Kim Westbrook: Breaking through boundaries
2016-10-12
Westbrook was in fourth grade when an engineer from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland brought a spacesuit to her class. That day, she realized the direction she wanted her life to take—and no other option felt worth considering. Westbrook’s dreams inspired her to excel throughout her education, and it paid off: She became a NASA intern at Johnson Space Center in Houston during the summer of 2016.
Though Westbrook views the field of aerospace engineering as “limitless,” she certainly hasn’t always felt that way. At the University of Maryland, Westbrook recognized a large underrepresentation of women in the aerospace engineering program. Understandably, any sort of underrepresentation can make a student feel they are not being heard, that they are being underestimated or that they are being excluded from work or events altogether. Some people even dared to tell Westbrook that she only received opportunities because of gender or race rather than intelligence and work ethic. So Westbrook, along with other women in aerospace engineering at her university, founded the Women in Aeronautics and Astronautics Organization, or WIAA, in 2015. WIAA empowers women pursuing aerospace degrees, inspires young women interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and “foster[s] a better working and learning environment for women.”
Now others recognize just how capable she is. Her mentor, Robert Howard, said, “Kim arrived full of energy and enthusiasm, ready to take on a task that neither she nor I actually understood what it would entail. With her project, we are taking my lab in a new direction, and she has shown no fear in taking on a task where there are only unknowns. This is one of her greatest strengths—the ability to create a path, rather than needing to be shown one.”
During her internship at Johnson, Westbrook worked in the Habitability Design Center, developing workstations to be used in cislunar and Mars spacecraft mock-ups. Her project was to design and fabricate usable translational hand controllers, or THCs, that will interface with simulation software. The THCs that she built will be used in mission simulations for exploration spacecraft mock-ups.
Westbrook’s dream job would be to design hardware for spacecraft used on crewed missions, but admitted that any contribution she can make toward human space exploration is fulfilling.
Are you interested in being a NASA intern? You can learn more and apply for opportunities at intern.nasa.gov.
Be thinking of your summer 2017 intern needs now! Starting Oct. 18, you can put in an opportunity to advance your project. Click here for more information.
Leah Cheshier
​Johnson Space Center Internship Program
Though Westbrook views the field of aerospace engineering as “limitless,” she certainly hasn’t always felt that way. At the University of Maryland, Westbrook recognized a large underrepresentation of women in the aerospace engineering program. Understandably, any sort of underrepresentation can make a student feel they are not being heard, that they are being underestimated or that they are being excluded from work or events altogether. Some people even dared to tell Westbrook that she only received opportunities because of gender or race rather than intelligence and work ethic. So Westbrook, along with other women in aerospace engineering at her university, founded the Women in Aeronautics and Astronautics Organization, or WIAA, in 2015. WIAA empowers women pursuing aerospace degrees, inspires young women interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and “foster[s] a better working and learning environment for women.”
Now others recognize just how capable she is. Her mentor, Robert Howard, said, “Kim arrived full of energy and enthusiasm, ready to take on a task that neither she nor I actually understood what it would entail. With her project, we are taking my lab in a new direction, and she has shown no fear in taking on a task where there are only unknowns. This is one of her greatest strengths—the ability to create a path, rather than needing to be shown one.”
During her internship at Johnson, Westbrook worked in the Habitability Design Center, developing workstations to be used in cislunar and Mars spacecraft mock-ups. Her project was to design and fabricate usable translational hand controllers, or THCs, that will interface with simulation software. The THCs that she built will be used in mission simulations for exploration spacecraft mock-ups.
Westbrook’s dream job would be to design hardware for spacecraft used on crewed missions, but admitted that any contribution she can make toward human space exploration is fulfilling.
Are you interested in being a NASA intern? You can learn more and apply for opportunities at intern.nasa.gov.
Be thinking of your summer 2017 intern needs now! Starting Oct. 18, you can put in an opportunity to advance your project. Click here for more information.
Leah Cheshier
​Johnson Space Center Internship Program
During her internship, Kim Westbrook was a member of the Intern Video Committee. Here she is dressed as an astronaut on a futuristic journey to Mars. Image Credit: NASA
Westbrook worked in the Habitability Design Center during her summer 2016 internship at NASA Johnson Space Center. She helped develop mock-ups of workstations in potential cislunar and Mars spacecraft. Image Credit: NASA