March 2015


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In August of 2014, two young men embarked on a journey that would change their lives. Stefan Hosein and Jason Renwick were the first international students to be accepted into the prestigious NASA International Internship Program (NASA I2). At NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, they participated in the opportunity of a lifetime: an all-expense paid 16-week internship, where they worked alongside other interns and under some fine minds in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).

Last month, Jeanette Awai sat down with Stefan, a graduate of the Faculty of Science and Technology with a degree in Computer Science, and Jason, a first-year student of the Faculty of Engineering, pursuing a degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering, to ask them about their experiences at NASA and how it felt to represent The UWI and Trinidad and Tobago.

JA: How did you find out about the NASA International Internship (I2) Program?

SH: Jason and I both found out via Facebook as part of an Astronomy group and they said I really should apply. This was the first iteration of the programme. We were the first students to apply. Trinidad was the first country to make use of the programme. Originally it was scheduled to be 10 weeks within summer, but there were problems processing the visas. We were then accepted for the fall 16-week internship and it was more serious than the summer internship.

JA: What did the 16 weeks entail?

SH: I did three projects: I finished the project the previous summer interns worked on; then I helped my mentor, Dr. Rodney Martin. I helped to implement an algorithm. I also used the machine-learning software to make predictions on the hot water pump system for a building at NASA.

JR: At NASA interns are usually assigned to one project, but if they find that you have more capabilities, they will give you more work. In Stefan’s case, he completed three projects even though he was initially contracted to do one. In my case, I was brought in to do some data collection and analysis and I ended up doing data collection, developing an experimental setup, and also beginning additional research to develop the task. I worked in a Prognostics group and our slogan was “making prediction a science” so we predict when electronic parts and components will fail.

JA: As you said, you initially were slated for a specific thing and you ended up working on a larger thing, so who were you interacting with during that process?

JR: It was a small group of a dozen or so people, but I stuck with my mentor, Dr. Jose R. Celaya, and Dr. Chetan Kulkarni.

SH: I am in the data sciences group and we have about 8-10 people and my mentor saw opportunities for me to develop the software more and I wrote code and added an algorithm and created a Developer’s Guide for the software.

JA: Sounds like a full job.

JR: Both of our mentors were really satisfied with our work and I’ll be returning for another internship.

SH: If they see you can do more, they will push you. I’ll be returning for the summer because we have such knowledge of our projects.

JA: What were you doing when you weren’t doing NASA related work?

JR: We didn’t have specific work hours. We have work to get done, so they won’t tell us, you have to come in at 8am and do this till 12pm, you only have an hour for lunch, etc. They tell us: you have work to get done, trust that you have a good work ethic and they let us choose our work hours once we get the work done.

SH: On our daily routine, we’d get up at the same time because we shared an apartment together.

JA: Did you know each other before?

Both: No. We pretty much met on the plane going. We met each other before and shook hands for a pic, but we had our first convo on the plane going to Cali.

JA: Was this your first time in California?

Both: Yes.

JA: What would you say was the most surprising aspect of your internship?

SH: I wasn’t sure if I would be able to handle all the work. I thought they would give me something far beyond what I was able to achieve, but it wasn’t like that. If I ever encountered a problem, I always had assistance from my mentor. I never felt like anything was out of my reach.

JR: I have a similar opinion. I only completed one year of university. In my group they aren’t accustomed to getting undergraduate interns because Prognostics is such a specific field that most people only really get into it at the Postgraduate level. I thought I’d be head over heels in work, but it was really manageable.

JA: How did it feel to be representing Trinidad and Tobago and The UWI?

SH: I found that everyone there was quite welcoming to Jason and me. They had a little problem with our accents, and we’d have to repeat ourselves and we’d talk a bit slower than normal. There is a large array of races. We did not feel out of place.

JR: We were in the heart of Silicon Valley and race doesn’t exist in Silicon Valley. In Mountain View – it’s a very metropolitan city, there is no dominant race, no one classified anyone by their race, and I didn’t feel any racism or exclusion. That was a pleasant surprise.

JA: Definitely sounds utopian. How do you think that your experience at UWI prepared you for your NASA experience?

JR: It prepared me a lot. In one year of Electrical Engineering, we do a lot of work, lots of hands-on experience with circuits and electronics; so once I was introduced to an electronics lab, I already had a predisposition to working with the parts. I may not have known everything but it wasn’t hard for me to learn how to operate in that environment.

SH: What I did was more specific to Artificial Intelligence with machinery. In UWI, there is a course on Intelligent Systems. Because of this course and the courses before it, it gave me a good overall view of everything so applying it to a real world system was a bit different, but I was able to apply my knowledge to the problem.

