From May 21st to August 17th, I had the privilege of being an intern at NASA JPL. While this blog post certainly doesn't cover everything, I've written it to give an overview of JPL, my own internship experience there, and what I did outside of my work there. I hope this will be an excellent resource for any future or prospective intern.
Introduction to JPL
Nestled into the foothills of LA County's San Gabriel mountains in the city of La Cañada Flintridge, lies the world's foremost powerhouse of deep-space exploration. For the past 62 years, NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab has been responsible for leading missions into the farthest reaches of the solar system, and now recently, beyond the solar system. Missions like Mariner, Voyager, Galileo, Cassini, and Curiosity (Mars Science Laboratory) have brought with them some of the most important discoveries about the Earth, our Solar System, and the Universe.
JPL's Internship Program
For a period of a few months at the beginning of each summer, hundreds upon hundreds of new, bright-eyed, and bushy-tailed interns from every corner of the country arrive in batches each Monday morning. Interns play a huge role at JPL, and work hands-on with their projects and mentors, often producing contributions of great significance in a relatively short amount of time.
Interns come to JPL already familiar with what project they'll be working on and who their mentor will be. They're given a stipend suitable enough to cover housing, food, transportation, and incidental expenses throughout the summer.
How I Got There
During my first semester of Engineering School at Embry-Riddle in the Fall of 2017, I was working hard in the propulsion lab, quickly working my way up the ranks and designing the data-acquisition and control systems for the lab's bi-propellant liquid and hybrid rocket engines. During this time, I became well acquainted with many of the lab's senior members. One day I was prodding a few of them who had interned in the aerospace industry's flagship companies such as Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman, and SpaceX. I wanted to know how they had gotten their internships and how long it had taken them to get them. They replied, half-jokingly that it had taken them "hundreds" of applications before they ever got replies from any company. Not knowing "hundreds" was a bit of an exaggeration, I made it my mission, right then and there, to apply to what amounted to every possible internship opportunity I met the minimum qualifications for.
Throughout the next few months, well into my spring semester, I worked hard to perfect my resume, and I spent an hour in total each day between classes and activities applying for internships. I looked for opportunities in every corner of the Aerospace industry and learned about companies I never knew existed. From silicon valley startups to subcontractors, to the biggest names in the industry, I applied for every position I qualified for. By early February, I had sent out well over a hundred applications, and by late February, my inbox was already bursting with rejection emails for the positions I had replied for.
And then, one day, on March 1st...
No one had replied for months and then all of a sudden in my inbox was an email from an engineer at JPL! I couldn't contain myself.
After a week of emailing back and fourth, a phone interview, and some time anxiously waiting, I received my offer notification and quickly accepted it.
Journey to JPL
The next few months of college flew by quickly. Classes were hard and extracurriculars and friends were just as demanding. I had set my date to start at JPL (they usually give interns the option to set their start date as long as it works for their project and mentor) to May 21st. I would be living 20 minutes away from JPL with a group of interns I had met through the intern Facebook group. We arranged very affordable housing for the summer and agreed that two of the six us would bring our cars to California. I was one of the two. I drove from my home in Northeast Georgia to Pasadena, California over the course of two and a half days with almost no stopping in between.
First few weeks
Upon arriving at JPL, you go through an onboarding process where your identification and citizenship documents are checked and verified, you attend a few lectures where you get acquainted with JPL and its culture, and finally, you are issued your JPL Badge and Caltech ID card. You'll also be issued a laptop to use.
Life at JPL
The Campus
It's easy to get lost at JPL. Even after 13 of weeks being there, by my last week I was still having a hard time navigating the facility. Because JPL rests on the side of a few rolling hills, employees will often describe where something is based on it being "uphill" or "downhill".
That being said, the campus is beautiful, interesting, and full of wildlife.
There's a herd of deer at JPL which are quite a common sight. It's not uncommon to come only within a few feet of them. They often come out on the weekends and in the mornings and evenings when "JPLers" are away.
The dining facilities at JPL are quite good! There are a few cafeterias scattered throughout the campus, and they cater to a wide variety of tastes at reasonable prices.
