Every Time I Google My University Of Minnesota Duluth Initials, "UMD", Results For University Of Maryland

These are essential tips for FIRST Robotics teams starting build season this Saturday!

8 Ways to Stay Healthy During Build Season

Three more days until kickoff! You know what this means: pizza, caffeine, and no sleep for 42 days.

However, despite all the jokes we all make about awful diets and bad sleep habits, self-care is something we all need to remember during build season. Here are some tips to stay healthy as we approach a time when our health often, unfortunately, ends up as a low priority.

Reusable water bottles. Water is pretty important for obvious reasons, but multiple bottles of water can be tiring to lug around. Plus, it’s better for the environment than the recyclable water bottles.

Sports drinks in moderation. Although water is always a good go-to when you need to hydrate, if you’ve been sweating a lot, you also need to replenish the electrolytes you lose. Drinks like Powerade and Pocari Sweat are great for those purposes.

Don’t fall asleep in a binder. We all know how it happens: after a long day’s work, you get home, plop in bed, and pass out in grimy clothing. It’s fine. Just make sure you remove your binder if you wear one.

Utilize team sweatshirts and layers. Depending on what part of the world you live in, it can get pretty cold outside, so make sure to bundle up when traveling to and from your team’s shop. If you wear a binder, you can also use sweatshirts and larger clothing to take a break.

Fruit instead of sweets. And most snacks in general. Vitamin C prevents colds, which is extremely important when you spend a lot of time close to people in the winter. It’ll also help prevent breakouts.

Protein bars. Pizza is the solution to almost all your problems most of the time, but if you’re eating it three meals a day, that’s a problem that can’t be solved by more pizza. Protein bars are just one alternative, and a fantastic one at that.

Set an alarm for lunchtime. Speaking of eating three meals a day, you need to make sure you really have three meals a day. It also goes for anything else you need to remember at a certain time, like picking up an object, taking your meds, checking a monitor, etc. This is also useful during competition season, because it’s very easy to forget in the heat of things.

Work out. You don’t necessarily have to do any intense workouts, but doing at least one physically active thing for an hour each week serves as a good distraction from spending so much brainpower on robots every day. It will also help prevent you from passing out at competitions when you run back and forth between the pits and the stands, or when everyone gets up to do the Macarena.

Good luck, and remember: safety and your health come FIRST.

~Staff: Errica 1073

Interstellar. Dir. Christopher Nolan. Perf. Matthew McConaughey Anne Hathaway Jessica Chastain Michael Caine. Paramount Pictures, 2014. Film.

Early lunar lander prototype at Johnson Space Center #JSC #NASAIntern

Just got my planet stamps from the US Postal Office today for some summer letter writing. They are beautiful!

Space Stamps

Coming in to a post office near you: new “Views of Our Planets: Forever stamps featuring iconic images of the planets in our solar system, including the well-known “Blue Marble” photo of Earth.

New “Pluto Explored” Forever stamps commemorating the July 2015 flyby of Pluto by our New Horizons spacecraft are also being issued for online purchase.

The May 31 first-day-of-issue dedication ceremony for the Pluto and planetary stamps will be in New York City at the World Stamp Show. This international gathering of stamp collectors occurs only once each decade in the United States, and – with more than 250,000 visitors expected to attend – is the largest stamp show in the world.

The Pluto stamps are of special significance to the New Horizons team, which placed a 20-cent 1991 “Pluto: Not Yet Explored” stamp on board the spacecraft. On July 14, 2015, New Horizons carried the stamp on its history-making journey to Pluto and beyond, as jubilant members of the mission team celebrated with a large print, striking the words “not yet.”

The above pane of 16 Forever stamps, the Postal Service showcases some of the more visually compelling historic, full-disk images of the planets obtained during the last half-centruy of our space exploration. Eight new colorful Forever stamps – each shown twice – feature Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

This isn’t the first time that space has been featured on postal stamps. In the past, many different space images and missions have been highlighted on the tiny pieces of paper you stick on the corner of your mail.

Here’s a look at a few space stamps of the past:

Nebulae

Stamps depicting multiple nebulae seen by the Hubble Space Telescope were released in 2000. 

Pioneer 10 

Launched in 1972, Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to travel through the asteroid belt and obtain close-ups of Jupiter

U.S. Launches Satellites 

This stamp, released in 1999, depicts the post World War II race in space exploration. 

