Earlier this year, Liam Hutchins was selected to participate in the NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars program, which provides community college STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) students with an authentic NASA experience and encourages them to finish a 2-year degree or transfer to a 4-year university to pursue a NASA-related field or career.
WINTERVILLE—Having successfully completed a five-week online orientation session this summer, Pitt Community College student Liam Hutchins will now visit the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., as part of the NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars (NCAS) program.
Hutchins, who is on track to graduate from PCC’s Electronics Engineering Technology program in December, says he has been selected to take part in an engineering design workshop at Langley Sept. 25-28. In addition to working on a team project mentored by NASA engineers, he will attend briefings by engineers and scientists and tour the historic Langley site, which is NASA’s oldest field center and once hosted the Lunar Landing Research Facility from 1965 to 1974.
A 2014 Farmville Central High School graduate from Greenville, Hutchins is planning to transfer to N.C. State University for mechatronics upon completion of his studies at Pitt. The 21-year-old says his career goal is to work for NASA developing drone and related technologies.
“My plan is to use (NCAS) as a jumpstart to preparing myself for my dream job of working at Ames Research Center, which is where NASA houses their drone research [and] where they are working on how to make a traffic control system for drones,” Hutchins said.
Designed for community college STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) students, NCAS provides participants with an authentic NASA experience and encourages them to finish a 2-year degree or transfer to a 4-year university to pursue a NASA-related field or career. It is part of NASA’s efforts to better serve groups historically underrepresented in STEM fields.