The Social and Work Environment
Talks and lectures are a huge part of life at JPL. Almost every level of the organization hosts talks and presentations on a wide variety of topics. Presentations over the course of my time at JPL ranged from talks on subjects ranging from the Mars Helicopter, Starshade, Michael Russell's Theory of Life, and others.
JPL has an incredible working and social environment. It is easy for interns to make friends with one another, and to find mentors in JPL employees.
Caltech
The California Institute of Technology is situated in the heart of Pasadena in LA County, a few miles from JPL. Even though NASA owns the JPL facilities, hardware, and intellectual property etc. JPL is actually staffed and managed by Caltech.
One of the really great perks about getting to be an intern at JPL is that you virtually become part of Caltech for the summer. Which is an incredible experience. Caltech's campus is the most beautiful college campus I've ever been on. I spent a great deal of time there with other interns I became friends with or just by myself, strolling the campus, reading in the libraries, or watching the turtles in the ponds.
Adventures outside of JPL
I went on several trips when I wasn't working at JPL. Surprisingly, there are several beautiful places in LA county you can visit to get away for a day or two.
Mt. Baldy
One of my favorites, Mt. Baldy is the highest peak in the San Gabriel mountains.
Echo Mountain
A shorter and more accessible hike is up Echo Mountain, beginning with the Sam Merrill trail-head in Altadena. This is a staple weekend hike many interns go on, and can be easily done over the course of two hours. The top of the mountain has a surprising amount of history, and provides great views of the valley. You can easily see JPL from the top.
July Road Trip
During the week of the 4th of July, I and another intern set off for a road trip up the coast, starting in Lost Angeles and working our way all the way up to San Lois Obispo. We would've gone further North, but unfortunately Highway 1 was closed.
We stopped our first night at a camp site along a ridge over-looking Morro Bay, one of the most beautiful little spots in all of California.
After waking up the next morning, we set off for Hearst Castle, the work of the eclectic art-collector and newspaper tycoon, William Randolph Hearst.
Overall Thoughts about the JPL Internship Experience
From the unique combination of experiences and opportunities offered to the potential for priceless social and professional connections, JPL's internship program offers one of the best intern experiences in the country.
Tips For Future JPL Interns
Housing
- Find a group of other interns to share housing and carpool with. They'll be an instant group of friends and your housing will be much cheaper
OR
- Live on Campus at Caltech! It's quite a beautiful campus and the dormitories are fabulous. Plus you'll get to meet other interns and student researchers not only from JPL but also from Caltech's other summer programs.
Travel and Transportation
- LA is hard to get around. Plan your commute around the traffic. The drivers in LA are surprisingly good. If you're not used to driving in LA...you'll get used to it faster than you think. I became a much better driver after this summer.
What to do outside JPL
- Go on adventures. Form a group of people to go hiking with. Echo Mountain and Mt. Baldy are fantastic places for day hikes.
- Some of my favorite restaurants in the area were Chim! (a Thai restaurant) and India's Flavor (amazing lunch buffet...great for taking off work during your lunch break).
- Spend some time exploring and wandering around Old Pasadena. There are always events going on and things to do there.
- Go bouldering and rock climbing indoors! I'm so glad I took up this new hobby over the summer. Climbing gyms like Hangar 18 provide big discounts to students and make it very cheap and easy to get into climbing with locations all over Los Angeles. It's a great place to go after work and bring a friend along with you.
Money and Other Tips
- Make friends with other interns
- If you're a guy or have short hair, Rose City Barbershop gives amazing haircuts. These guys are top notch, and I got haircuts there at least 3 times throughout the summer.
- Budget carefully. JPL pays interns well but the money can disappear quickly if you're not careful.
- Go to all of the JPL and Caltech sponsored events.
- Spend time at Caltech.
- Sign up for the tours offered to students at JPL. They're a great way to explore and learn more about JPL.
- Ask to talk to people at JPL. Seriously! If you have a particular interest area, it's okay to (politely) ask them to have lunch with you or setup a short meeting to talk with them about their work. I and other interns did this and it was always an extremely rewarding experience.
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