Alan Shepard: First American in Space

This stamp, released in 2011, featured Alan Shepard, the first American in space. Flying on the Mercury spacecraft, Shepard launched, flew 116 miles high and came back to Earth. His flight lasted about 15 and a half minutes. 

MESSENGER Mission

MESSENGER, launching in 2004, was the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury. This stamp, released in 2011, highlighted this mission and its importance. Understanding Mercury and how it formed is critical to better understanding the conditions on and evolution of the inner planets.

The new “Views of our Planets” stamps will be widely available across the U.S. at post offices and for online purchase beginning May 31. The Pluto – Explored Forever stamps will only be sold online or by calling 800-782-6724.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

Intern Week 1: Code in a Storm

Comment your code and batten down the hatches. One week into my NASA intern experience and I have become well aquainted with the LabVIEW programming language and Houston's tropical storms.

LabVIEW is a visual programming language where instead of writing lines of code to make a "while loop" you literally draw a loop around the function you want to repeat. Many FIRST Robotics teams and rapid prototyping engineers use LabVIEW. With this programming language I will translate packets of data from Orion Deep Space Habitat's devices to meaningful data and then display that data on a user interface. I'm still pinching myself because not only do I get to work alongside talented scientists but I am helping advance a project I worked on while interning at NASA Glenn Research Center in 2013. Some of the devices that I am translating data for, such as a solar power regulator, are devices I made a circuit board for at Glenn.

I captured pictures of The HIVE (Human Integrated Vehicles & Environments) lab we work in primarily because we were advised to cover the tech gear in plastic bags in preparation for a pending tropical storm. Coming from the icy tundra of Minnesota I am far from used to tropical storm and flood prep. Cutting long strips of plastic sheets with large industrial scissors I felt like one of Cinderella's woodland helpers. Now the Orion mock up is ready to meet Prince Charming at the ball.

Looking forward to creating schematics of the packet translator in Visio and making the translation process more autonomous this week!

Ideas for Teachers: Programming Lesson Plan 

When I return back to my hometown I will be visiting schools to share about my NASA experience and teach programming. I will be sharing my lesson plans here for a day of programming and a day of space related learning. Let’s start with programming. One of my first stops will be my Mom’s Kindergarten class so you will notice my lesson plan is catered for elementary students.

Morning: What is programming?

After your usual morning activities; “G-O-O-D M-O-R-N-I-N-G Good Morning Aye Aye Good Morning *clap* *clap”, drawing sticks and telling about your weekend, introduce students to the concept of programming. Ask students, “What do you think programming is?” Write down the answers on the white board. After answer along the lines of “Programming is telling a computer to do things - make a video game, control a robot, create an App, and more!” Next I would show them a short video with our current stars in technology.

Lets Start Coding

“Enough talk about programming let’s do it!” A great introduction to coding is a Made With Code project. The Yeti project is my favorite of these activities. Students take turns dragging and dropping blocks of code assigning attributes to the Yeti fur color and feet size. After assigning attributes the students can watch the Yeti dance. When I have had students write yeti code they enjoy changing the colors and dance many times!

Afternoon: Code Related Rotations

Skills needed to program are not only found in front of a screen but working in a team, time for activity rotations. (These will be the centers I will have but you all can have different ones.) At one center I will have my LEGO robot for the students to program. There will be objects that the robot can pick up or avoid. At the second center 3D printed puzzles will be available for students to solve. At the third center an activity with half a blank page and half a lined page. Students can draw a picture of what they think would be cool to program and write about it. Last center create a robot out of construction paper, foil, or other mediums.

Now You Try

Take a trip to the computer lab and let students try to program on their own. Hour of Code is a great resource where students can learn programming at various levels. Two activities I tested out an enjoyed was a Flappy Bird Game Creator and Star Wars Drone Game. Students can code on their own or work in a group to help each other figure things out.

Have fun teaching students about programming! In the future I hope to get a Sphero, 3D printer, and Arduino type kit. Maybe you all have other ideas for a programming lesson plan.

Land a Career with the US Government

I shared all my advice on how to land a career US Government! Semesters that I am not working at NASA Johnson Space Center I study at the University of Minnesota Duluth and work in their Career and Internship Services. I am training into a Peer Educator position soon to help students edit resumes, write blog posts and give general career advice. In their Peer Educator Blog "Peer Into Your Career" I shared my US Government career tips. If someone wants to work for NASA or any other agency this three part blog series is where I would direct them!

