As a student in the USA, you have unique access to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) programs or internships organized by technology or science organizations like Aerospace and the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) and governmental agencies like NASA. Participating in these activities has many benefits, including learning about technology and deciding on a career path. These activities can also go in your resume.
In this blog, I will talk about some of these programs and provide links to the websites where you can find more information. If you are interested in any of them, check them out and become familiar with the application deadlines and the requirements. Competitions, internships, or summer programs for high school and college students have deadlines that might be six to eight months ahead of these start. Some might also require recommendation letters or writing an essay. Today might be a good day to start learning about them and setting the path to becoming part of these programs.
The NASA STEM Opportunities and Activities For Students targets middle, high school, and college students with US Citizenship. For example, NASA’s BIG Idea Challenge is an engineering design competition open to undergraduate and graduate students. This program seeks innovative ideas that support technologies needed to support NASA’s exploration goals. As a finalist, you will receive funds to build and test your concept before presenting your project to a panel of NASA and industry experts.
Some of these programs are open only for some regions within the US, like the High School Aerospace Scholars. Open to Texas high school juniors, it is a year-long STEM learning experience starting in the fall that could end up with a short mentorship by NASA scientists and engineers.
NASA also has the Community College Aerospace Scholars (NCAS) program, which looks to help you advance your capabilities in STEM and prepare you for better representation and service in STEM fields that relate to NASA’s mission goals, collaboration, and career pathways.
Of course, we could not miss NASA’s Lunabotics Challenge, open to college teams to design, build, and operate lunar robots. Within this competition, you will have the opportunity to advance to the final demonstration phase.
Another program for high school students is the High Schools United with NASA to Create Hardware (HUNCH). Within this program, you could be designing and prototyping innovative solutions to problems posed by life on the International Space Station, like building software applications and hardware for them. However, not all programs are in the STEM fields. One involves using fabric and other soft materials to create goods requested by different NASA centers and the International Space Station Astronaut Crew. Another is a Culinary Challenge where you and your team will develop food items for the Astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
If you are in high school or college, you can apply to a NASA internship. These internships are rewarding, and while working on a real problem that contributes to the agency’s mission to advance science, technology, aeronautics, and space exploration, you will also have a stipend. If you are interested, start thinking about applying about six months ahead. For example, for spring 2025 internships, applications are in August 2024. For summer 2025, some students start applying in October 2024, while the deadline is usually in Feb 2025.
Other programs offered by NASA are:
The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) has a summer program for those interested in space-based astronomy, engineering, or public outreach. The Space Astronomy Summer Program (SASP) is a paid program for college students who work individually with STScI researchers and staff on projects that include data reduction and interpretation, software development, software engineering, instrument calibration and support, scientific writing, and public outreach. If you are interested in this summer program, the application period is usually in January of the same year. You will need recommendation letters, so start gathering all the requirements ahead of the deadline.
Another possible resource is the Aerospace organization
which hosts several educational programs for teachers and high school students.
Among these programs is the Aerospace Institute Summer Program, which in 2024 offers a two-day virtual summer program covering topics in science and engineering. In this program — students will have an opportunity to ask experts questions directly, complete activities as they relate to space, and be able to observe professionals working in diverse groups to ensure mission success.
Another program is the Aerospace Academy Summer Program, a two-week program that in 2024 will be in early July. This program targets students thinking about a future in a STEM field. It involves real-world technical problems like understanding ground systems and interactions between the space and ground segments.
Aerospace offered other programs this year. , like the Zero Robotics program, where middle school students learned to write code to control satellites aboard the International Space Station.
Of course, other organizations also offer programs in the STEM fields, and I will cover those in a future blog. However, if you know about one, please let me know about it in the comments.