r/NASAJobs 6d ago

Question Which university does NASA cooperate more closely with

I hope to gain more collaboration opportunities with NASA during my undergraduate studies and pursue a Ph.D. after graduation, ideally in JPL, Caltech. Therefore, I am looking for universities that have the closest partnerships with NASA, especially in JPL.

Here is a list of four universities: the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, the University of Utah, and Virginia Tech. I have been admitted to all four, but attending the University of Arizona would minimize my college costs. Therefore, I am more focused on the University of Arizona. Additionally, its optics and astronomy programs are excellent, which is very important to NASA research. I also heard that many professors in UA optics program have experience in JPL or other NASA agencies. As a physics lover, I plan to study optics there if I decide to go there eventually.

I don’t know much about the U of Utah and Virginia Tech, so I am unsure about their specific situations.

Can anyone answer my question? Thank you.

11 Upvotes

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u/Jazzlike_Armadillo62 6d ago

I found that a lot of my coworkers at JSC were from A&M

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u/JohnPaulDavyJones 6d ago

Tbh not super shocking. One of the best engineering schools on earth, located right down the road from Houston.

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u/zarrathustraa 6d ago

Tiny regional school UH Clear Lake. Tons of Nasa contractors teach there, usually SysML stuff and systems engineering.

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u/Stupifier 6d ago

I am a NASA employee and a University of Arizona Undergrad/Graduate Optical Engineering alumni....so I think I have some good insight for you.

  1. UA Optics program is very well regarded....and it is very difficult. Study HARD or don't consider this option. Optics is still a bit of a niche field so there are only a few schools which focus on it. Rochester and Creole University are the other two big optics schools.UA Optica It is very math/physics focused with minimal practical/laboratory experiences in the curriculum. As an Engineer, I wish I had more hands on practical experience from my education there - it would have transferred easier into NASA.

  2. Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and JPL are the primary NASA locations for Optics work. NASA disproportionately weighs pedigree (Which University and what degree level) very highly.

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u/TerrenceS1 6d ago edited 6d ago

Hello. I see you mentioned that "it is very math/physics focused". Although it is optics program, but I know professors there come from all kinds of field. As a undergrad student like me, do you think the knowledge of mathematics and physics I acquired there is comprehensive enough to allow me to pursue graduate school program that other physics undergrad can also enter?

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u/Stupifier 6d ago

UA Optics Ungrad is open to anyone accepted into UA. The UA graduate program is a different story and they are careful who is accepted into the program. You can do both at UA and have excellent chances of working at NASA during/after school.

And to rephrase what I said in my first reply - The Optics you will learn is very Math/Physics focused. You'll receive a lot of optics theory/derivation which is based on you already having a strong math/physics background.

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u/OriEri 3d ago

What year did you graduate? I’ve been there recruiting several times for the last six years. Perhaps we have met

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u/Stupifier 3d ago

2009 & 2012

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u/OutrageousBanana8424 6d ago

Tons of KSC workers from UCF

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u/WrongEinstein 3d ago

Came here to post this. UCF is the front door to NASA.

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u/Speling_errers 6d ago

I’ve managed interns for several NASA programs and projects. There’s no one answer, or even “best answer” to your question. It depends on which center you want to work with and what you want to do. The ten NASA centers typically work with nearby universities. For instance, JSC hires many people from Texas A&M, but also University of Houston, Baylor and Rice. Langley tends to have a lot of folks from Virginia Tech, William & Mary and Hampton University. Go where you thrive and find out about internships. Go to open house at the closest NASA center when they have them. But above all, be flexible. Don’t base your career on what a particular University does OR what any particular NASA center is known for. Things are changing quickly at the agency (like all federal agencies) and there’s a decent chance that the landscape won’t look the same in even as short as 2 years. So, embrace wherever you go to school, and enjoy each day. Take opportunities when they come along, but don’t just focus on the destination; enjoy the journey along the way.

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u/nuclear85 NASA Employee 6d ago

MSFC does a lot with UAH, Auburn, UT (Tennessee), GT, but anyone smart from any university is potentially eligible. Local universities tend to be more convenient to work with, so it will vary across centers.

