New York Student Joins Prestigious NASA Academy at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

GREENBELT, Md., June 13 Shannon Liburd, a student from Brooklyn, New York, will spend the summer of 2007 at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. as a participant in the competitive NASA Academy. Liburd currently attends the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA.

The NASA Academy is a unique residential internship program that targets college juniors and seniors or first year graduate students. Each participant demonstrated interest in space science and the space program in their application.

The Academy aims to develop new leaders for the U.S. Space Program. Each of the participants conducts laboratory research, helps with a group project, attends lectures and completes a presentation accompanied with technical writing. Students gain an understanding about how NASA and the Centers operate and build professional bonds with NASA personnel and fellow interns.

“I have always wanted to see what it is like to work for NASA and becoming a NASA intern was the perfect opportunity,” said Liburd. “I hope to figure out where my passion truly lies and to gain career advice that will help me in my graduate school application process.”

Once students complete the Academy program, they are inducted into the NASA Academy Alumni Association and earn course credits from the University of Maryland, College of Computer, Mathematical and Physical Science. The ten-week NASA Academy runs now through Aug. 11.

Founded in 1993, the NASA Academy inspires and develops future leaders with a demonstrated commitment to aerospace through a unique, powerful combination of research, leadership development, and relationship building opportunities. Filling an important niche among NASA education programs, the NASA Academy structure complements internship programs that focus more exclusively on research. The NASA Academy experience stimulates sharp young minds at a critical decision-making point in their careers.

With this program, NASA continues the agency’s tradition of investing in the nation’s education programs. It is directly tied to the agency’s major educational goal of strengthening NASA’s and the nation’s future workforce. Through this and the agency’s other college and university programs, NASA will identify and develop the critical skills and capabilities needed to achieve the Vision for Space Exploration.

For more info about the Academy go to: http://academy.nasa.gov/