{"id":202379,"date":"2024-08-22T13:32:40","date_gmt":"2024-08-22T23:32:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=202379"},"modified":"2024-08-22T16:36:35","modified_gmt":"2024-08-23T02:36:35","slug":"nasa-taps-leeward-cc-student","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2024\/08\/22\/nasa-taps-leeward-cc-student\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA<\/abbr> taps Leeward CC<\/abbr> student for aerospace scholar program"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> < 1<\/span> minute<\/span><\/span>
\"cataluna
Austin Cataluna<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Leeward Community College<\/a> student Austin Cataluna, who is studying mechanical engineering, spent this past year as one of 120 students nationwide as a MFA<\/abbr> NASA<\/abbr>\u2019s Community College Aerospace Scholar<\/a> (NCAS<\/abbr>). The six-month journey is designed to advance students\u2019 capabilities in STEM and prepare them for better representation in the field.<\/p>\n

\"cataluna<\/p>\n

NCAS challenges students through three missions focusing on NASA<\/abbr>\u2019s mission goals, collaboration and career pathways. Each student progresses to the next mission after completing the previous one.<\/p>\n

Mission 1 was a five-week online course focusing on NASA<\/abbr>\u2019s history and student career development. In Mission 2 Cataluna worked as a project manager with a team of nine to design a simulated mission to the moon. In Mission 3 Cataluna had the opportunity to experience the Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California for a three-week hybrid capstone project.<\/p>\n

“It was only my second time traveling outside of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> alone,” Cataluna said. “The military base setting, complete with unique aircrafts, sonic booms and 106 degree heat added to the excitement. Learning about the technologies and innovations in aerospace, a field I\u2019m interested in entering, was fascinating,”<\/p>\n

While at the research center, Cataluna met and learned from some of NASA<\/abbr>s top professionals, including shadowing an operations engineer working with the ER<\/abbr>-2 Spy Plane. This experience provided him a glimpse into the day-to-day life of someone working in one of the most challenging, yet rewarding fields.<\/p>\n

Cataluna is preparing to transfer to the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Mānoa, and credits Leeward CC<\/abbr> with helping him seize this opportunity.<\/p>\n

“I wouldn\u2019t be where I am if it wasn\u2019t for the flexibility that Leeward provides,” Cataluna said. Adding that his college experience has been instrumental in preparing him for a future career in engineering.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Austin Cataluna embarked in a six-month journey to advance his capabilities in STEM. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[179,65,1496,660,71,9],"class_list":["post-202379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-college-of-engineering","tag-leeward-community-college","tag-mechanical-engineering","tag-student-recognition","tag-uh-community-colleges","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202379"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":202401,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202379\/revisions\/202401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}