SEATTLE – 05 Jan 11
The sky's no limit
Local student flying high with upcoming NASA internship
By: Jeremy Helling
The end of the holidays usually means a return to a normal work or school schedule. For Seattle Central Community College student Ashley Allman, the start of 2011 presents an opportunity to pursue her dreams.
On Monday, Jan. 10, Allman will begin an internship with NASA at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Allman, who received an Associate of Science transfer degree with an emphasis in engineering from Seattle Central last June, said she can’t wait for the experience.
“Being able to work on something that’s really going to go into space — I’m probably most excited about that,” she said.
A select crew
Of the 25 students who will intern at the Johnson Space Center this spring, Allman is one of two from community colleges.
“I think what surprises people the most is that I don’t go to a university,” Allman said. “I like surprising people with that.”
The internships are a part of NASA’s Undergraduate Student Research Program (USRP), which selects applicants from colleges and universities across the nation. This year, there were 713 USRP applicants, with 175 being selected for a spring internship.
“We placed the largest number of students in our spring internship this year,” said Heather Ogletree, a USRP project coordinator. Ogletree added that every year USRP places more than 300 students in NASA internships nationwide.
While at NASA, most of Allman’s work will revolve around the robonaut, a humanistic robot used during space missions.
NASA Space Station flight controller Margaret Gibb will be Allman’s mentor during her internship.
“The goal is to get them prepared for the workforce,” Ogletree said, adding, “While the student gets experience, the mentor gets help with their work, so everybody wins.”
“I’ll be working with the robonaut to recognize dangerous commands, things that might make it harm itself and not go through with it,” Allman said.
In addition, she will work on software used on the International Space Station.
From the get-go
For Allman, an interest in aeronautical engineering began shortly after moving to Washington state in 2007.
While at Auburn High School, a career counselor suggested Allman take part in Washington Aerospace Scholars, an educational program for high school juniors.
“You do an on-line course where you learn about space history, previous missions, do design projects and research,” Allman explained. “The students who score the highest get to do a residency at the Museum of Flight.”
That experience led Allman to pursue the National Aerospace Scholars program, where she completed four Web-based assignments dealing with the logistics of a space mission.
In May, Allman traveled to Johnson Space Center as one of many Community College Aerospace Scholars from around the country. The three-day event was designed to introduce students to the process of working for NASA by assigning projects to teams.
While walking into Johnson Space Center may have been an amazing experience in itself, Allman and her colleagues didn’t have much time to admire their surroundings, she said.
“Once we got settled in, for the remainder of that evening we had to design a Mars Rover to test the next morning and demonstrate for judges,” Allman said.
The students, who were broken up into teams of 10, were required to put on a seven-minute presentation of their product.
“It was a rush,” Allman said. “Both nights we were there, we stayed up until 3 or 4 in the morning.”
It was at the end of this event that Allman was encouraged to pursue an internship, as well as a co-op, where students alternate semesters at school with semesters working as a full-time, paid employee at NASA.
Nowhere but up
Allman learned she was accepted after she had participated in a phone interview during the Thanksgiving holiday.
“She had an excellent attitude. She had great qualifications and showed a strong interest in NASA and the projects going on here,” said Courtney Crooks, who interviewed Allman as a USRP project coordinator for Johnson Space Center.
The internship originally was supposed to last 15 weeks, but Allman said NASA shortened it so that she could return to finish pre-major courses at Seattle Central.
Next year, Allman plans to continue her study of aeronautical engineering at the University of Washington or Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Ariz.
While she ultimately hopes to find a career at NASA, Allman said she may look at local opportunities after her studies.
“I’d like to get an internship at Boeing. I like living in Washington,” she said.
Allman acknowledged that she will need to work her way up the ranks, but she won’t let that overshadow her greatest dream.
“I definitely want to go [in]to space,” she said, adding that her experience and education at NASA will only help her reach that goal.