There Are Many Tough Decisions In Life; This Is Not One Of Them. Be A NSBRI Intern!

Andrew Abercromby - Class of 2003, 2004, 2005
working underwater at NEEMO 14

It’s a cold and rainy Sunday evening and I really want to lie on the couch and watch football. But my conscience won’t let me do that until I write this blog. I was asked if I would be willing to write a short description of how my NSBRI internship experiences have affected my career path. Well, the truth is that my NSBRI internships were such positive experiences for me that I knew I was going to have to do this…

I enjoyed three summer internships with NSBRI: two in the Neuroscience Laboratory under the mentorship of Dr. Bill Paloski and one in the Anthropometry and Biomechanics Facility (ABF) under Dr. Sudhakar Rajulu. The work I performed with NSBRI at NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) resulted in two peer-reviewed journal publications and ultimately my doctoral dissertation. The subject matter was a possible countermeasure to bone and muscle atrophy, but the most important part for me was the opportunity to learn how to conduct research from expert space scientists and engineers. There were specific skills I learned, like new types of signal processing and statistical analysis, and other things that are softer but that I now know are hugely important for being an effective member of a science or engineering team. Things like: Ask questions when you don’t understand. Know when to lead and when to follow. Balance work and play. Speak up if you disagree. Think before you speak up. Speak up if you screw up. Think before you screw up. I am still working on all of these things, but the NSBRI internships have proven to be excellent training for the work that I now do every day.

Since completing my internships and my Ph.D., I have worked in several different roles at JSC. I am currently a biomedical engineer and deputy project manager for the Space Exploration Vehicle (SEV) project. The SEV team is designing and testing a new type of human space exploration vehicle. I am also a member of the Extravehicular Activity Physiology, Systems and Performance Project, whose goal is to help develop new spacesuits that will be safer, more efficient and easier to use.

One of the most important skills that I developed as an intern with NSBRI was the ability to organize and lead projects. I have enjoyed working on NASA tests – and in some cases leading tests – in a variety of environments from the cold of the High Arctic to the heat of the Arizona desert and from the heights of reduced-gravity research aircraft to the depths of a remote Canadian lake. The highlight so far came when I was selected to live underwater for 14 days in the Aquarius habitat as a crew member on the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO 14) research mission (which incidentally included conducting an NSBRI experiment under the ocean!).

I love space exploration, and I love my job. My NSBRI internships were hugely enjoyable and hugely important in my career path. I unreservedly recommend them to anybody seeking to become a better scientist or a better engineer.