Part 1: Using the US government's USAJobs.gov as a job search engine.

Part 2: Perfecting your resume on USAJob.gov's resume builder.

Part 3: A Pathways Internship, an awesome US Government career experience for college students.

Throughout my time as a Peer Educator I will write monthly posts for the "Peer Into Your Career" blog.

WAYS TO GET INVOLVED

"Peer Into Your Career" blog by U of MN Duluth Peer Educators has many great posts help  you in every aspect of your career! From when you first start searching to later in your career.

Visit your university/ college's Career Center! These wise folks are more than happy to help you out and are full of quality wisdom.

For non USAJobs.gov resume builder tips check out U of MN Duluth's Career Handbook for resume tips and more!

Side note: I did not successfully land the T-38 Jet simulator so ask me about career landing advice not plane landing advice. I did a few loops though. Yes that is Astronaut Gregory C Johnson in the co-pilot seat!

How easy would it be for someone to get an internship at NASA, or what would be some typical requirements? I'm only a high school student in engineering and want to know what paths would be really... appreciated I guess? Thx, and love your blog!

Are there any NASA internship requirements...Your typical semester long internship requirements (for a summer, spring or fall opportunity) include a GPA of at least 3.0 and simply a passion for NASA! You don't need to necessarily study in STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) disciplines. Some current interns are graphic designers, educators or business majors. NASA accepts high school students to participate in their program too. My first NASA experience was at Glenn Research Center the summer after my senior year. NASA does like to hear about any hands on work you have done, how you have been a leader and future aspirations. You can apply for a semester long internship here: https://intern.nasa.gov/ossi/web/students/login/The NASA Pathways Internship (this program is more commonly known as a Co-Op) has a few different requirements and the program is different itself. Unlike an internship a Co-Op makes a many semester long commitment to you. For example I flip-flop between working at NASA and studying at school. I will work at NASA five times before graduating. If you complete this program successfully you have the opportunity to apply for full time jobs at NASA. The program requirements include being a current student at an ABET accredited university and participating in an accepted major (details on that in the Co-Op application sites) like engineering or business, having at least a 2.9 GPA, and being able to work at NASA three times before your graduate. The current Pathways Internship (Co-Op) openings are here: http://nasajobs.nasa.gov/studentopps/employment/opportunities.htmYou apply for the Co-Op by making a resume (mine was just bellow 20,000 characters) on USAJobs.gov. Opportunities open up as the year rolls along for fall and spring opportunities. Thanks for the question!

Teams watch robots compete at a FIRST Robotics Regional in Minnesota

Looking Forward to Grace Hopper 2015

Unsure of whether to call it the Grace Hopper Conference or Celebration I’m going to postulate that it is both. Grace Hopper Celebration of  Women in Computing (GHC) is a collection of conferences where computer scientists can learn about the latest technology, participate in tech workshops, network and build soft skills. The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology and the Association for Computing Machinery initiated GHC named after the computer scientist Grace Hopper. Hopper coined the term debugging, after picking bugs out of her computer and invented the first compiler, allowing programming languages to be more human-like.

Aspiring or seasoned computer scientist GHC sounds like the place to be, described by my peers in NCWIT (National Center for Women and Information Technology). In high school I became one of NCWIT’s MN State Affiliate Aspiration in Computing Award winners and since then have heard of networking stories, tales of learning experience and good times from GHC goers.

As a current Co-Op at NASA’s Johnson Space Center I have been sent on a mission to learn as much as I can and share with my department how these acquired skills will help them. As an NCWITer I will be able to connect with other like-minded women and attend their networking events. I have been browsing through the conference schedule and crafted a comprehensive itinerary filled with keynote presentations, professional development, and hands on tech projects.

Sessions on my itinerary I am most excited for include “Communicating for Impact and Influence”, “Design and Development Considerations in Serious Games”, “Bank of America Technical Women Luncheon”, “Speed Mentoring Breakfast with Microsoft”, and “Data Science: NASA”.

WAYS TO GET INVOLVED

I will be live tweeting and live blogging the event

Check out this year’s sessions and think about joining in next year

Watch keynotes from past events