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Jennith Thomas: CIPAIR is a grant that encouraged
research among undergraduates who are members of minority groups,
and also paired two year and four year
colleges. My name is Elmer Rayo. I'm from Louisburg, North
Carolina. My name Gerardo Jarmillo. I'm from Fayetteville, North Carolina.
My name is Roselani Robinson and I go to Louisburg
College in North Carolina. My name is Agossa Segla and
I live in New York City. My name is Edwin Olaya
and currently I'm a student of New York City College of Technology.
Dr. Viviana Vladutescu: This combination faculty and student, along with the
mentor at the institution where you work, its perfect. The student
has more help from both the mentor at that particular hosting
institution and the faculty. And the faculty gets
up to date with what's going on. Jennith Thomas: This has been the
dream of my life. To be able to work at
NASA with NASA scientists doing things that
are actually useful. Dr. Miguel Roman: I can sort of relate to my
internship students from the CIPAIR program because we came from small universities,
and that had really good curriculums in terms of basic
science and engineering, and math. But it was never instilled in us
until NASA became involved in our curriculum, development that you can
do things that go beyond basic research and manufacturing.
That you can study to become a scientist or astrophysicist.
Dr. Raymond Ohl: Experiences that a student can obtain here are very
similar to what they can expect to see at other research institutions
across the government and academia as well, its also
very similar to an industrial environment in some ways. Dr. Vladutescu: They've never seen a
like this before. They only saw stuff in books and
on TV. They never got to touch a blanket or they never go to touch
any of this technologies used at NASA before
Edwin Olaya: We are working on the, one of the biggest projects that
NASA has at the moment the James Web Space Telescope. For me that's
a really great opportunity. Agossa Segla: I learned how to
work together in order to achieve a goal.
And always you have to get help from each other.
Gerardo Jarmillo: People that work here were once interns just like me.
Roselani Robinson: Working with my mentor
Dr. Roman, he's very funny. He's very spirited,
you know, it's easy to talk to him. He's a good teacher.
Dr. Roman: We're looking at Landsat data for an entire data record
of 25 years. Elmer Rayo: We've been working on grasslands from
Southern Iowa and Northern Missouri. And
what we're looking at is foresteration and prairie.
And what we found in decay of change was that it actually has
been restored. Jennith Thomas: I see personal growth
in every student that has come here. Roselani Robinson: You get to meet a lot of
different people. And a lot of people that are very open,
have good energy, and that's what everybody wants in a workplace.
Dr. Roman: A key part about what we do here is that we look at
our students as our next generation. I
like to help students. It's good to get the work experience and
not only just sit in a classroom but actually get their hands dirty and see
how a lot of theories apply in real life.
Dr. Ohl: Thinking, you know what can I do to repay some of the mentors who took time
out of their busy schedules when I was an undergraduate and
graduate student to spend time with me?
To put me on the right path and to help me out. And someone said to me,
you can't really do anything to pay those people back but the thing
that you can do is pay it forward in a certain way. Dr. Vladutescu: I want to thank them
for accepting us even though they are so busy. They found time
for us. Edwin Olaya: Before taking remote sensing class in New York City
I never realize that I have the opportunity working at
NASA. For me working here is the best thing
is like a dream.
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