You Have to Go Out There and Find Them

By Adam Naid, Cooperative Education Student at NASA JSC

Hello everybody, my name is Adam Naids and I work for NASA as an intern at the Johnson Space Center. The specific branch I work in is called Dynamic Systems Testing. I am a college junior at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University where I am majoring in Engineering Physics. Since I was about seven years old I remember being interested in space exploration and it was always my dream to work for NASA. So I studied hard, got motivated, and started being proactive. The only way you can learn things and get experience is by getting involved in those areas that interest you. I knew that NASA is where I wanted to work so I applied to every NASA job opportunity I could find. Getting accepted to work at NASA has been the biggest achievement of my life and I hope to keep pursuing my ultimate goal of becoming an astronaut. For all of you high school students that want to be involved in some really cool and futuristic research and technology development, the space industry is place to be.

At NASA I am working on a detailed engineering project. It is being created because in the future, astronauts and robots alike will traverse the emptiness of space to the Moon, Mars, and even asteroids. One of the biggest obstacles that they will have to overcome is the difference in gravity of each celestial body. For example the Moon’s gravity is only 1/6th of Earth’s gravity. Imagine how different it would feel walking and jumping if you weighed only 20 or 30 pounds. That is where my project comes in. It will allow for the testing and development of new hardware in reduced gravity and will allow users to feel like they are walking on the Moon or Mars. I am currently playing an important role in the future of my project given that I am actively involved in creating a new custom built motor system. I am also supporting the testing of robots and humans on the system to see how well it responds. I will also get be one of the human test participants, which I am really excited about. I have always wondered what it would be like to walk on the Moon, and now I will get to find out.

I would also like to give you some advice that will make you successful in a science, technology, engineering, or math field. Work hard while you are in high school, work harder in college, and get involved in whatever you can now. If you have a FIRST Robotics Team at your high school become a part of the team. Get motivated now and don’t let anything hold you back. In this field you have to be proactive. Opportunities won’t always come to you, you have to go out there and find them. You are all the future of the industry so work hard and your dreams of working at NASA or anywhere else could come true too.