Fresh from a ten-week NASA summer internship programme in the US, we caught up with three Emirati students leading a new research initiative.
Shamma, Hazza and Hamad spent ten weeks studying in California
The NASA Undergraduate Student Research Project (USRP) traditionally offers internship opportunities for American undergraduate science and engineering students at NASA centres across the US. This year was the first time a joint Arab Youth Venture Foundation/Mubadala Aerospace initiative saw three Emirati undergraduates join teams of US students for a ten-week summer internship programme at NASA’s Ames Research Center, at Moffet Field in California.
For Shamma Al Qassim, 19, Hazza Bani Malek, 20 and Hamad Rajab, 21, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to work with top scientists on a variety of projects, including the space shuttle and International Space Station, deep space missions, solar system exploration and aeronautics research.
“It was an incredible opportunity to take part in such a prestigious project,” said Al Qassim, a computer engineering major at the American University of Sharjah. “I was able to apply my knowledge in an advanced field of research, working with other interns and NASA scientists on real projects. It was a really exciting process of exchanging ideas.”
“I even got to present my project to Nichelle Nichols from Star Trek; I was so proud. She loved it, and even asked me for a hug when I’d finished. It was a real honour!”
“I was learning everything from scratch,” said Bani Malek. “But the difference was that I was able to apply this knowledge to the project straight away, learning from my mistakes as I went along.”
Bani Malek, whose major is in Mechatronics ,at the Higher Colleges of Technology in Ras Al Khaimah, was working to update facility automation in a simulator that measures the high heat environment encountered by spacecraft entering planetary atmospheres.
“We only had two months to learn everything, but when my mentor gave me a test, I was able to complete the whole process in ten minutes!” he said.
“Working at NASA, expanding our knowledge to make the world we live in a better place; this was a truly inspiring technical and cultural experience,” said Rajab, who was working on a new cutting-edge water recycling system, designed for long-term duration space missions.
“This system will be implemented at the new Ames ‘Green Building’ Sustainability Base,” he said. “The project was a real success, and I’m very proud to have been able to represent my country.”
With students attending the programme from the most prestigious higher learning institutions in the United States, such as MIT, Harvard, Stanford and Yale, USRP offers students from the UAE an opportunity to share ideas with the brightest minds in their field of study, with access to a vast array of resources as yet unavailable here in the UAE.
“The UAE has started to build the infrastructure in terms of educational facilities, and they should continue on the same track,” said Al Qassim. “When I finish my studies I plan to stay in the UAE; it’s my home. If it wasn’t for my country’s support, I would never have had this experience at NASA.”
“Students in the UAE need real-life projects to work on, so they have more practical experience,” said Bin Malek. “This will give them the confidence and the knowledge they need to continue their research to PHD level.”
“In order to be considered one of the best countries in the world, we need to develop a skilled national workforce,” said Rajab. “These projects are vital to train people and give them experiences that they can transmit home.”
“All of us have learnt that the impossible is really possible if you have the will, the ambition and the determination.”
As part of the agreement between Abu Dhabi and NASA, a total of 12 UAE students per year for three years will participate in the programme, sponsored by Mubadala.
