CEAT master's student Williams receives offer to work at NASA

CEAT master's student Williams receives offer to work at NASA

Friday, December 13, 2024

Media Contact: Tanner Holubar | Communications Specialist | 405-744-2065 | [email protected]

Space exploration is something that Patrick Williams has had a passion for since he was young. That passion has led him toward pursuing his master's degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering and taking part in multiple NASA internships.  

Patrick Williams

Williams, from Oklahoma City, received dual MAE degrees in spring 2022 and is now in his second year of the master's program working under Dr. Imraan Faruque. He hopes to defend his thesis in spring 2025.  

He has also received an offer from the Johnson Space Center's Propulsion Systems Branch as an aerospace engineer civil servant. He expects to start with NASA in July 2025. 

He spent two internships from January 2024 through the summer at Johnson Space Center in Houston as part of the NASA Pathways Internship Program.  

Williams said working under Faruque has been a great experience due to the challenge it represents. He said he feels he would have become stagnant on some things, and being challenged has allowed him to focus on overcoming any obstacle.  

His research with Faruque involves studying the removal of orbital debris.  

"I'm studying those orbits of some of the smaller particles, such as baseball size or smaller, and trying to design a mission and satellite CubeSat system to demonstrate debris removal technology with our lab," Williams said.  

He also spends a lot of time developing various models to simulate smaller orbital elements in low-Earth orbit and potentially cislunar space, or the space between Earth and the moon.  

His work at JSC differed from projects with Faruque, as he worked with NASA's Propulsion and Power Division Power Systems Branch.

He worked on a project called Modal Propellant Gauging, which deals with system identification. He worked with Intuitive Machines, of Houston, on implementing MPG onto one of the company's lunar landers for a future trip to the moon. 

The MPG project involved developing technology to measure the amount of propellant in a noninvasive way, such as sensors that can detect the fluid level based on modal response data.  

In July, Williams also worked on a couple of rapid development CubeSats, or small satellites, that were launched into space. 

After he completed his first internship with NASA, Williams became an intern mentor, working with new interns in the branch.

"I enjoyed working down there with the friendly people and all the projects I got to work on," Williams said. "I got to do all the intern activities with everyone and got to meet guest speakers. They make such a priority of making sure people can, on one hand, be able to learn anything they want to, but they also do a good job of balancing everything." 

Williams was surprised to receive two awards during his internship. He first received the Johnson Space Center Pathways Intern Award, which was given for his exceptional accomplishments during the internship program. A panel of NASA employees judges the award.  

Patrick Williams (second from left) spent two internships at NASA's Johnson Space Center. He has received an offer to work at JSC, with a tentative start date of July 2025 after he defends his thesis in spring 2025.

Williams was awarded for his work on the modal propellant project, both the on-site testing that he helped develop and the work implementing it into Intuitive Machines' technology. This award is only given to a handful of interns during each "rotation." 

"I was nominated by my mentor, Eric Hurlbert, in EP4 for all the work he saw I was doing," Williams said. "I helped lead the charge on the small test stand and then worked closely with the Intuitive Machines team to implement MPG during testing. We were trying to translate the MPG errors we encountered and worked with the IM team to resolve those issues."

The second award he won was the NASA on the Spot award, which also stemmed from his work on the MPG project. Williams said winning two awards was a big surprise, as his goal was to excel as best he could in hopes of receiving a job offer.  

"It's really a nice bonus, and I'm flattered just to be awarded anything because I wasn't expecting any of that at all," Williams said. "And being a first-time NASA intern, I was trying to do my best and wanted to do good work." 

With the opportunity to turn his passion into a career, Williams is looking to turn a lifelong dream into a livable reality.  

"The Pathways program has been something amazing," Williams said. "Having a NASA internship is something I've always wanted, and I've been obsessed with space my entire life. I've ultimately been trying to work for NASA or in the space industry my entire life." 

"I believe that humanity is only a decade away from the beginnings of a new space age. Between the Artemis missions with the goal of returning humans to the moon and then to Mars for the first time and the rise of commercial spacecraft and space stations, space exploration will expand over our lifetime, and I'm excited to be a part of it."

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