JA: How do you think your internship has changed the way you look at UWI and Trinidad and Tobago?

JR: It’s no secret to anyone that we aren’t very strong in the research and development field in the Caribbean and after being exposed to such a heavy research environment, we could build something like this in T&T or at UWI. We have the minds for it. We have the resources for it. We may not be able to embark on the same scale as NASA, but we can get a foot into the scientific research community and maybe we or future interns can get to start the ball rolling and do research that is applicable to the real world. Right now, we thrive off of industrial work and we all know what’s going on with oil right now. Staying with only an industrial-based economy may not be adequate for the country.

SH: I have the same opinion. When you go there, we were in NASA AMES Research Center and there were a lot of companies – Google, Facebook, there is a lot of research being done and when you see Stanford University and Berkeley nearby, and the number of PhD students – there’s a lot of research and development going on in Silicon Valley and that is the opposite of what is happening in T&T. You don’t see a lot of students saying, I would like to have a PhD in so and so, because it’s industrial, so a lot of people have a Bachelor’s or a Master’s in any STEM field and once you have that, you say that’s enough. They don’t think further: What if I do a PhD? I can develop software. I can develop circuits that will be used at major companies. If Jason and I and other interns can bring that back to Trinidad and Tobago that would be a great thing to say: T&T has academics of a high standard doing this sort of research right here.

JR: Right now people see that bpTT and (Atlantic) LNG are the top paying companies and they are industrial companies, so everyone wants to get there, but these companies are starting to lay off workers because they aren’t as profitable anymore, so the scientific community in T&T is going to need a new avenue of employment, a way to bring some income to the university, country; and I think research is an adequate way to do that.

JA: How do you see UWI doing that?

JR: UWI is perfect for that. There is research being done and there is a gap between the research being developed and it becoming profitable. Right now it may not be as profitable to develop all the research done into a commercial application just because industrial practices are way more profitable for the country, but once we continue to develop our research into commercial applications, then it may become more profitable than industrial in the coming years.

JA: With programmes like Elon Musk and Space X taking over, how do you feel about emerging opportunities for UWI students in terms of space exploration or privatisation of space travel?

JR: Any field, any business, thrives on competition and the fact that private companies are now getting into space exploration gives science a competitive edge. Before space exploration was just government, so now that Elon Musk and Richard Branson’s Virgin are involved, they will have to push the boundaries faster and harder and it creates more job opportunities and gives anybody who studied STEM new job fields and it would be accessible to Caribbean students. After working at NASA, I can say that UWI students can hold their own in the scientific community.

SH: When we see these other companies like Space X trying to do space exploration and these opportunities being available, we could reach that level. We are good enough and I believe that space exploration is a definite avenue.

JA: What advice would you give to a first year UWI student?

SH: Don’t limit yourself. Don’t limit yourself to what’s available in T&T. There are more opportunities than what’s available at NASA. When I was at NASA, I asked myself, what other opportunities are out there that you wouldn’t initially take advantage of? There are a lot of opportunities for international students. Also bring back what you learn to T&T.

JR: I would recommend don’t underestimate yourself.

JA: Why do you think that students have this myopic view of themselves?

JR: I think that goes back to our colonial days; this part of the world was oppressed to think that they weren’t as good as others and that’s definitely untrue. Getting a degree from UWI doesn’t put you behind the foreign students. I think that once a student really applies themselves, it can get them somewhere. For example, I was pretty pessimistic about getting the NASA internship because I was only a year one student. I was told there were postgrad students applying and hearing that, I know that I can’t compete with a year three electrical engineering student, but I put that aside and I decided that I’m going to give it my all. One thing I learned at NASA is that in the international scientific community – it’s not about what you know or where you come from, but how fast you can learn and apply what you learn.

JA: We know you’re going to return to NASA, but what else do you see for yourself in the future?

JR: Immediate: Finish my first degree, I have to return in September 2015 and finish and complete my Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering and after that, I can’t say for sure, but one thing I do know for sure, is that I hope that one day in T&T, we can actually have a strong footing in research and development internationally. I think that myself, Stefan and future interns could actually come together and start developing more prominent projects in the research and development field right here in Trinidad and Tobago that can compete with NASA.

SH: From what Jason said, in the immediate future, I would like to pursue my Master’s and my PhD away then bring that knowledge back to T&T especially my field, Artificial Intelligence. I would like to pursue this research and development aspect and I would like to bring that knowledge back and help Trinidad and Tobago grow.