NASA DEVELOP

"The DEVELOP National Program is a capacity building internship sponsored by NASA’s Applied Sciences Program that provides young professionals and interns the opportunity to learn about NASA Earth Science and the practical applications of Earth observations."

As Center Lead I helped develop research projects, interview and recruit students, and served as a liaison between students, advisers, and project partners. I started by serving as the Center Lead for the DEVELOP node at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). When I started, DEVELOP-MSFC was hosted at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. I was responsible for transferring the DEVELOP node to the National Space Science and Technology Center in Huntsville, AL in order to be closer to our science advisors and to establish a DEVELOP-SERVIR collaboration. SERVIR, which is headquartered in Huntstville, is a platform for collaboration and cross-agency coordination, international partnerships, and delivery of web-based information services and applications. DEVELOP and SERVIR are both capacity building program under NASA’s Applied Science Program.

In the  summer 2013, I started a new DEVELOP node at UGA.  Since then, we have had over 120 DEVELOP internship opportunities across a three dozen projects . During the summer of 2014, I aided the DEVELOP National Program Office in multiple capacities out of Governor's Office in the Patrick Henry Building in Richmond, VA.  In October 2014, I was fortunate to be part of the three member team that visited Santiago, Chile for a week long data hand-off event that consisted of a three day capacity building workshop and meeting potential partners for future projects. Our visit was sponsored by the Chilean Ministry of Agriculture. 

Some of our Video Summaries of DEVELOP Projects:

Pura Agua, Pura Vida!

Category: Managing Water Resources and Restoration
Project Team: Costa Rica Water Resources
Team Location: University of Georgia – Athens, Georgia and Wise County Clerk of Court’s Office – Wise, Virginia

Authors: Rachel Will, Grant Bloomer, Sarah Medley, Benjamin Page, Xuan Zhang

Mentors/Advisors: Javier Artiñano Guzmán (SENARA – Costa Rica’s National Service of Underground Water, Irrigation, and Drainage), Dr. Marguerite Madden (University of Georgia), Dr. Quint Newcomer (University of Georgia), Steve Padgett-Vasquez (University of Georgia), Dr. Kenton Ross (NASA DEVELOP)

Other Contributors: Jordan Bates, Peter Hawman, Caren Remillard

Illustrating a Better Future for Cotton-top Tamarins

Category: Analyzing Air Quality and Habitat Health
Project Team: Colombia Ecological Forecasting III
Team Location: University of Georgia – Athens, Georgia

Authors: Caren Remillard, Mohamed Amin, Hillary Essig, Peter Hawman, Tunan Hu

Mentors/Advisors: Dr. Marguerite Madden (University of Georgia Center for Geospatial Research), Dr. Thomas Jordan (University of Georgia Center for Geospatial Research), Dr. Nathan Nibbelink (University of Georgia), Daniel Mesa (University of North Georgia), Steve Padgett-Vasquez (University of Georgia)

Past/Other Contributors: Erick Braun, Ning Chen, Nikos Kavoori, Suravi Shrestha, Zennure Ucar, Xiaohe Yu

Cyber-Cyano: Innovative Interface for Cyanobacteria Bloom Monitoring

Category: Monitoring Water Quality and Hydrology
Project Team: Georgia Water Resources III
Team Location: University of Georgia – Athens, Georgia

Authors: Benjamin Page, Vinay Kumar, Pradeep Kumar Ragu Chanthar, Caren Remillard

Mentors/Advisors: Dr. Deepak Mishra (University of Georgia), Susan Wilde (University of Georgia)

Past/Other Contributors: Ike Sari Astuti, Bradley Bartelme, Elizabeth Benyshek, Shuvankar Ghosh, Danielle Haskett, Peter Hawman, Jiaying He, Simmone Simpson