Interning at NASA Fulfills a Lifetime Ambition for This CAS Student

Interning at NASA Fulfills a Lifetime Ambition for This CAS Student

Aashi Parikh participated in the agency's Student Airborne Research Program, learning how NASA scientists conduct research-and performing fieldwork of her own

Boston University senior Aashi Parikh spent the past two months pursuing her passion for earth science with a federal agency best known for its work investigating the heavens.

A marine science major, Parikh (CAS'26) interned as part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Student Airborne Research Program (SARP). The eight-week internship program, part of NASA's Airborne Science Program, gives rising senior undergrads the chance to learn about earth science research from NASA staffers and an opportunity to perform fieldwork of their own.

Parikh loves marine science. Growing up in Cleveland, she says, she was always fascinated by the ocean. But a high school internship at a botanical garden introduced her to environmental science-her minor. "I've tried different career paths," Parikh says, noting that she was briefly on a premed track. "But I always go back to the environment-I just love being outside and doing things that help our planet."

She had long dreamed about working for NASA. She knew the organization had an Earth Sciences Division (ESD), which studies the planet's processes and how they're impacted by climate change. She started looking for summer 2025 internship opportunities with ESD midway through her junior year-and landed at SARP.

"I would always watch videos about NASA and say that I wanted to work here," she says, "but I didn't think I would actually be working here."

Parikh was one of 23 participants in the East Coast version of SARP (there's an equivalent West Coast version). According to the program's website, the first two weeks are a "focused crash course in Earth science research." Interns then spend the next six weeks working on an individual research project with the help of graduate student mentors.

All interns receive a stipend and funding to cover their travel. They're housed at NASA bases and nearby colleges throughout the program. Parikh spent her first two weeks at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. There, NASA scientists gave presentations about their work to the students. Then came one of the coolest parts of the program, she says: flight campaigns.

The Airborne Science Program operates multiple aircraft outfitted as flying science labs for NASA research. Parikh spent the program's second week onboard a P3 and a B200, observing how scientists work during research flights. She also got to participate: researchers needed to collect data on volatile organic compounds and trace gas spikes over areas throughout the Eastern seaboard. Parikh primarily helped operate a gas chromatography device.

"The flights were usually two to three hours, and [the pilots] would do tricks like spirals to collect data," she says. "We got to move around the plane asking questions and helping each scientist collect data with their instrument-it was really cool seeing what each instrument does."

She and her fellow interns spent the remaining weeks at Virginia Commonwealth University working on research projects. Interns were split into four research groups: atmospheric science, terrestrial fluxes, ocean remote sensing, and hydroecology. Parikh was in the atmospheric sciences group. She measured emissions from chemical plant plumes at an industrial site in Virginia, comparing her data with the 2024 NASA data from the same site to analyze the health impacts on area residents.

Parikh presented her results at the end of the summer and will do so again at the annual American Geophysical Union conference in December.

The entire experience, she says, was incredible. As well as her fieldwork, she learned helpful skills like coding and networking. The program also helped solidify her next step. Before this summer, Parikh wasn't sure about her post-grad plans. Now, she's set on graduate school.

"The program helped me realize that I do want to go to grad school for environmental science," she says. "I really like marine science, but I liked branching out and learning about this different field."

And if she ends up back at Langley at some point, she would be pleased.

"I would want to work for NASA doing research and maybe being a program manager," Parikh says. "I've made good connections here, and they all talk about why it's such a great company-I would want to [come back] here.

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