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At the agency\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, interns from Cal State LA are learning key skills studying the origins of life.<\/em><\/p>\n What does wastewater management in Los Angeles have to do with the search for life on Mars? Eduardo Martinez certainly didn\u2019t make the connection when he was pursuing a master\u2019s in civil engineering. Not at first. Then his professor pointed him toward an internship opportunity at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for astrobiology, the study of life\u2019s origins and the possibility of life beyond Earth.<\/p>\n That professor, Arezoo Khodayari of California State University, Los Angeles, helped Martinez understand the chemistry common to both fields. Soon, Martinez saw that just as phosphorous, nitrogen, and other chemicals in wastewater can fuel algal blooms in the ocean, they can potentially provide energy for microbial life on other planets.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce I got a taste of planetary science, I knew I needed more,\u201d said Martinez, who did the internship while finishing his degree at Cal State LA, where more than 70% of students are Latino and few have historically participated in NASA research. \u201cIf not for JPL, I would have stopped with my master\u2019s.\u201d Now he\u2019s pursuing a doctorate in geosciences at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.<\/p>\n The inspiration that connects both fields lies at the core of a new NASA grant. Khodayari and Laurie Barge, who runs JPL\u2019s Origins and Habitability Laboratory, have received funding for up to six paid JPL internships over two years. The intent is to help develop the next generation of space-minded scientists from the students at Cal State LA.<\/p>\n The grant \u2014 one of 11 recently awarded to emerging research universities by NASA\u2019s Science Mission Directorate Bridge Program \u2014 helps underrepresented students learn more about astrobiology and perform NASA-sponsored research.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a large employer in Southern California, we have a duty to invest in our local communities,\u201d Barge said of JPL\u2019s role in the effort. \u201cIt makes NASA and its science more accessible to everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n Barge and Khodayari have been informally collaborating for 10 years, designing experiments to try to answer questions in their respective fields. Of the four Cal State LA interns Barge has hosted so far, two \u2014 including Martinez \u2014 have been lead authors on published research papers.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a great accomplishment to publish in a prestigious, peer-reviewed journal, especially as the first author,\u201d Khodayari said. \u201cIt\u2019s inspiring to see students from Cal State LA, which is primarily a teaching institution, provided research opportunities that result in these kinds of journal publications.\u201d<\/p>\n She notes that many of her students work multiple jobs, so a paid internship means they can focus entirely on their studies without sacrificing essential income. And, Khodayari added, \u201cthey get exposure to a field far from their reality.\u201d<\/p>\n In Barge\u2019s lab, dark, fingerlike mineral structures grow in beakers of cloudy liquid meant to simulate oceans on early Earth \u2014 and possibly on other planets. By studying how these structures form in the lab, scientists like Barge hope to learn more about the potential life-creating chemical reactions that take place around similar structures, called chimneys, that develop on the ocean floor around hydrothermal vents.<\/p>\n \u201cWe learned so much in Laurie\u2019s lab,\u201d said Erika Flores, Barge\u2019s first Cal State LA intern. \u201cNot only are you working independently on your own projects, you\u2019re collaborating with other interns and even other divisions at JPL.\u201d<\/p>\n The middle of five children, Flores was the first in her family to graduate from high school. She initially attended University of California, Berkeley but felt isolated. After returning home, she earned her bachelor\u2019s degree and began studying with Khodayari at Cal State LA.<\/p>\n Although she decided not to become a planetary scientist \u2013 \u201cI considered it, but I didn\u2019t want to spend another five years on a Ph.D.; I was ready to get a job\u201d \u2013 Flores credits the JPL internship with helping her overcome a case of impostor syndrome. Equipped with a master\u2019s that she completed during her internship, she now works for the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, overseeing 13 pumping plants that route wastewater to treatment plants.<\/p>\n Like Flores, current Cal State LA intern Cathy Trejo wants to improve the world through clean water. She\u2019s studying to be an environmental engineer, with a focus beyond wastewater.<\/p>\n But she was excited to see the parallels between Earth-bound science and planetary science during her internship. Learning to use mass spectrometers has even inspired her. NASA\u2019s Curiosity Mars rover has a mass spectrometer, the Sample Analysis at Mars instrument, that measures the composition of different gases.<\/p>\n \u201cUnderstanding the instruments we use on Mars has helped me better understand how we study chemistry here on Earth,\u201d Trejo said.<\/p>\n She is fascinated that cumbersome lab instruments can be miniaturized to be taken to other planets, and that scientists are beginning to miniaturize similar instruments that could identify pollutants at Superfund sites.<\/p>\n Barge isn\u2019t giving up hope that Trejo will stick with planetary science, but she\u2019s just happy to help a budding scientist develop. \u201cI hope these student research opportunities offer an appreciation for planetary exploration and how our work at NASA relates to important questions in other fields,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Andrew Good Karen Fox \/ Alise Fisher 2024-050\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-2433
andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov<\/p>\n
NASA Headquarters, Washington
301-286-6284 \/ 202 358-2546
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov \/ alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov<\/p>\n