Leva McIntire

School: Seattle Pacific University

Major: Physics

About Me: My interests include baking, camping, and teaching. I would like to pursue a doctorate in either Optics or Physics Education. Out of all of Physics, my favorite subject so far has been Optics. I am currently deciding whether or not I would like to teach at a secondary or collegiate level. This is why I applied to Lunar and Planetary science Academy this year. I feel that the work experience and resources provided will allow me to increase my understanding of science as well as aid me in my choice of doctorate and teaching level.
This is my first year with any of the NASA academies. I am currently on the team working on LOLA, the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter on LRO. Specifically, I am working with the optics systems here at Goddard for LASER Ranging to LRO. In addition, I am writing a program to catalog the LASER Ranging data collected from earth stations.

Kynan Rilee

School: Princeton University

Major(s): Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

About Me: I'm a rising sophomore, and I'm in the LRO/LOLA group in the LPSA. My job is to process altimetry and telemetry data from the LRO. I am currently working on a graphical editor for the altimetry data from LOLA (Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter) that automatically flags outliers in the data and provides tools for manual editing as well. I'm also working on a tool that extracts spacecraft orientation data from telemetry so it can estimate the forces exerted on the spacecraft by direct sunlight, sunlight reflected off the lunar surface, and thermal radiation from the moon. We have to know these forces in order to maintain a precise orbit, which the LRO needs for accurate measurements.

Ken Moses

School: Case Western Reserve University

Major(s): Mechanical Engineering

About me: Hello world! I thought I would share with everyone a little bit about myself and my engineering experiences on this blog. First off, this is the first blog I have EVER written so go easy on me. I grew up in the heart of MD and lived in the same house for 18 years. I was lucky enough to have a large family that nurtured all of my interests. Of course I was an avid lego-er, played with anything Radio Controlled, and developed an interest in any and all types of models (planes, trains, cars). A lot of my enthusiasm and hobbies came from my father and older brother. At the ripe age of 12 I rebuilt my first motorcycle engine, and from there continued to learn about automobiles. Throughout high school I was a member of JETS (Junior Engineering Technical Society), which was a total blast. We traveled for competitions and had to solve all sorts of engineering problems. In college I pursued my love of engineering and was extremely fortunate to be able to work in a Biologically Inspired Robotics laboratory where we built cockroach robots and micro air vehicles. Not too long ago, my father (who works at NASA on the Earth Observation Systems) informed me of a fantastic opportunity for the summer. And so, I find myself here at NASA in the Lunar and Planetary Science Academy about to embark on an exciting journey to Sudbury, Canada!

P.S. Below you’ll find a picture of me after caving with what we like to call a little “belly mud.”

Brady Doepke

School: University of Kentucky

Major(s): Mechanical Engineering

About me: I am currently a senior in Mechanical Engineering at The University of Kentucky. This summer I will be working with the recently launched LRO Spacecraft. My group is working on the LOLA instrument which uses LASERs to determine the distance between the spacecraft and the Lunar surface and the distance between earth and the spacecraft.
During the school year I am a researcher in the Dynamics Structures and Controls lab the UK. I study inflatable aircraft structures for deployable UAV systems. I am also part of the UK Design-Build-Fly team (a UAV construction competition) and I am the team pilot.

Stephen Indyk

Major(s): Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Concentration
Institution: Rutgers University

About Me:Hello, I am a Mechanical Engineering senior at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Some activities I am and have been involved with include fencing, remote control airplane building/flying, bicycling, hiking and photography. My interest in space and space exploration stems mainly from the vehicles. It fascinates me that we can design and build complex machines that are capable of such adverse environments and conditions.

I feel fortunate that my project lies directly in my interests of space exploration. My group is designing a robotic system to operate in microgravity. The purpose of this robotic system would be to collect samples from an asteroid or to repair a satellite. The difficult aspect of the project is that the robotic system need to counter act any forces applied to the surface it is working on. This is to say, if the robot is not fastened to the surface, and wants to drill a hole, it will just spin off the surface. Like many engineering challenges, it is a hard problem that will take much time and energy to solve, but will provide a great sense of accomplishment when completed. I hope to gain a better understanding of a space environment from the Sudbury trip. This education will enhance my capabilities to design better space systems.