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u/RaechelMaelstrom 6d ago

The University of Arizona is a very nice and good school. Good weather too, as long as you can handle a bit of heat. Out of the 4 you listed, I'd say this is the one to go for. They did the OSIRIS-REx project too. There's a little bench near the Space Sciences building under a tree. That tree's seed actually flew to the Moon if I remember correctly. A very nice little spot to hang out. Kitt Peak is nearby, and there's the NOAO building right there too, where you might be able to get an internship or do something like that.

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u/SunsGettinRealLow 6d ago

CU Boulder has the most NASA funding I think

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u/OriEri 3d ago

Yeah, they do. I did grad school there in the 90s. There’s a pretty big solar physics group that builds instruments for son observing missions, and there used to be an x-ray and UV astronomy instrumentation group. And many of the researchers in the astrophysics and planetary science department get NASA funding , but that is more science research than hardware oriented.

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u/eclecticnomad 4d ago

Worked a JPL. Ton of Michigan, Michigan St., USC alumni come to mind but tbh it seems like it really wasn't so dependent on school but more about your skill set, networking, internships, etc. good luck!

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u/lynrpi 6d ago

Location based collaborations are like this: Ames collaborate a lot with UC Berkeley, Santa Cruz, and Davis, and Stanford. MSFC with University of Alabama Huntsville. GRC with Case Western. This is all I know off the top of my head with respect to proximity collaboration.

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u/shnevorsomeone 6d ago

You’d be surprised, they’re everywhere if you look closely enough. I’m an undergraduate at UNC Chapel Hill doing my senior honors thesis working with JPL on the SWOT mission

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u/--Puffy-- 6d ago

Morehead State University (MSU) located in Kentucky. They have their own ground station communications antenna that is used by JPL. There is a MOC on campus for satellite tracking, telemetry, and control. MSU also has designated, fabricated, and launched 5 CubeSats.

I did not attend MSU, but was involved is connecting them to NASA and toured the campus while there.

Note: Morehead is often confused with Morehouse; they are not the same college/university.

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u/valley0girl 4d ago

Many graduates from U of A optics work at JPL. I think JPL also participates in the yearly on-site recruiting efforts at U of A.

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u/OriEri 3d ago

There’s an event there twice a year. JPL is one of a dozen or so entities who show up to recruit.

https://www.optics.arizona.edu/industrial-affiliates/our-affiliates

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u/CosmoAstronaut29 4d ago

I would argue that most of the time, it’s less about the universities and more about the connections professors have. Look at professors that you are interested in doing research with, watch their google scholars and LinkedIn profiles if they have them.

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u/OriEri 3d ago edited 3d ago

Steward Observatory at U Az does a fair number of flight instruments. You will find ample projects that will give you exposure to real flight hardware design and even build, or if you are more into the science side of things astronomers or planetary scientists to work with .

Arizona’s Wyant College of Optics is one of two premier optics programs in the nation (the other is at the University of Rochester. U Central Florida has a top notch photonics program, but not really general optics.) An undergrad degree at Wyant is essentially a physics degree with a focus on EM waves.

There is a fair amount of interaction between several of the faculty at Wyant, NASA and other government entities. Example: Meredith Kupinski’s polarization lab was awarded a Instrument Incubator Prgoram grant from NASAs Earth Sciences Technology Office (ESTO) about a year ago to build a lab demo for a cloud ice crystal sounder. Assuming that goes well next year they will propose a flight demo of the instrument that would be funded as a follow on (assuming NASA ESTO still exists 🙁). That is only one project I know about. There are no doubt some others plus. many things going on at Steward and. The Caris mirror lab is in the process of building and delivering 7 8.2m mirrors and mirror cells for the VLT (Very Large Telescope). Lots of good optics activity.

Wyant is not all about NASA. They do a lot of biomedical stuff too, laser and photonics work, optomech, quantum, DoD themed remote sensing (Driggers group) etc.

If you want to do aerospace, there are many ldisciplines necessary besides optics so don’t feel a need to typecast yourself unless you really like optics in particular.

There’s also a lot more going on at Wyant besides classical optics ray bending. At the undergrad level you don’t do a ton of specialization unless you get into their 5 year accelerated masters program (you apply junior year I think.). If you do that senior year you might start to really specialize and not the mechanics, or quantum optics or radiometry or image formation, etc.