Contact: Jack Kennedy
May 18, 2007

MECC Students Selected for NASA Summer Internships

Two Wise County DEVELOP Scholars and Mountain Empire Community College students have been selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute for summer internships at the NASA Ames Research Center in San Francisco, California and the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

Amanda Smith, 20, of Coeburn, has been selected by the SETI Institute at the NASA Ames Research Center as a participant in its astrobiology program. The SETI Institute (www.seti.org), a non-profit private scientific research institution located in California’s Silicon Valley, selected Smith based upon her work as a highly motivated research scholar. Smith’s summer 2007 research project will involve modeling of ancient climates in three-dimensional visualization.

Having completed the MECC Geographic Information Systems (GIS) certificate, Smith was previously named a NASA Langley Aerospace Research Summer Scholar in 2006. From her research work at Langley, Smith published her work in highly acclaimed peer-reviewed journals of the Southeastern Section of the Geological Society of America (http://www.geosociety.org/) and the George Wright Society (http://www.georgewright.org).

Smith will transfer to Northwestern Missouri State University to major in geology from her environmental science studies at MECC and The University of Virginia’s College at Wise (UVa-Wise.) She aspires to graduate studies in planetary sciences in the near future.

Jacob Atkins, 17, of Wise, a 2007 MECC GIS and J. J. Kelly High School graduate, has been selected for the NASA Langley Aerospace Research Summer Scholars / DEVELOP program. DEVELOP is a NASA Science Mission Directorate Applied Sciences Program that fosters human capital development to extend NASA science research to local communities. Students demonstrate to community leaders prototype applications of NASA science measurements and predictions addressing local policy issues based in Hampton, Virginia.

Atkins will work with 3-D visualization software and satellite remote sensing data to build climate and air quality models expanding upon his knowledge of geographic information science. He will conduct his summer research at the DEVELOP Center located at the NASA Langley Research Center/ Langley USAF base.

Upon his return for the fall, Atkins will commerce his undergraduate major in software engineering at UVa-Wise. He will be the lead in-residence DEVELOP Scholar at the Wise County Clerk of Court office in 2007/2008.

Students interested in NASA internships through working with GIS, GPS, and remote sensing should contact Jack Kennedy in Wise at (276) 328-6111.

Coeburn’s Amanda Smith, a Wise County DEVELOP Scholar and Mountain Empire Community College student, has been selected by the SETI Institute at the NASA Ames Research Center in San Francisco, California as a participant in its astrobiology program.

Wise’s Jacob Atkins, a Wise County DEVELOP Scholar and Mountain Empire Community College student, has been selected for the NASA Langley Aerospace Research Summer Scholars / DEVELOP program.

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