Hamilton Moore

School: Auburn University

Major(s): Electrical Engineering
Bachelors of Science, 2011
Wireless Engineering
Bachelors of Science, 2011
Business and Engineering Technology Minor, 2011

About me: To tell you a little bit about me I am originally from Decatur, Alabama and am currently attending Auburn University pursuing a degree in Electrical Engineering. In my spare time I enjoy spending time outdoors including hiking, mountain biking, camping, hunting, and fishing. At Auburn I am also involved in a team that is designing and building a small cube satellite to be sent into low earth orbit. The team is called Aubie-SAT and when completed will be the first student built satellite to be sent into orbit by a university in Alabama.

Over two years of working on Aubie-SAT, a student built satellite, I have become increasingly interested in a NASA internship. NASA is on the forefront of technology, explores the depth of the unknown, reveals the secrets of the cosmos, and is benefiting mankind through its discoveries. Space is fascinating, there is truly so much that can be learned from the universe. Discoveries that can change the world and benefit all of mankind are found in space. It is for these reasons that I am interested in space and believe that it is worth understanding. In the future I hope to be able to work alongside a team doing worthwhile research while advancing the project with my research, skills, and abilities. I also would like to help lead a team while staying actively involved in R and D.

This summer I am interning with NASA at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt Maryland. I am working on a four man team that is working to develop a laser communication system with ranging. This system when completed will be able to send data through space via laser as well as measure the distance of various objects. This is truly and exciting project; one in which carries major implications in the space technology sector.

CJ Nicklow

School: West Virginia University

Major(s): Electrical and Computer Engineering

About me: I’ve grown up in Morgantown, WV my whole life. I am interested in mathematics, physics, and most of all engineering. I originally came into college looking forward to pursuing a degree in Computer Engineering with a secondary degree in Electrical Engineering because of how interested I have always been in computers and electronic devices since I was little. I was always an avid video game player and played with all kinds of little electronic toys until I got bored with them and tore them apart. During the beginning of my Junior year at WVU though I gained an interest in pursuing Electrical Engineering more than Computer Engineering and my emphasis has really changed on which one I want to go to grad school for. What caught me was electro-magnetics and the math, science, and theory behind it. Also, every job I have looked into with computer engineering is looking for a programmer and nothing else. I like to program but I am looking forward to the hardware more than the programming in the long run. I’m planning on going to grad school for a masters in electrical engineering and also attempt for a Ph.D in the same field, and I will also hopefully finish my minor in mathematics if I don’t get a chance to take the class in the next 2 semesters. I became interested in space at a very young age and I have been since. I started working with NASA last summer at the IV&V center in Fairmont, WV. This is my first year with Goddard, and I have to say, I love it. I am working with an awesome group on a very challenging project. We are working on free space laser communications and range finding. We hope by the end of the summer to be able to send a signal to a satellite and receive it back, be able to read the message, and calculate how far away the satellite is.
Some of my other interests consist of football(which I played all the way through middle and high school), sports in general, lifting, video games, traveling, music, and weirdly enough, Mathematics. Throughout my life I have loved to play football, I was an offensive and defensive lineman on good teams. I have played countless games, ranging from Atari, to the Wii, to the XBOX 360, and computer games. I have had no time as of these past few years to play though, engineering is a great major, but it is very, very time consuming.

Lai Nguyen

School: North Carolina State University

Major(s): Computer & Electrical Engineering

About me: Hey yall! I am from Fayetteville, North Carolina and am currently a rising junior at North Carolina State University. I am pursuing a double major in computer and electrical engineering. When I'm not cheering on for NCSU's Wolfpack, I enjoy volunteering, listening to music, soccer, badminton, and photography. I also love traveling and learning new things, which is why I am stoked about our expedition to Sudbury, Canada!

During my time here, I will also be working with three other talented individuals on the ILIADS software project. I guess you could imagine ILIADS to be like Google Earth (except for the moon), with much more features for analyzing geographic and environmental data. We have four phases to complete in our project in which the focus is establishing a relationship between ILIADS and a robot for receiving data and sending control commands. This project is really interesting because it allows me to incorporate two things I truly enjoy, my area of study (computer engineering) and my enthusiasm for space exploration. Working with NASA has been amazing so far, and I look forward to the weeks ahead!

