Camille Moore, a Wichita State University aerospace engineering student, spent her fall semester working as an intern for the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio.

Moore, who is from Waconia, Mich., found the opportunity to work for NASA through Wichita State's Cooperative Education and Work-Based Learning program.

For three months, Moore was part of the conceptual design team called Collaborative Modeling for Parametric Assessment of Space System (COMPASS), calculating the required propellant for different phases of a spaceship. She was also part of the design team for mission analysis.

"I learned a lot. I learned two programming languages while I was there," Moore said. "Writing program was something I had to get used to; it was definitely a new experience for me."

Besides college credit, Moore has been able to gain valuable work experience not many have the chance to get. Working at NASA has opened the door for great opportunities in the future.

International experience

Moore's experience in NASA was not the only exciting part of her education in the past year.

Moore, whose minor is French, spent her summer in Orléans, France, improving her fluency and knowledge about the culture.

Thanks to the study abroad opportunities of WSU's Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures department she and seven other Wichita State students had the opportunity to participate in a four-week intensive French program at the University of Orléans.

"It was an amazing experience; it was over way too fast," Moore said. "My French improved so much while I was there, and I did so much traveling. It was a great time."

After a successful year, Moore looks forward to the future, taking more aerospace engineering classes at Wichita State and learning more about what her future career holds.

She would like to be involved with human space flight or the exploration of the Solar System.

"I know that I want to be part of continuing to push our knowledge of the Solar System, what we can do and what we can discover," Moore said.

Moore will return to NASA for a summer 2011 internship and hopes to work in system integration.

For more information on work-based learning opportunities at Wichita State, visit http://www.wichita.edu/thisis/offices/coop/.