Building Foresight for Earth Science, featuring Lindsey Jacobson

NASA’s Earth-observing satellite missions track dozens of features of a changing planet — aerosols, sea levels, land cover, cloud cover — over years and decades. Sustaining that record for the scientific and operational communities who depend on it requires more than engineering talent. It requires planning for an uncertain future: anticipating where a mission delay […]

For West Virginia Engineer, Home Is Where the Heart Is… and NASA, Too

Growing up in Grafton, West Virginia, engrossed in Star Wars and all things science fiction, Fletcher Newell had an early interest in space exploration. That interest only grew when, in 2013, his fourth-grade class took a field trip to a nearby NASA facility he had not yet heard of – NASA’s Katherine Johnson Independent Verification […]

For West Virginia Engineer, Home Is Where the Heart Is… and NASA, Too

Growing up in Grafton, West Virginia, engrossed in Star Wars and all things science fiction, Fletcher Newell had an early interest in space exploration. That interest only grew when, in 2013, his fourth-grade class took a field trip to a nearby NASA facility he had not yet heard of – NASA’s Katherine Johnson Independent Verification […]

NASA Johnson Interns Shaping the Future of Exploration 

NASA interns at Johnson Space Center are applying their talents to real-world projects while working alongside the engineers, scientists, communicators, and innovators advancing human spaceflight. Learn how these students are gaining hands-on experience, contributing to real missions, and preparing to join the nation’s highly skilled and competitive aerospace workforce.   Meet the students behind the work and discover what inspired them to pursue careers at […]

SARP 2025 Closeout

In August 2025, 47 students from NASA’s Student Airborne Research Program (SARP) culminated a summer of science by presenting their research to an audience of mentors, professors, family, friends, and NASA personnel. SARP is a summer internship for undergraduate students, hosted in two cohorts: this year SARP West operated out of Guardian Jet Center and University of California, […]

SARP East 2025 Atmospheric Chemistry Group

Faculty Advisor: Stacey Hughes, University of New Hampshire Graduate Mentor: Katherine Paredero, Georgia Institute of Technology Atmospheric Chemistry Group Introduction Faculty Advisor Stacey Hughes and Graduate Mentor Katherine Paredero Kaylena Pham Spooky Swamps: How Methane Emission Rates and Their Spatial Variability Differ Between the Great Dismal Swamp and the Alligator River  Kaylena Pham, University of […]

SARP East 2025 Terrestrial Fluxes Group

Faculty Advisors: Lisa Haber, Virginia Commonwealth University Brandon Alveshere, Virginia Commonwealth University Graduate Mentor: Kayla Preisler, University of Arizona Terrestrial Fluxes Group Introduction Rice Rivers Center Director Chris Gough and Graduate Mentor Kayla Preisler Quinn Koch Monitoring Postfire Ecosystem Recovery With Spectral Indices and Eddy-Covariance Flux Towers  Quinn Koch, University of California, Los Angeles  Fire […]

SARP East 2025 Oceans Group

Faculty Advisors: Tom Bell, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute Graduate Mentor: Sarah Lang, University of Rhode Island Oceans Group Introduction Faculty Advisor Tom Bell and Graduate Mentor Sarah Lang Isabella Showman  Detecting Coastal Sea Ice Extent and Freshet Event Timing in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska Using Sentinel-1 C-SAR  Isabella Showman, University of Washington  The detachment of coastal […]

SARP West 2025 Aerosols Group

Faculty Advisors: Andreas Beyersdorf, California State University, San Bernardino  Graduate Mentor: Bradley Ries, University of California, Riverside  Aerosols Group Introduction Faculty Advisor Andreas Beyersdorf Martha Santiago Aerosol Pollution in Two Coastal Agricultural Regions in the United States  Martha Santiago, Northwestern University  Although air quality has improved across the United States since the passage of the […]

SARP West 2025 Land Group

Faculty Advisors: Daniel Sousa, San Diego State University  Graduate Mentor: Megan Ward-Baranyay, San Diego State University  Land Group Introduction Faculty Advisor Daniel Sousa Robert Purvis Fractional cover estimates of the epiphytic macrolichen Ramalina menziesii in oak canopies from simulated mixed spectra and airborne imaging spectroscopy  Robert Purvis, Western Kentucky University  Lichens, a symbiotic relationship between […]