am now on my second tour and learning what it takes to be a ROBO Space Station Flight Controller. NASA is flexible and gives you the chance to move around and work in various divisions on both the engineering and mission operations side of the house. I took the oppurtunity to see what Mission Ops was all about. I have had the unique oppurtunity to shadow flight controllers during real time operations in MCC. This included sitting on console during the STS 121 Mission as well as a space station EVA. Don’t be discouraged by the acronyms and technical knowledge though, the best part of working here is the wealth of people willing to help you learn new skills and enhance the ones you developed at school. Sometimes you get to do training classes in order to certify in some area. I am currently training to fly the space station robotic arm!

Social Events

What can I say but wow. The social scene as a co-op is the best time I’ve ever had. There is never a night here that you won’t have something going on, although you may need to just go home and sleep occasionally to recuperate from all of the hanging out activities. There are always coop teams for various leagues including volleyball, soccer, and softball. I’ve had the chance to get Scuba certified and do some fun dives while I was in Houston. There are always skydiving trips every tour as well. The weekends are jam packed with parties, movies, or the beach. Speaking of the beach….every tour the co-ops organize a weekend beach party that is always a good time. As if all of that wasn’t enough, many times we go on trips to San Antonio, Austin, Mexico, Florida …you name it people will follow! I’ve met so many amazing friends down here that are fun, out going, motivated, and just completely amazing. So, if you are worried about missing out on College Life, stop now because I guarantee you will never want to leave Houston ;-) !

Conclusion

Simply put…..cooping was the best decision I have ever made and I wouldn't trade it for anything. So if you love to have fun, love science, and love learning NASA is the right choice for you. If you ever want to talk or find out more about the program feel free to shoot me an e-mail at yayathi.1@osu.edu, and CC sandeep.yayathi@nasa.gov . Good luck in your future endeavors.