Mikhail O. Nikiforov

School: University of Maryland College Park

Major(s): Mechanical Engineering

About me:

At the moment my long term professional goals vary. I feel that I am very flexible and can accept almost any specialization. Staying with the Lunar and Planetary Science Academy will guide me toward one or another sub discipline. I know that I want to do math, physics, and engineering design. Studying different subjects will uncover my true interest and lead me toward a particular discipline, which I will specialize in. Exploring a variety of subjects as an undergraduate will develop my overall competence in engineering, familiarize me with different areas of studies and determine my own niche.

During my college career as well as my graduate work I would like to engage in propulsion, dynamics and control research. Vehicle stability, vehicle design and propulsion engine testing interest me very much. I would like to participate and learn more about those areas as they attract me the most. I find these areas fascinating and challenging; I wish to gain experience and knowledge out of all professional research, development and explorations that I engage in. Spending time with professional NASA team and top scientists in the country is an honor and a privilege for me. I consider myself extremely fortunate to work alongside with them. I try to learn as much as possible interacting with those people, because one day I want to push the science forward as well.

Ian Schoch

School: University of Maryland College Park

Major(s): Physics and Computer Science

About me:

During my four years of high school, I have developed a strong interest in math and science. I took on AP Physics, BC Calculus, and 3 years of Programming and learned problem solving skills through the Maryland and American Mathematics Competitions. In my free time I love to work on tricky math problems, and over the summer I tutored math to high school students. Today, I am the leader of the chess club and the very successful chess team at my school. I am also a member of a strong all high school student chess team which has won the DC chess league for the past 3 seasons in a row. Regarding physics, I was a member of the Junior Engineering Technical Society team which won first place in the Junior Varsity division. I believe NASA can benefit from having me as a participant because I can bring my curiosity and past knowledge to the NASA team. I aim to work hard and do my best in all that I do and this summer experience is no exception.

Andrea Balbas

School: Queens College

Major(s): BS Geology

About me:

I attend Queens College in busy New York City. I am a senior studying geology and I love rocks. I love rocks because they tell us about earth development through billions of years. They can tell us about past climate, volcanic activity, asteroid impacts, the evolution of life and much more. I hope to attend graduate school and study heliosphere lithosphere interactions and planetary geology. Here at Goddard Space Flight Center, I lead the Lunar Water and Helium Detection team. We are designing a device for the remote detection of water and helium at the lunar South Pole. It is an exciting and pertinent project. My team is more than up for the challenge.


This is my second summer at Goddard and I always love being here surrounded by so many great scientists. This summer I am particularly excited to go on our geologic expedition to the Sudbury Basin. I am the only geologist in LPSA this year and we will be collecting geologic data during our expedition. Our goal is to simulate a planetary landing and collect as much data as possible in order to complete field truth comparisons. I have my rock hammer ready!

Krystal Mike

School: Arizona State University

Major(s): Mechanical Engineering

About me: I am currently a junior at Arizona State University studying to be a Mechanical Engineer. This is my second year back at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and it is good to be back. I am working with three other team members to design, build and test a robot that functions in microgravity. It is definitely something new and challenging but I am excited to be apart of the team. We are working at the John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory and doing our best to finish the project in time.

As for me, I am originally from Window Rock, Arizona it is located the Navajo Indian Reservation. I am full Navajo and proud of it. I like to play any type of sport; especially volleyball. I enjoy spending time with family, traveling, reading, listening to music, meeting new people, and I love to learn something new everyday. As a Navajo Women Engineer the obstacles have been challenging, but the rewards have been and will continue to be great.

Lisha Roubert

School: University of Puerto Rico, Cayey Campus

Major(s): Mathematics

About me: I like to consider myself a multidisciplinary person. I enjoy having the opportunity to learn new things, which has brought me to work at NASA for the third consecutive summer. I have just finished my Bachelor’s in Mathematics at the University of Puerto Rico, Cayey Campus, and will now pursue a Ph.D. in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at University of Wisconsin-Madison. I am interested in studying atmospheric sciences in order to apply it to study earth as well as the atmosphere and conditions on other planets. It was my interest in remote sensing and planetary atmospheres that led me to apply for the GSFC Lunar and Planetary Sciences Academy.

This summer I am working with three other teammates on the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) and Laser Ranging (LR) Experiment of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission. We will be using the new data that comes from the LOLA instrument to generate high resolution maps of the moon, which will assist in the determination of future landing sites on the moon. The LRO mission just got launched today, June 18^th 2009!!! Even though I did not get to go to KSC to watch the launch, it was still a heart pounding experience. Never did I think that it would be possible to be so terrified and excited at the same time. Now I know how all the science and engineering teams must feel as they see the missions that they have worked so hard on go into space. However, it is the most rewarding feeling ever to see that the launch was successful! I am very excited to be working on the LRO mission and look forward to the contributions that my research will make to the future of space exploration.

