Yes, students do keep in touch with us after completing the program.  We have students attending MIT, Stanford, Pepperdine, University of Texas at Austin, etc.  This is the third year that we have had the nationwide SEES internship.  One of our interns will be doing a NASA internship this summer analyzing data from the Cassini mission to Saturn.  Previously, area students assisted scientists in conducting research.  We have students that participated that are NASA contractors and Facebook employees.

Thank you!  We are constantly amazed by these hard-working, inspiring young people.

Our longitudinal studies are designed to track the college degrees and careers of the participants in the program.  It is our hope to build the STEM pipeline.  Student participants are sophomores or juniors in high school.  We found from earlier experience that if a student is in their senior year they have selected a career path and have usually been accepted into college.  Scientists are asked to provide letters of recommendation when students are applying for college, when they apply for intern opportunities during their college careers, and hopefully we will see the benefits of their education on careers.

We advertise the SEES internship through the NASA Express News, at educator conferences, and a STEM activities and events.  The application packet includes answers to essay questions, grades, a letter of recommendation, and an introduction video.  Each application is reviewed by multiple judges.  It was a concern after year one that the student participants were probably going to major in STEM anyway.  In year 2, we added several questions to the application that would allow for students that may not have STEM opportunities currently but would greatly benefit from the program.  Questions such as:  Does your high school offer AP or IB programs, is their a university within 30 miles of where you live, is there a library in your community, etc.  We also added an area for STEM benefit by participating in the program.  We had a student participant last year that was homeless, another that was a child of migrant farmers having moved 7 times in one year.  I am pleased to say that they have both been admitted into world class universities and will major in STEM.  The young lady that produced this video actually attended a fine arts high school.  She loved film but had a passion for STEM.  After participating in the SEES internship, she is now majoring in Aerospace Engineering and minoring in film.  I am inspired by their stories.

We certainly underestimated the interest that students would have in this program.  We had almost 500 applications for the 46 who will be onsite this summer.  The science team wants to make sure that students have an authentic experience so we keep the groups small and the experience huge.  We have a variety of scientists participating -- some are NASA subject matter experts who are engaging students as part of their ongoing work, some are retired NASA professionals and faculty members who give their time and talents, and some are scientists or graduate students who receive minimal financial support.  After testing last year with one project, this year we are adding "remote" scientists.  For example, the scientists may be at NASA Johnson Space Center but uses "zoom" or Skype to work with their team of students each afternoon.  We have a teacher extern who is in the group with the student as they connect remotely with their scientist.  

We are currently working with NASA on protocols where we can engage the students that were not selected to the on-site internships as "remote" interns.

Thanks for the great questions!  

Wow, that is an amazing response rate! It's great that you have a wide range of NASA professionals involved, too. On the flipside of my first question about student participation, I'm wondering how you have recruited NASA staff to participate. Have you found any outreach strategies to be particularly helpful?

We use a variety of methods and each has added to the success.  We are located at The University of Texas Center for Space Research where we have over 50 researchers analyzing NASA satellite data.  We have numerous NASA employees who are alumni of the university and stay connected to faculty here.  We also have educators that have participated in professional development that we host as well as undergraduate and graduate students who have received internships and fellowships for the space grant consortium.  Add to that the willingness of NASA employees to encourage the next generation of explorers provides a winning combination. 

We utilize a variety of methods to "match" students to their project mentor - project selection, previous STEM skills the student brings to the project, and interest in a field of study.  The relationships are built during the 30 hours the students work remotely with their project mentor and team prior to the two week on-site internship.  The students ask project mentors and scientists for letters of recommendation when applying for college and for internships.  When working with graduate students they get a feel for what it is like to be in college and conducting research.

This program is currently funded by NASA's Science Mission Directorate.  When grant funds end our plan is to continue the program at our research institution but it may be on a more localized level.  We will also share best practices with the National Space Grant consortia members.  

We are also excited about the GLOBE students joining our program.  This year he is from Alaska.  It should be a true Texas experience for him.  We are in the planning stages now of inviting those not selected for the on-site internship to participate with us on the Mosquito Habitat Mapper project.  It should be exciting to collect data from across the nation!

I can take no credit for the kids, the video, or the soundtrack.  Hanna came up with the questions and asked students and researchers to respond.  She did the storyboard, put the video together, and the soundtrack.  She is quite the talented young lady.  I, too, hear the passion in these student voices.  Makes me proud!!!

Your program sounds very interesting and engaging.  We do provide training to our project mentors but on a more informal basis.  Our university also has strict requirements regarding working with minors and each mentor takes an on-line class.  NASA has resources for subject matter experts working with various audiences.  I will definitely check out your website.  Thanks for sharing!  

What do you find as the biggest obstacle for project mentors and scientists?

She is a talented young lady.

We have students rank their top three choices for a project on which they would like to work.  We had a large number of applicants this year for the Aerospace Engineering project.  While we cannot accommodate all requests for first choice, we do try to give them their 2nd or 3rd choice.  I think students that are environmentally sensitive choose Emergency Preparedness, Flood Response, ICESat, or GRACE.  Students that think they want to major in engineering usually choose Aerospace.  We did have a former intern who told me she majored in Computer Science because of the experience and success she had coding during her internship.  We try to give all students a variety of engineering projects and experiential activities.

Several years ago scientists and engineers at The University of Texas at Austin's Center for Space Research were seeking engaging methods to support Education and Outreach in their NASA supported research.  We decided to invite local area high school students and teachers to UT/CSR to work for six weeks with the scientists and engineers on their research.  They worked for 4 days per week during the day, it was not a residential program.  Because the program was successful to all -- teachers, students, and researchers -- we decided to apply for funds to take the program to a national audience.  We received funding and this will be the third year of the nationwide SEES internship.  We have added projects with scientists and engineers at NASA centers, not just UT/CSR.  Due to budgetary and time constraints, now students conduct 60 hours of remote work prior to coming to UT and then spend two weeks working on their project.