This is Jeff Carlson. He is a mechanical engineer working on the remote sensing mast for the recently named Perseverance rover (Mars 2020). I spoke with Jeff during the summer of 2019 about his career trajectory from intern to full time engineer. Jeff often relates the work he does to making and following the instructions to an IKEA furniture manual. Curious what IKEA and spacecraft have in common? Find out here: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/news/2019/8/29/mars-rover-engineer-built-career-from-nasa-jpl-internship/
This is Marleen Sundgaard. She is the testbed lead for both the InSight Mars lander and a future mission designed to orbit a metal asteroid, called Psyche. I spoke with Marleen during the summer of 2019 about her career trajectory from intern to full time JPL engineer. Marleen "counted rocks for an entire summer" during her first JPL internship. Read about why this seemingly tedious task may have been the difference between successfully landing a spacecraft on another planet or fatally crashing: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/news/2019/10/29/practice-makes-perfect-for-former-intern-turned-spacecraft-trainer/
This is Allison Ayad. She is a mechanical engineering student at Pasadena City College and interned at JPL during the summer of 2018. I had a chance to catch up with her and get a different perspective on how a fellow intern was contributing to the advancement of space exploration. Like the design shown on her computer screen above, origami of all things is deeply related to the work she's done to contribute to a next generation space telescope. Find out more here: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/news/2018/9/13/imaging-planets-beyond-our-solar-system/
This is Jasmine Cameron. She is a computer science major at Howard University and was a JPL intern during the summer of 2018. I had a chance to catch up with her and get a different perspective on how a fellow intern was contributing to the advancement of space exploration. Aurora are known to be some of the most beautiful natural phenomenon visible in the night sky, but how can understanding them help the average person? Find out here: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/news/2018/9/6/shining-light-on-the-science-of-earths-auroras/
This is Kalind Carpenter. He is a robotics engineer at JPL. He describes what he does to his children as a sort of "robot footwear designer." He works on grippers, wheels, propellers, paddle wheels...you name it. I spoke with Kalind during the summer of 2019. Here, he holds an exciting robotic space exploration design concept called EELS. Read more about it here: https://kiss.caltech.edu/lectures/2019_EELS.html
This is Farah Alibay. She is the systems engineer for the Perseverance rover's attitude, positioning, and pointing. Essentially, it is her job to make sure that Perseverance knows where it is and how to get where it wants to go on the surface of Mars. I spoke with Farah during the summer of 2019. Find out how a graduate from Cambridge University ended up working on NASA's next Mars rover here: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/people/3065/farah-alibay/
This is Becca Faust. She is a NASA JPL research fellow and studied aerospace controls at Caltech. She tests algorithms for autonomously assembling spacecraft in space. I photographed Becca in Caltech's spacecraft simulation facility shown here. Find out more about her work here: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/499/10-ways-interns-are-exploring-space-with-nasa/?fbclid=IwAR0Zczk2kX8_pUsVwLkz-5eoPx8AuU-EDhn3k0dtmNpd8-1D7jsn28nuZMc
This is Danielle White. She is a mechanical engineering student at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. I had a chance to speak with Danielle during the summer of 2018 about her support on the Perseverance Rover. She was proud of her contribution to increasing diversity in the STEM workforce. Read more on Danielle here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasa-jpl/28956670577
