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Welcome to the Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium's Website!
As one of 52 members of the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program, our mission is to expand opportunities for Pennsylvanians to learn about and participate in NASA’s aeronautics and space programs by supporting and enhancing science, technology... Read more of Dr. Christopher House's welcome message.
Space Grant Fellowship and Scholarship Applications Now Available!
Penn State graduate students – See our webpage for information on how to apply for the Space Grant Graduate Research Fellowship.
Penn State undergraduate students – See our webpage on how to apply for the Sylvia Stein Memorial Undergraduate Scholarship.
Please feel free to contact the space grant office with any questions about these opportunities. We can be reached at spacegrant@psu.edu or 814-865-2535.
NASA Internship Experience
I'm Keegan McCoy, a senior honors student at Penn State majoring in Electrical Engineering and Astronomy/Astrophysics. This summer I worked at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD as a member of the NASA Academy internship program. My individual research project involved working as a systems engineer in developing an optical test plan at the Integrated Science Instrument Module level for the James Webb Space Telescope's Fine Guidance Sensor and Tunable Filter Imager using internal calibration lamps and the Optical telescope element SIMulator.
The NASA Academy was truly a life changing experience. For anyone interested in the space industry, this is definitely the internship for which to apply. I gained confidence through applying my knowledge on the job and I grew comfortable with the NASA work environment. Even more importantly, the NASA Academy provided an insider's view to the entire space industry, from NASA's Constellation Program, to space policy organizations and commercial space companies. My Academy visited other NASA centers and contracting companies, listened to speakers from throughout the space industry, took part in group and individual leadership training, completed a group project, and formed friendships that will last a lifetime. I now have the confidence going forward that I can successfully work for NASA and one day become an astronaut.
My goal is to work at NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) and become an astronaut. I'm staying a few extra years at Penn State to earn my master's degree in Electrical Engineering, but I'm also trying to get into JSC's co-op program so I can eventually start working full-time at JSC as a civil servant. I want to earn another master's degree or possibly a doctorate in aeronautics and astronautics from the University of Texas at Austin or the University of Colorado at Boulder, focusing on orbital mechanics, astrodynamics, and guidance, navigation, and control. Once working in Houston, I intend on joining the Air Force Reserve as either a space and missile operations or intelligence officer. I have lofty career goals and exciting plans for my life, but my journey truly began this summer with my NASA internship funded by the PA Space Grant.
:: Website updated: 2/18/10
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