Seven aerospace students at the University of Colorado Boulder are taking off with distinguished NASA Pathways Internships.
Undergraduates Barbara De Figueiredo Vera, David McGraw, Sophia Orlandella, Shawn Patel, Aaditya Pore, Alexandra Putman, and Anthony Storm have each been selected for the program.
NASA Pathways offers a unique, in-depth paid internship that provides students the chance to spend two semesters and a summer at one of 11 NASA research centers across the United States. Applicants choose which center would like to intern at and as part of their assignments rotate across multiple job areas ranging from mission control, to safety and mission assurance, to astronaut training.
It gives students the opportunity to explore their interests and contribute to real-world flight operations across the space agency and aims to be a direct pipeline to full-time employment at NASA upon graduation.
Find out more about our 2023 honorees and which NASA research center they will be stationed at below:
Anthony Storm
Internship Location: Johnson Space Center
Student Status: Aerospace Sophomore
Hometown: San Diego, CA
Marine Corps Veteran
I am the third generation to work at Johnson, including my grandfather who worked on the Apollo missions and also attended CU Boulder (I'm a 4th gen CU Boulder student).
Alex Putman
Internship Location: Marshall Space Flight Center
Student Status: Aerospace Junior
Hometown: Fort Collins, CO
I was initially interested in interning at Marshall Space Flight Center because, way back in middle school, I was able to attend Space Camp there! It's so cool to be able to return as an intern and personally contribute to all the aspects of spaceflight I learned about at Space Camp so long ago. Marshall also conducts so many different types of projects and research, so I am looking forward to being able to experience a variety of different facets of aerospace and narrow down my long term interests.
Aaditya Pore
Internship Location: Marshall Space Flight Center
Student Status: Aerospace Sophomore
Hometown: Overland Park, KS
I will be interning at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. I picked Marshall due to its key role in developing the rockets that were the building blocks to NASA's feats in space. Propulsion and Rocketry have always been large interests of mine, and I came to Marshall to further build on those.
Shawn Patel
Internship Location: Armstrong Flight Research Center
Student Status: Aerospace Sophomore
Hometown: Huntington Beach, CA
I will be interning at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center. Armstrong is the place where the sound barrier was broken. And where the SR-71 was tested. Some of the coolest airplanes were developed and tested here so I figured it would be a great place to learn and start my career.
Sophia Orlandella
Internship Location: Armstrong Flight Research Center
Student Status: Aerospace Junior
Hometown: Denver, CO. Grew up in Austin & Dallas/Fort Worth.
AFRC's unique location and size is what initially drew me to apply there. The center is at the forefront of aeronautical research and testing, which is largely due to its location on Edwards Air Force Base. It also is a smaller center, meaning the employees are well connected. As such, interns are assigned prominent roles and have the opportunity to interact with engineers from any discipline, project, or level.
David McGraw
Internship Location: Marshall Space Flight Center
Student Status: Aerospace Junior
Hometown: Fort Collins, CO
I’m in the Human Exploration Development & Operations Office at MSFC. I applied here because MSFC is leading the way in developing new technologies to enable human exploration. I am really excited to get the opportunity to work on projects like Space Launch System (SLS), the Artemis Program, Human Landing System (HLS) and other more distant projects that will shape humanity’s ventures into space for decades to come!
Barbara De Figueiredo Vera
Student Status: Aerospace Senior
Hometown: Caracas, Venezuela