December 20, 1996
NASA is looking for a few good future scientists and is accepting applicants for the 1997 Graduate Student Researchers Program (GRSP). Under GRSP, more than 200 graduate students are placed throughout NASA in research positions in scientific and engineering laboratories such as the Space Science Laboratory of Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
"We want students who will work in some of the mission areas where we're missing some skills," said Ernestine Cothran, SSL associate director and GRSP administrator for MSFC.
Space Sciences Lab now has 18 graduate student researchers.
The program was established in 1980 and now grants annual stipends of up to $16,000 (plus another $6,000 for student and university expenses) to students selected under the program. Up to 150 new students a year are selected, and students may participate for up to three years.
Applicants must be U.S. citizens and must attain a bachelor of science or engineering by the summer when work begins. Other requirements apply and are in the full GRSP booklet.
Applications must be received by Feb. 1, 1997, and research must start between July 1 and Oct. 11, 1997.
Winning an appointment involves more than submitting forms.
"For their proposals to be selected," Cothran said, "they need to talk with the points of contact on the various research areas. They should market themselves first and fine-tune what they're going to do to match what we're doing."
MSFC's Space Sciences Laboratory conducts research in several areas including, astrophysics, solar physics, space plasma physics, Earth climatology and hydrology (much of it nearby at the Center for Global Hydrology and Climatology), and microgravity materials sciences.
In addition to scientific research at SSL, MSFC conducts research in astrionics, systems analysis and integration, mission operations, mission safety, structures and dynamics, propulsion, and materials and processes. More information can be obtained from the SSL headlines page.
While the research potential at Marshall is expanding, the workforce has shrunk as the government downsizes - and there is always the need for new minds with new ideas.
"This program can provide educational participation while attacking technical problems in mission areas where we're missing some skills," Cothran added.
In addition to Marshall, Huntsville is home to the Army Missile Command and a variety of high-tech industries. This city of about 200,000 people is in the Tennessee Valley, at the north end of Alabama near the Tennessee border.
For additional information, read the introduction to the GRSP program, or go to the GRSP home page where you can read a listing of 1996 selectees and their research areas or download the complete booklet, or contact your faculty advisor. http://ednet.gsfc.nasa.gov/gsrp/doc.html
Please read the listing of SSL's research areas, and a description of the city of Huntsville and Madison County.
Information contacts are:
At MSFC, Ernestine Cothran, 205-544-0649 or Sandy Cothren, 205-544-1871, or
At NASA headquarters, Ahmad Nurriddin, 202-358-1517 (fax -3048)
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Headlinesreturn to Space Sciences Laboratory Home
Author: Ernestine
Cothran
Curator: Bryan Walls
NASA Official: John M. Horack