Student achieves dream of working with NASA

Since she was a child, Antonella Andrea Riega was interested in NASA.

However, when she began her studies at Central New Mexico Community College in biology and at the University of New Mexico in Spanish, she never thought she would have the opportunity, especially because she was not majoring in engineering.

That changed this September when she found a flyer at CNM that led her to become a part of a program at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

The NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars program targets STEM students from community colleges to participate in the program to encourage them to pursue a NASA-related career.

After selection, there are five weeks of online training on NASA and aerospace projects. Then the person selected must write a scientific paper on the Mars Mission.

During the four-day project, participants were placed into one of three groups that represented a company requesting funds from NASA to send robots to Mars. Students from each group created robotic hardware and software.

Meanwhile, Riega’s responsibilities involved publishing newspaper articles, communicating with all the groups and presenting her group’s project. Riega’s group won the competition on the fourth day, as the team’s robot could detect and collect minerals from the ground that imitated the land on Mars.

While at NASA, Riega also witnessed an equal distribution of women in both the students’ and the officials’ groups.

“Don’t get discouraged to apply for many things, not just for this program but any program, even though you think you may not get in,” Riega said, adding that she only spent $30 for her application fee and nothing on travel.

“At NCAS, they keep encouraging you to pursue your interested degree,” Riega said. “Now, I’ve built a good network with many people including the NASA officials who are also willing to write recommendation letters for me.”

More information on applying can be accessed at nas.okstate.edu/ncas, Riega said.

Ashish Khatri is a news reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @DailyLobo.