NASA Ames Research Center Academy Students Visit JPL

Fifteen NASA Ames Robotics Academy students went to Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for a day-long visit on Tuesday, July 31. Steven Dang, a recent graduate in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Ga., enjoyed learning about the work done at JPL, specifically seeing the facilities where the researchers work.

“In one of the facilities, they built a ramp because the rover landed in a crater on Mars and they needed to replicate that incline to see if it was possible,” said Dang.

Dang enjoyed his experience with the robotics academy. “I was able to see what robotics research is like. I learned how to go about mathematical equations and learned algorithms that I didn’t even know about before,” said Dang.

“I was impressed that every intern was given important tasks. We weren’t given typical first year menial intern tasks.” Alexander Reben, also an Ames Robotics Academy student, will be graduating this year from Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, N.Y. Reben enjoyed being with around people who were also interested in robotics.

“It was inspiring to be around all these people with similar interests,” said Reben of his experience in the academy.