Congratulations to NASA Glenn Research Center for receiving this year's YSU STEM Employer Co-op Award.

NASA Glenn Research Center

NASA interns have distinct qualities. Applications to NASA internships are usually quite competitive. Therefore, NASA interns are usually string students who are passionate about learning and using science to improve the world around them. NASA interns are asked to constantly think outside the box and to find new innovative solutions to the problems their particular group are tackling. Lastly, NASA interns are expected to work with the colleagues around them and collaborate. For more information about NASA’s internship program see their website: https://intern.nasa.gov/ Sometimes NASA interns get to be involved in research. NASA interns have the opportunity to work in many different areas of research. Timothy Smith our contact from NASA, stated sometimes he feels people incorrectly think they need to be studying in fields like astrophysics or astronomy to find a position at NASA. Instead, NASA employs researchers from a wide variety of STEM fields. For example, he has a degree in materials science. When he first pursued this degree he didn’t even consider that NASA could be an option for a career after school. The representative we spoke to from NASA Glenn Research Center cannot speak for the entirety of NASA, but attempts to hire 1-2 interns per year. As far as research in different areas goes, NASA is such a large organization that there should be an opportunity for an internship in any STEM field. If an intern is involved in research and their internship ends, they may be able to help finish reports and papers after they leave. However, in Mr. Smith’s experience they usually are no longer a part of the project after the internship ends. When asked about the impact on a student’s career options from a NASA internship as well as the probability of receiving full time employment from NASA, Mr. Smith said; “In my opinion having a NASA internship on a resume is never a bad thing when applying to career opportunities, becoming an intern is a great way to gain experience within NASA and could help when applying for a full-time position. In fact, I was initially hired through the NASA pathways internship program.” With the ongoing events during the pandemic and the future it was important to ask if NASA was offering any remote internships, and we found from Mr. Smith that during the Covid-19 pandemic they are offering remote internships, however it is unclear if that option will still be available after the pandemic.

2020 STEM Co-Op of the Year:

One of Youngstown State University’s own Tyler Leibengood got the opportunity to participate in an internship with NASA Glenn Research Center.

When asked about Tyler and his performance as an intern his previous supervisor, Timothy Smith had this to say:

What was Tyler like within the organization? What kind of employee was he?

I have only good things to say about Tyler. He was passionate about the work we were doing and continually wanted to learn throughout the internship. There were many times where I would give him a task and he would return with it completed without ever needing to be checked on. This ability to accomplish tasks with minimal guidance is unusual and reveals Tyler’s ingenuity, maturity, and passion for science. He was a quick learner and became familiar with a multitude of characterization tools over a short period of time.

How would you describe Tyler’s work ethic?

Tyler was an extremely hard worker. He remained focused to solving the tasks in front of him. Many of which required novel solutions to complete.

Did Tyler meet, or beat your expectations set for them?

He exceeded my expectations and was contributing to our research far earlier than I had expected.

How would you describe your personal experience working with Tyler?

It was a pleasure to work with Tyler.

Can you briefly discuss the research Tyler was a part of that led to a publication?

Tyler’s primary focus was to help us investigate defects in additively manufactured (AM) dispersion strengthened high temperature alloys. This work involved thorough phase identification and microstructural analysis of AM microstructure samples using a multitude of characterization tools. Through his efforts, we made new discoveries that have helped better our understanding of the AM process and produce novel high temperature alloys for a multitude of aerospace and energy applications. For example, I gave Tyler the task of fully characterizing the internal structure of defects within an AM sample. He proceeded to use the 3D Robo-met materials characterization tool and the image processing software Aviso to create a video which fully revealed the columnar structure of defects within the sample. This work has the potential to realize additively manufactured components capable of surviving extreme environments. Currently, many of the conventional alloys that are used in these environments are not amenable to the additive process, forming deleterious cracks and defects. Therefore, there is a strong demand in the aerospace community for new materials that can both be additively manufactured and survive high temperatures. His work directly resulted in a new manuscript that will be submitted soon to the restricted Joint Army Navy NASA Air Force (JANNAF) Journal of Propulsion and Energetics.