{"id":37309,"date":"2015-12-07T23:05:47","date_gmt":"2015-12-07T23:05:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/?p=37309"},"modified":"2015-12-17T19:37:56","modified_gmt":"2015-12-17T19:37:56","slug":"acc-students-may-apply-now-for-nasa-space-exploration-program-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/2015\/12\/07\/acc-students-may-apply-now-for-nasa-space-exploration-program-2\/","title":{"rendered":"ACC students may apply now for NASA space exploration program"},"content":{"rendered":"

Austin Community College students interested in a unique opportunity to interact with NASA scientists and engineers may apply now for NASA\u2019s National Community College Aerospace Scholars project (NCAS). The program is open to part-time and full-time students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Applications for spring are accepted through December 15.\"IMG_20151028_125845732\"<\/p>\n

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Apply now\u00a0 ncas.aerospacescholars.org<\/a>!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

“NASA does much more than just astronomy.\u00a0 A variety of STEM fields are represented at NASA, so this program will allow students to explore a wide range of disciplines,\u201d says Dr. James E. Heath, ACC Physics Department chair. \u201cIt\u2019s a great experience, and a lot of fun.”<\/p>\n

ACC student Ronny Betts was among 160 community college students nationwide accepted into the program this fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpace exploration has always been my passion. Growing up I wanted to build robots and design spacecraft,\u201d says Betts. \u201cGetting a chance to learn directly from NASA engineers and work firsthand with their equipment was incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The five-week scholars program culminates with a four-day on-site event at Johnson Space Center where they form teams, develop fictional companies interested in Mars exploration, and design and build a prototype rover.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_20151026_165832360\"\u201cI got my bachelor\u2019s in aerospace engineering, but when I went for job interviews I realized I didn\u2019t have the skills I needed. I needed to go back to school,\u201d says Betts. \u201cACC has one of the best Computer Aided Design (CAD) programs in the country, so I enrolled for a chance to start over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Betts will graduate in December with her associate degree in CAD with a Mechanical Specialization.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, this experience with the NASA scholars program has been a huge confidence booster,\u201d says Betts. \u201cIt\u2019s exciting that NASA is still moving forward with missions like going to Mars and that I\u2019ve been a part of the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information visit ncas.aerospacescholars.org<\/a>. All applicants must be students at ACC. To register for spring classes visit austincc.edu\/spring<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Austin Community College students interested in a unique opportunity to interact with NASA scientists and engineers may apply now for NASA\u2019s National Community College Aerospace Scholars project (NCAS). The program is open to part-time and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3556,"featured_media":37310,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,17,19],"tags":[359,656,655,326,327,654],"class_list":["post-37309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-students","category-news-and-announcements","category-students-and-alumni","tag-cad","tag-james-heath","tag-mars-exploration","tag-nasa","tag-national-community-college-aerospace-scholars-project","tag-ronny-betts"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3556"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}