Imagine working side-by-side with NASA engineers to dissect challenges and develop solutions.

Austin Community College District (ACC) student Juan Manuel Monsivais-Peña doesn’t have to imagine — he just lived the experience. 

Thousands of students across the nation applied for the special NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars (NCAS) program, and Juan was one of a select few hand-picked for the journey.  

He worked with teams at NASA on a series of missions to develop possible solutions for current challenges faced by NASA.

“I was surprised that I was given an offer to join. I didn’t think I would qualify when I found the opportunity, but I submitted my application. When I was told I was selected, I realized that, regardless of doubting my skills and myself, pushing myself is the way to go.”

NCAS gives community college STEM students an authentic NASA experience and encourages them to finish an associate degree and transfer to a four-year university to pursue a NASA-related field. Juan plans to complete his General Studies degree in spring 2024, followed by finishing his second degree in Biology by the end of the year.

“After this experience and being at Ames Research Center, I decided to transfer to the University of Texas at Austin and would like to pursue Astrobiology.”

Juan completed all three NCAS missions, which helped him build on all the skills he was learning. 

“Every step of the way taught you something you could apply to the next mission. Mission 1 taught us how to research and condense our information. Mission 2, we were assigned into teams and worked only for a week with no prior introductions, straight into teamwork and research. In Mission 3, we worked with an assigned team for two weeks online to do research for a drone proposal. We then went onsite at Ames Research Center.”

The experience provided Juan with the training and opportunity to see where he wanted to go and pursue his career.

“I hope to intern and even get a job working with NASA. This opportunity shows people how NASA works. You get to learn about the experiences and the journey. I feel that we put NASA workers in this place — they are above people because they’re so smart, and in reality, they are down-to-earth people.”

For more information on transferring, visit austincc.edu/transfer. If you are interested in pursuing a career in SEM, visit austincc.edu/sem.

Tags: engineering, Math, NASA, NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars, Science, SEM