Aaron Silver

School: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Major(s): Electrical Engineering

About me: I originally come from Holland, Michigan. I received my B.S. in Engineering from Hope College in 2008, and currently attend Illinois for graduate school. My interests include robotics, control, and artificial intelligence, and I am involved in active research in the Language Acquisition and Robotics research group at Illinois. Some of my other interests include traveling and camping, as I have done a ton of camping in 40-some states and most of the provinces in Canada. I’m also pretty big into sports, I’m a fan of all the Detroit teams (Pistons, Tigers, Lions, Red Wings), and above all else, a huge New York Yankees fan. Lastly, music is a passion of mine. I have played in orchestras, wind symphonies, jazz ensembles, brass quintets, you name it I’ve done it. I have been playing piano since I was about 4 years old, and have never stopped. For this summer, as part of the Lunar Planetary Science Academy, I get to work with a great group on the development of a free space laser ranging and communication system. By the end of the summer, it is our hope to be able to send out data on a laser to a nearby cell tower, and receive data as well as distance information.

Luke Wendt

School: Hope CollegeAlumni,

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Grad)

Major(s): Physics, Electrical Engineering (BS)
ECE-Adaptive Control

About me: My primary interest is in autonomous robotic exploration and smart systems. I am currently involved with a lab at UIUC working on language acquisition in an anthropomorphic robot. My contributions to the project will be in learning fine motor skills through a combination of abstract stochastic models and neural nets. Throughout my time here at UIUC I plan to emphasize my coursework toward adaptive, stochastic and optimal control techniques. I have not decided where I want to go after I complete my program at UIUC; possibly NASA or Sandia… someplace with interesting robotics

Andrew LaChance

School: Appalachian State University

Major(s): Computer Science

About me: I am a pretty easy-going person that loves to learn a lot about many different things. I have interests that range from image and audio processing to creating music and a whole lot more. I have always been fond about space and everything related. I graduated with a Bachelor’s in Computer Science and I will continue with my education by pursuing a Master’s Degree in the fall.

Chris Bergerson

School: Cornell University

Major(s): Applied Engineering Physics and Operations Research and Information Engineering

About me: Snowboarding, skateboarding, mountain biking, saxophone, friends, music, engineering, beaches, forests, mountains, fighter jets, transformers, and wildlife larger than salamander interest me. I strive to never settle for my present level of achievement.

Maggie McAdam

School: Mount Holyoke College

Major: Astronomy

About me: I am going into my senior year at MHC. I am studying Astronomy and Physics. I am interested in studying planetary science or heliophysics in graduate school. I love to travel. My most recent adventure has been to Australia. I am also interested in photography, fencing and music. Next year I will be a Student Advisor, working with Residential life office as well as the President of Mount Holyoke Chorale—one of our many wonderful singing groups on campus. I am an avid Red Sox fan as well as a Patriots and All Blacks fan. This summer I’m working with a super awesome group on detecting Helium-3 in the permanently shadowed areas of the lunar poles. I am tasked with designing an instrument that will detect the resonance back scattering from Helium-3. I’m really enjoying the work I’m doing here at NASA.

Kris Walbert

School: Virginia Tech

Major(s): Aerospace Engineering

About me: I am from Reading, PA and currently a rising senior in the aerospace engineering department at Virginia Tech. In addition to my B.S. in aerospace, I am also pursuing a minor in mathematics. Some of my interests include playing sports such as basketball and baseball, watching movies and of course, VT Hokies football. It has always been a dream of mine to work for NASA and that dream was made a reality this summer as I am currently a member of the Lunar and Planetary Science Academy. I am in a group of four whose main goal is to locate and detect helium-3 in permanently dark craters around the lunar South Pole. My specific task in the group is to generate a computer model of the flow of the solar wind over a crater to determine the areas of greatest particle deposition inside the crater. This will help narrow down the search area for helium-3 and also give some insight into how much may actually be present. In addition to this project, the entire LPSA will be taking a group fieldtrip to Sudbury, Canada to study an impact crater. The trip should be a wonderful experience and I am thoroughly looking forward to it.