Katherine Pazamickas

Katherine Pazamickas
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Published July 05, 2008 12:15 am - Katherine Pazamickas, 21, a Lycoming College student from Sunbury, dreams that someday her work will aid in the exploration of space.
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SUNBURY -- Katherine Pazamickas, 21, a Lycoming College student from Sunbury, dreams that someday her work will aid in the exploration of space.

Her dream is not out of this world.After all, for the last four summers Pazamickas has been interning at NASA's Greenbelt, Md.-based Goddard Space Flight Center in their elite student internship program.

Pazamickas, who majors in astronomy and physics, intends to pursue a career with one of the space agencies after she earns a graduate degree.

"I'd like to get an advanced degree in space physics," Pazamickas said.
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"Typically, we work eight hours every day," Pazamickas said.
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"We stay on the University of Maryland, Baltimore campus," Pazamickas said."Then we're bused to work every day.I've gotten to know people who live in the Baltimore area, so we do get a chance to get out."

Pazamickas was one of 26 interns chosen for this year's program.It ends on Aug. 8.She joins students from the University of Michigan, Columbia, Temple, the University of Massachusetts, Penn State, Johns Hopkins, Brigham Young and Oregon State.

"One of the best things about the program are the friends you make and the people you meet from around the country," Pazamickas said.

GREENBELT, Md., July 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Katherine Pazamickas, a Lycoming College student from Sunbury, Pa., is spending this summer at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, Md. as a participant in the prestigious NASA Student Internship Program (SIP).In her senior year, Pazamickas is studying astronomy and physics.

SIP is designed for the exceptional student majoring in engineering, science or other related aerospace studies.Each participant is assigned a NASA scientist or engineer as a mentor and assists the mentor with his or her ongoing research.Students are expected to complete several hundred hours of research and present a research project before audience of their peers and NASA personnel.

"I have been an intern for the past few summers and I love the experience," Pazamickas said.

NASA intern aims high, works hard Friday, July 4, 2008 @ 11:31PMSUNBURY -- Katherine Pazamickas, 21, a Lycoming College student from Sunbury, dreams that someday her work will aid in the exploration of space.Her dream is not out of this world.

Katie Pazamickas of RR3 Sunbury attended the Geospace Environmental Modeling Meeting June 21-25 in Snowmass, Colo.

She set up a 6-foot-long poster detailing her research.Other researchers displayed their work at the conference, attracting hundreds with doctorates and graduate students.

Her work might change ideas on what AKR can do, she said.

Scientists thought AKRs reached only 30 kilohertz, but Katie found they reach 5 kilohertz.

"This means the source region is further back," she said.

She explained these auroras include the aurora at the North Pole, for example.

She began her work as far back as a seventh grade science project.

Through her research, in conjunction with NASA, she was invited to the national conference.

She is the youngest and "the only one with a curfew," her dad Sam said.Sam, Katie's mother Mary and Katie's 13-year-old brother Tom accompanied her to Colorado.

NASA prepared the poster she displayed, based upon her computer research.

Her findings about similar emissions on Earth can lead to findings about the other planets."They're all pretty excited about what she's doing," her mother said.

Katie will be listed as a co-author of a research paper NASA is preparing.Goddard Space Center of Maryland has listed her as a summer intern because of the computer research she is doing for NASA.

She communicated with Dr. Dennis Gallagher of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., while working on her first science project.She was a student at St. Monica School then.At that time, she was required to do a project and chose space weather.
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Katie has worked with Dr. James Green of Goddard who is considered the world's authority on AKRs.
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Katie will be a senior this fall at Our Lady of Lourdes Regional High School.

Although she was intimidated by some at the conference, Katie was invited to NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C.

She has done research, working with scientists from the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Iowa.

Katie is participating in the Intel Science Competition where the top prize is a $100,000 scholarship.Only those who are invited may participate.

She entered the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science Competition the past five years and won on the state level all five years.She won first place four times along with the National Science Foundation's Astronomy Award the past two consecutive years.The national award included $1,000 that she is saving for college.She plans to study space physics in college.
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Katie is an athlete who plays basketball, volleyball and softball at school.

The volleyball team, where she is an outside hitter, went to state competition last fall.She's a forward with the basketball team.