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>> My name is Heather Yoost,
I go to Penn State

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I’m from the Poconos,
Pennsylvania

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I’m studying Mechanical and
Biomedical Engineering.

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This summer I’ve been working to
model the glider in the

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Towed Glider Air Launch System,
(TGALS).

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And so this system consists of a
tow plane and a

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remotely piloted glider that
will carry a launch vehicle.

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So this system aims to

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launch a rocket booster
from high altitude.

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So I’ve been making different
gliders that will be

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evaluated in aerodynamic
analysis software.

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And so we want to see
which design will fit

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in our system the best.

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So this project is great
for NASA because

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if the system succeeds this
will help us efficiently

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launch small satellites
into space

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This will also improve
costs by forty percent.

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So the projects I got into
I had no experience

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working with any of that
and it was

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it was challenging but I learned
a lot and it’s really rewarding

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when you do finally
reach those goals

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and see what your work
is helping to achieve.

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>> A lot of companies
and entities look

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for that experience from
new graduate engineers

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and it’s important that
they get that experience.

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So it’s always fun for me to
work with interns because they

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do very good work.

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They’re able to
catch on quickly,

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they know the newer tools.

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They’ve taken the experience
here, and hopefully they're

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they’re taking it
to the classroom,

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where they wouldn’t have
had that before.

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>> Working at NASA here has been
really an excellent experience.

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All the interns are given very
important projects,

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or projects that don’t
make you feel like

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you’re just there
to do menial labor.

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Every summer I’m given a project
that I can invest myself in

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and challenges me to learn
something new.

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It’s never mundane and it’s
never something boring

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or something that I find
exceptionally easy to do.

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There’s always something
new and challenging.

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Working in the FOSS lab and
especially under Allen Parker

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has been an excellent
experience and

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one of the reasons I have stuck
with engineering and

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pursuing an engineering degree
is because of

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the people I work with and have
gotten to learn from here.

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>> NASA has opportunities
to invest in young people.

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Having that young spirit in the
lab, that young creative mind,

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is energizing for me.

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But having that passion,
that desire to learn, still,

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the creativity that they have
within the students,

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is contagious
and I really enjoy that.

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I enjoy fueling that passion,
fueling that creativity,

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and giving them opportunities to
exercise that in the lab.

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>> Armstrong’s not like other
places. The mentors really do

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want to invest in you and they
really do see you as the future.

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And that’s such a cool feeling
and it’s such