Student Internship
Priscila Annette Mendoza
What internships have you earned?
I have earned an internship during the Fall of 2021 with Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida. I worked under the In-Situ Resource Utilization and electrodynamic prototype testing for lunar regolith.
My second internship is currently with Johnson Space Center at Houston, Texas. I work under the Orbital Debris Program Office Sector and contributing to find complex and accurate methods of composite materials for spacecrafts under high impact once they are tested and later launched at LEO (Low Earth Orbit.)
What did you do to gain these internships?
I gained an immense amount of hands-on experience back at Kennedy Space Center. Working full-time hours at the lab were exciting and being able to gain technical experience not only on the CAD design aspect, but also coding and utilizing the vacuum chamber of an innovative prototype design to be tested for the first time at the ESPL lab was one of the best rewarding experiences I have gained in an internship.
Are you in any organizations, if so which ones?
My role as the current UTEP Chapter President for the AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics) and SEDS (Students for the Exploration and Development of Space) has been one of the most amazing and challenging leadership roles I have obtained throughout my college career. I am more than thrilled to engage student members to excel in their engineering courses by providing them with general meeting each three weeks, aerospace related events such as symposiums, and workshops monthly. My goal as a president of both organizations is to support and help students to gain experience in professional development & technical skillset and hence prepare them for internships, academic programs, and furthermore a full-time job offer before they culminate their degree.
Former positions that I was mostly involved was being the President for Pi Tau Sigma (Mechanical Engineering Honor Society), past Secretary and Graduate Chair for SHPE (Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, and past Secretary for WoAA (Women of Aeronautics and Astronautics.)
I am also a current member of ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers).
How did these organizations help you?
As previously mentioned, these organizations have tremendously helped me to advance not only as a graduate student, but also to expand my connections when I get the opportunity to attend conferences and applying to jobs that are correlated to my career path of interest, in this case the Space industry. Taking the advantage to submit research abstracts and putting yourself out there by showing your work is truly fulfilling, especially at conferences where mostly you have the higher probability to be networking and getting to know advanced professionals.